We can read his quality of manhood in a few lines of the letter he sent to his kinsman, the noted Dr.Adam Ferguson, about an incident that occurred at Chads Ford.

As he was lying with his men in the woods, in front of Knyphausen's army, so he relates, he saw two American officers ride out.

He describes their dress minutely.

One was in hussar uniform.

The other was in a dark green and blue uniform with a high cocked hat and was mounted on a bay horse: "I ordered three good shots to steal near to and fire at them; but the idea disgusting me, I recalled the order.