On Thursday morning, the twenty-second of August, 1776, the British troops under General William Howe landed upon Long Island, in the vicinity of New Utrecht. Four thousand men crossed the ferry from Staten Island, at the Quarantine Ground, to Denyse’s strong stone house, where Fort Hamilton now stands, and landed under cover of the guns of the Rainbow, anchored where Fort La Fayette looms up in the center of the Narrows. Some riflemen, under Colonel Edward Hand, posted on the hill above, retired toward Flatbush. An hour afterward, British and Hessian troops poured over the sides of the English ships and transports, and in long rows of boats, directed by Commodore Hotham, five thousand more soldiers landed upon Long Island, in the bow of Gravesend Bay (at a place known as Bath, in front of New Utrecht), under cover of the guns of the Phœnix, Rose, 1 and Greyhound. The chief commanders of the English were Sir Henry Clinton, Earls Cornwallis and Percy, and Generals Grant and Sir William Erskine. Count Donop, who was killed at Red Bank in 1777, landed, with some Hessians, with the first division, and on the twenty-fifth [August, 1776.], the veteran commander, De Heister, 2 with two full Hessian brigades, also landed near New Utrecht. The whole invading force was about ten thousand men well armed, with forty cannons. Lieutenant-colonel Dalrymple remained to keep Staten Island.

VIEW AT GRAVESEND BAY. 3

When this movement of the enemy was known in New York, alarm and confusion prevailed. 4 Re-enforcements were sent to General Sullivan, then encamped at Brooklyn, and the next day the veteran General Putnam 5 was ordered thither by Washington, to take the supreme command there.

The military works on Long Island had been constructed under the immediate direction of General Greene, who made himself acquainted with every important point between Hell Gate and the Narrows. Unfortunately, he fell sick, and none knew so well as he the importance of certain passes in the rear of Brooklyn. The chief fortifications were within the limits of the present city, 6 while at the passes alluded to breast-works were cast up. These passes were in a range of hills extending from the Narrows to the Jamaica road, the present East New York, and in broken elevations further on. There were several roads traversing the flat country in the rear of these hills. These Colonel Miles, of Pennsylvania, was directed to reconnoiter with his regiment, to watch and report upon the progress of the enemy. To Sullivan was intrusted the command of the troops without the lines, assisted by Brigadier-general Lord Stirling; General Woodhull (late president of the Provincial Congress), now in arms, was commissioned to deprive the invaders of provisions by removing the live stock to the plains of Hempstead.

The invading army prepared for marching soon after the debarkation. The Hessians, under De Heister, formed the center or main body; the English, under General Grant, composed the left wing, which rested on New York Bay; and the right wing, designed for the principal performance in the drama about to be opened, was composed of choice battalions, under the command of Clinton, Cornwallis, and Percy, accompanied by Howe, the commander-in-chief. While Grant and De Heister were diverting the Americans on the left and center, the right was to make a circuitous march by the way of Flatlands, to secure the roads and passes between that village and Jamaica, and to gain the American left, if possible. This division, under the general command of Clinton, moved from Flatlands on the evening of the twenty-sixth [August, 1776.], and, guided by a Tory, passed the narrow causeway, over a marsh near the scattered village of New Lots, 7 called Shoemaker’s Bridge. At two o’clock in the morning they gained the high wooded hills within half a mile of the present village of East New York, unobserved by Colonel Miles and the American patroles, except some subaltern officers on horseback, whom they captured. Informed that the Jamaica road was unguarded, Clinton hastened to secure the pass, and before daylight that important post and the Bedford pass 8 were in his possession, and yet General Sullivan was ignorant of the departure of the enemy from Flatlands. Expecting an attack upon his right, in the vicinity of Gowanus, all his vigilance seems to have been turned in that direction, and he did not send fresh scouts in the direction of Jamaica. The advantage thus gained by Clinton decided the fortunes of the day.

While the British right wing was gaining this vantage ground, General Grant, with the left, composed of two brigades, one regiment, and a battalion of New York Loyalists raised by Tryon, made a forward movement toward Brooklyn, along the coast road, 9 by way of Martense’s Lane – "the road from Flatbush to the Red Lion" (4) mentioned by Lord Stirling. The guard at the lower pass (3) gave the alarm, and at three o’clock in the morning [Aug. 27.]

Putnam detached Lord Stirling, 10 with Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland regiments, commanded by Atlee, Haslet, and Smallwood, to oppose Grant. The militia guard at Martense’s Lane were driven back by Grant to the hills of Greenwood Cemetery, a little north of Sylvan Water, where they were rallied by Parsons, and maintained a conflict until the arrival of Stirling 11 at daybreak, with fifteen hundred men. Stirling took position upon the slopes a little northwest of "Battle Hill," in Greenwood, and Atlee ambuscaded in the woods on the left of Martense’s Lane, near the Firemen’s Monument, to attack Grant on his approach. This was done, Atlee fell back to the left of Stirling, on the top of the hills. At this moment Kichline and his riflemen, De Haas and his battalion, and Captain Carpenter, with two field-pieces, arrived. Grant advanced and took post in an orchard, 12 within one hundred and fifty yards of Stirling, and a severe skirmish ensued. Grant had also two field-pieces, but neither party made much use of their cannons. In that position the belligerents remained, without severe fighting, until eleven o’clock in the forenoon, 13 when events on the left wing of the American army changed the whole aspect of affairs.

While Grant and Stirling were thus engaged, De Heister and his Hessians moved from Flatbush, and cannonaded the works at the Flatbush pass, where Sullivan was in command with the regiments of Colonels Wyllys and Miles. In the mean while, Clinton had descended from the wooded hills and attacked the extreme left of the Americans on the plain at Bedford. The firing was understood by De Heister, who immediately ordered Count Donop to storm the redoubt at the pass, while he pressed forward with the main body of the Hessians. A fierce and bloody combat ensued, 14 when Sullivan, perceiving the peril of his little army (for Clinton was rapidly gaining his rear), ordered a retreat to the lines at Brooklyn. The opportunity was gone, and on descending the rough slope from Mount Prospect, they were met by Clinton’s light infantry and dragoons, who drove them back in confusion upon the Hessian bayonets. Sullivan and his ensnared soldiers fought desperately, hand to hand, with the foe, while driven backward and forward between the full ranks of the assailants. Many broke through the gleaming fence of bayonets and sabers, and escaped to Fort Putnam, 15 while their less fortunate companions died upon the field or were made prisoners. Among the latter were General Sullivan and several subordinate officers. Those who escaped were followed up to the verge of the American lines, and the pursuing grenadiers were with difficulty restrained from storming Fort Putnam. An easy victory would doubtless have been the result.

CORTELYOU’S HOUSE. 16

BROWER’S MILL. 17

To effect this, it was necessary to attack Cornwallis, and while a few – a forlorn hope – should keep him at bay, a large part of the Americans might escape. No time was to be lost, for the tide was rising, and soon the creek would be impassable. Changing his front, and leaving his main body in conflict with Grant, Stirling, at the head of a part of Smallwood’s battalion, commanded by Major (afterward General) Gist, fell upon Cornwallis, and blood flowed freely. For twenty minutes the conflict was terrible. Stirling endeavored to drive the earl up the Port road, get between him and Fort Box, and under cover of its guns escape across Brower’s dam. He was successful, but while with his handful of brave young men he was keeping the invader in check, a large part of his companions in arms, consisting now chiefly of Haslet’s Delawares and a part of Smallwood’s Marylanders, reached the creek. All but one man passed it in safety. The remainder narrowly escaped a grave beneath those turbid waters. Stirling was obliged to yield when despoiled of nearly all of his brave men. 18 He became a prisoner, and was sent immediately on board the Eagle, Lord Howe’s flag-ship. Thus ended the battle, when the sun was at meridian; when it disappeared behind the low hills of New Jersey, one third of the five thousand patriots who had contended for victory were lost to their country – dead, wounded, or prisoners. 19 Soon many of the latter were festering with disease in the loathsome prisons in New York, or in the more loathsome prison-ships at the Wallabout. 20 General Woodhull was made a prisoner at Jamaica the next day, 21 and at the close of summer no man was in arms against the crown in Kings, Queens, and Richmond counties.

The morning of the twenty-eighth [August, 1776.] dawned drearily. Heavy masses of vapor rolled up from the sea, and at ten o’clock, when the British cannonade commenced, a fine mist was falling. Although half dead with fatigue, the Americans had slumbered little, for it was a night of fearful anxiety to them. At five in the morning, General Mifflin, who had come down from King’s Bridge and Fort Washington with the regiments of Shee, Magaw, and Glover, a thousand strong, in obedience to an order sent the day before, crossed the East River, and took post at the Wallabout. The outposts of the patriots were immediately strengthened, and during the rainy day which succeeded there were frequent skirmishes. Rain fell copiously during the afternoon, and that night the Americans, possessing neither tents nor barracks, suffered dreadfully. A heavy fog fell upon the hostile camps at midnight, and all the next day [Aug. 29.] it hung like a funeral pall over that sanguinary battle-field. Toward evening, while Adjutant-general Reed, accompanied by Mifflin and Colonel Grayson, were reconnoitering near Red Hook, a light breeze arose and gently lifted the fog from Staten Island. There they beheld the British fleet lying within the Narrows, and boats passing rapidly from ship to ship, in evident preparation for a movement toward the city. Reed hastened to the camp with the information, and at five o’clock that evening the commander-in-chief held a council of war. 22 An evacuation of Long Island, and a retreat to New York, was the unanimous resolve of the council. Colonel Glover, whose regiment was composed chiefly of sailors and fishermen from Marblehead and vicinity, 23 was ordered to collect and man boats for the purpose, and General M‘Dougal was directed to superintend the embarkation. The fog still rested heavily upon the island, the harbor, and the adjacent city, like a shield of the Almighty to cover the patriots from the peril of discovery. Although lying within a few hundred yards of the American lines, the enemy had no suspicion of the movement. 24

At eight o’clock in the evening the patriot regiments were silently paraded, the soldiers ignorant of the intent; but, owing to delay on account of unfavorable wind, and some confusion in orders, it was near midnight when the embarkation commenced at the Ferry Stairs, foot of Fulton Street, Brooklyn. For six hours those fishermen-soldiers plied their muffled oars; and boat after boat, filled with the champions of freedom, touched at the various wharves from Fulton Ferry to Whitehall, and left their precious burdens. At six in the morning, nine thousand men, with their baggage and munitions, except heavy artillery, had crossed. Mifflin, with his Pennsylvania battalions and the remains of the regiments of Smallwood and Haslet, formed the covering party, and Washington and his staff, who had been in the saddle all night, remained until the last company had embarked. 25 At dawn the fog lifted from the city, but remained dark and dreary upon the deserted camp and the serried ranks of the foe, until the last boat left the Long Island shore. Surely, if "the stars in their courses fought against Sisera," in the time of Deborah, the wings of the Cherubim of Mercy and Hope were over the Americans on this occasion.

Intelligence of this movement reached the British commander-in-chief at half past four in the morning. Cautiously Captain Montressor and a small party climbed the embankments of Fort Putnam and were certified of the fact. 26 It was too late for successful pursuit, for when battalion after battalion was called to arms, and a troop of horsemen sped toward the East River, the last boat was beyond pistol shot; and as the fog rolled away and the sunlight burst upon the scene, the Union flag was waving over the motley host of Continentals and militia marching toward the hills of Rutgers’ farm, beyond the present Catharine Street. 27 Howe was greatly mortified by the event, for he felt certain that his prey could not escape his meshes.

Although the American army was safe in New York, yet sectional feelings, want of discipline, general insubordination of inferior officers and men, and prevailing immorality, appeared ominous of great evils. Never was the hopeful mind of Washington more clouded with doubts than when he wrote his dispatches to the president of Congress, in the month of September [1776.]. Those dispatches and the known perils which menaced the effort for independence led to the establishment of a permanent army. 28

On the evacuation of Long Island, the British took possession of the American works, and, leaving some English and Hessian troops to garrison them, Howe posted the remainder of his army at Bushwick, Newtown, Hell Gate, and Flushing. Howe made his head-quarters at a house in Newtown (yet standing), now the property of Augustus Bretonnier, and there, on the third of September, he wrote his dispatch, concerning the battle, to the British ministry. On the thirtieth [August, 1776.], Admiral Howe sailed up the bay with his fleet and anchored near Governor’s Island, within cannon-shot of the city. During the night after the battle, a forty-gun ship had passed the batteries and anchored in Turtle Bay, somewhat damaged by round shot from Burnt Mill or Stuyvesant’s Point, the site of the Novelty Iron-works. 29 Other vessels went around Long Island, and passed into the East River from the Sound, and on the third of September the whole British land force was upon Long Island, except four thousand men left upon Staten Island to awe the patriots of New Jersey. A blow was evidently in preparation for the republican army in the city. Perceiving it, Washington made arrangements for evacuating New York, if necessary. 30

Lord Howe now offered the olive-branch as a commissioner to treat for peace, not doubting the result of the late battle to be favorable to success. General Sullivan and Lord Stirling were both prisoners on board his flag-ship, the Eagle. The former was paroled, 31 and sent with a verbal message from Howe to the Continental Congress, proposing an informal conference with persons whom that body might appoint. Impressed with the belief that Lord Howe possessed more ample powers than Parliament expressed in his appointment, Congress consented to a conference, after debating the subject four days. A committee, composed of three members of that body, was appointed, and the conference was held [Sept. 11, 1776.] at the house of Captain Billop, formerly of the British navy, situated upon the high shore of Staten Island, opposite Perth Amboy. 32 The event was barren of expected fruit, yet it convinced the Americans that Britain had determined upon the absolute submission of the colonies. This conviction increased the zeal of the patriots, and planted the standard of resistance firmer than before.

The sick were taken to New Jersey, and the public stores were conveyed to Dobbs’s Ferry, twenty miles from the city. The main body of the army moved toward Mount Washington and King’s Bridge on the thirteenth, accompanied by a large number of Whigs and their families and effects. 33 A rear-guard of four thousand men, under Putnam, was left in the city, with orders to follow, if necessary, and on the sixteenth Washington made his head-quarters at the deserted mansion of Colonel Roger Morris, 34 on the heights of Harlem River, about ten miles from the city. Every muscle and implement was now put in vigorous action, and before the British had taken possession of the city the Americans were quite strongly intrenched. 35

Howe now prepared to invade the island and take possession of the city of New York. Large detachments were sent in boats from Hallet’s Point to occupy Buchanan’s and Montressor’s (now Ward’s and Randall’s) Islands, at the mouth of the Harlem River, and early on Sunday morning the fifteenth [Sept., 1776.], Sir Henry Clinton, with four thousand men, crossed the river in flat bottomed boats from the mouth of Newtown Creek, and landed at Kip’s Bay (foot of Thirty-fourth Street) under cover of a severe cannonade from ten ships of war, which had sailed up and anchored opposite the present House of Refuge, at the foot of Twenty-third Street. 36 Another division, consisting chiefly of Hessians, embarked a little above, and landed near the same place. The brigades of Parsons and Fellows, panic-stricken by the cannonade and the martial array, fled in confusion (many without firing a gun) when the advanced guard of only fifty men landed. Washington, at Harlem, heard the cannonade, leaped into the saddle, and approached Kip’s Bay in time to meet the frightened fugitives. Their generals were trying in vain to rally them, and the commander-in-chief was equally unsuccessful. Mortified, almost despairing, at this exhibition of cowardice in the face of the enemy, Washington’s feelings mastered his judgment, and casting his chapeau to the ground, and drawing his sword, he spurred toward the enemy, and sought death rather than life. One of his aids caught his bridle-rein and drew him from danger, when reason resumed its power. 37 Unopposed, the British landed in full force, and, after skirmishing in the rear of Kip’s house with the advance of Glover’s brigade, who had reached the scene, they marched almost to the center of the island, and encamped upon the Incleberg, an eminence between the present Fifth and Sixth Avenues and Thirty-fifth and Thirty-eighth Streets. The Americans retreated to Bloomingdale, and Washington sent an express to Putnam in the city, ordering him to evacuate it immediately. Howe, with Clinton, Tryon, and a few others, went to the house of Robert Murray, of Murray Hill (see page 582 {original text has "583".}), for refreshments and rest. With smiles and pleasant conversation, and a profusion of cake and wine, the good Whig lady detained the gallant Britons almost two hours; quite long enough for the bulk of Putnam’s division of four thousand men to leave the city and escape to the heights of Harlem by the Bloomingdale road, with the loss of only a few soldiers. 38

General Robertson, with a strong force, marched to take possession of the city, and Howe made his head-quarters at the elegant mansion of James Beckman, at Turtle Bay, then deserted by the owner and his family. 39 Before sunset his troops were encamped in a line extending from Horn’s Hook across the island to Bloomingdale. Harlem Plains divided the hostile camps. For seven years, two months, and ten days [Sept. 15, 1776, to Nov. 25, 1783.] from this time, the city of New York remained in possession of the British troops.

The wearied patriots from the city, drenched by a sudden shower, slept in the open air on the heights of Harlem that night. Early the next morning [Sept. 16.] intelligence came that a British force, under Brigadier Leslie, was making its way by M‘Gowan’s pass to Harlem Plains. The little garrisons at Mount Morris and Harlem Cove (Manhattanville) confronted them at the mouth of a deep rocky gorge, 40 and kept them in partial check until the arrival of re-enforcements. Washington was at Morris’s house, and hearing the firing, rode to his outpost, where the Convent of the Sacred Heart now stands. There he met Colonel Knowlton, of the Connecticut Rangers (Congress’s Own), who had been skirmishing with the advancing foe, and now came for orders. The enemy were about three hundred strong upon the plain, and had a reserve in the woods upon the heights. Knowlton was to hasten with his Rangers, and Major Leitch with three companies of Weedon’s Virginia regiment, to gain the rear of the advance, while a feigned attack was to be made in front. Perceiving this, the enemy rushed forward to gain an advantageous position on the plain, when they were attacked by Knowlton and Leitch on the flank. Re-enforcements now came down from the hills, when the enemy changed front and fell upon the Americans. A short but severe conflict ensued. Three bullets passed through the body of Leitch, and he was borne away. A few moments afterward, Knowlton received a bullet in his head, fell, and was borne off by his sorrowing companions. 41 Yet their men fought bravely, disputing the ground inch by inch as they fell back toward the American camp. The enemy pressed hard upon them, until a part of the Maryland regiments of Colonels Griffiths and Richardson re-enforced the patriots. The British were driven back across the plain, when Washington, fearing an ambush, ordered a retreat. The loss of the Americans was inconsiderable in numbers; that of the British was eighteen killed and about ninety wounded. This event inspirited the desponding Americans, and nerved them for the contest soon to take place upon the main.

The British strengthened M‘Gowan’s Pass, placed strong pickets in advance of their lines, and guarded their flanks by armed vessels in the East and North Rivers. General Robertson, in the mean while, had taken possession of the city, and commenced strengthening the intrenchments across the island there. He had scarcely pitched his tents upon the hills in the present Seventh and Tenth Wards, and began to look with complacency upon the city as snug winter quarters for the army, when columns of lurid smoke rolled up from the lower end of the town. It was midnight [September 20-21, 1776.]. Soon broad arrows of flame shot up from the darkness, and a terrible conflagration began. 42 It was stayed by the exertions of the troops and sailors from the ships, but not until about five hundred houses were consumed.

LORD PERCY. 43

Leaving a sufficient force of British and Hessians, under Lord Percy, to guard the city, and others to man his lines toward Harlem, he embarked the remainder of his army upon ninety flat-boats, passed through the narrow and turbulent strait of Hell Gate, and landed upon Throck’s Neck [Oct. 12, 1776.], a low peninsula jutting into the East River from the main of West Chester county, sixteen miles from the city. 44 A few days afterward [Oct. 17.] other troops from Montressor’s Island 45 and Flushing landed there; and on the twenty-second, Knyphausen, with the second division of German hirelings, just arrived at New York, 46 landed upon Myers’s Point, now Davenport’s Neck, near New Rochelle. 47

When Washington perceived this movement, he sent strong detachments, under General Heath, 48 to oppose the landing of the British, and occupy lower West Chester. A redoubt had been thrown up on the hills, near William’s Bridge; all the passes to King’s Bridge were well guarded, and a detachment was at White Plains making intrenchments there. The causeways to Throck’s and Pell’s Necks were also guarded, the latter by Colonel Hand and his riflemen; and on the night of the first landing [Oct. 12.], the bridge was removed, and General Howe was left upon an island.

He suspected his Tory guides of treachery, but he soon ascertained the truth and decamped, after being driven back from the causeway by Hand, with the aid of Prescott (the hero of Breed’s Hill) and a three-pounder, under Lieutenant Bryant. 49 Howe crossed in his boats to Pell’s Point, a little above [Oct. 18.], and marched over Pelham Manor toward New Rochelle. After a hot skirmish with Glover’s brigade, of Sullivan’s division, in which the Americans were repulsed, Howe encamped upon high ground between Hutchinson’s River and New Rochelle village, where he remained until the twenty-first, when he took post upon the heights of New Rochelle, 50 north of the village, on the road to White Plains and Scarsdale. Knyphausen and his division arrived the next day, and encamped upon the land now owned by E. K. Collins, Esq., between New Rochelle and Mamaroneck.

Washington viewed this first planting of the British standard upon the main land in proclaimed free America with great anxiety, for clouds were gathering in the horizon of the future. Nominally, he had an army of nineteen thousand men, but in discipline, order, and all the concomitants of true soldiers 51 they were not one third of that number. The time of service of many of them was drawing to a close, and cold weather was approaching to chill the ardor of half-clad patriots. A powerful enemy, well provided, was crouched as a tiger within cannon-voice, ready to spring upon its prey. Yet Washington’s spirit did not quail, and he resolved to confront the foe with his motley troop, as if with a parity of veterans. He called a council of war at the quarters of General Lee [Oct. 16, 1776.], to decide upon the propriety of evacuating Manhattan Island. General Lee, fresh from the field of victory at Charleston, had just arrived and gave his weighty opinion in favor of a total abandonment of the island. The main army was speedily marched toward the Bronx, in West Chester, leaving a garrison, under Colonel Magaw, of Pennsylvania, sufficient to hold Fort Washington and its dependencies. In four divisions, under Generals Lee, Heath, Sullivan, and Lincoln, the American army moved slowly up the western side of the Bronx, and formed a series of intrenched camps upon the hills from the heights of Fordham to White Plains, a distance of about thirteen miles. While presenting a front parallel to that of Howe, frequent skirmishes occurred, in which the Americans were generally the winners. 52 General Greene with a small force garrisoned Fort Lee, situated upon the Palisades, 53 nearly opposite Fort Washington, and on the twenty-first of October the commander-in-chief left Morris’s house and made his head-quarters near White Plains, where, directed by a French engineer, the Americans cast up breast-works, rather as a defense for an intrenched camp in preparation upon the hills of North Castle two miles beyond than as permanent fortifications. 54

WASHINGTON’S HEAD-QUARTERS. 55

PLACE WHERE THE BRITISH CROSSED THE BRONX. 56

CHATTERTON’S HILL, FROM THE RAIL-WAY STATION. 57

M‘Dougal carried off his wounded and artillery, and left the victors in possession of only the inconsiderable breast-works upon the hill. The militia, who were scattered among the Greenburg hills, soon collected in the intrenched camp at the village, and there the American army rested, almost undisturbed, until the evening of the thirty-first [Oct., 1776.]. The British troops rested upon their arms all night after the battle, and the next day, after a skirmish with Glover’s brigade, they encamped within long cannon shot of the front of the American lines. Awed by the apparent strength of Washington’s intrenchments, Howe dared not attack him, but awaited the arrival of Lord Percy, with four battalions from New York and two from Mamaroneck. 58 The loss of the Americans, from the twenty-sixth to the twenty-ninth, did not exceed, probably, three hundred men, in killed, wounded, and prisoners; that of the British was about the same.

Earl Percy arrived in the evening of the thirtieth, and preparations were made to storm the American works the next morning. A tempest of wind and rain arose at midnight, and continued for twenty hours. All operations were delayed, and on the night of the thirty-first, while the storm clouds were breaking and the British host were slumbering, Washington withdrew, and encamped upon the heights of North Castle, toward the Croton River, where he had erected strong breast-works along the hills which loom up a hundred feet above the waters of the Bronx. 59 Howe was afraid to attack him there, and on the night of the fourth of November [1776.], he retreated toward the junction of the Hudson and Harlem Rivers, and encamped upon the heights of Fordham, extending his left wing almost to King’s Bridge. 60

An attack upon Fort Washington, now environed by a hostile force, though at a distance, was to be the next scene in the drama. Washington called a council of war, and it was unanimously resolved to retreat into New Jersey with the larger portion of the army, leaving all the New England troops on the east side of the Hudson to defend the Highlands. This movement was speedily executed. By the twelfth [November.] the main army were in New Jersey, some crossing from Tarrytown to Paramus (Sneeden’s Landing), and others from Teller’s (Croton) Point to the mouth of Tappan Creek (Piermont). The chief, after inspecting places at Peekskill and vicinity, crossed King’s Ferry [Nov. 14, 1776.], and hastened to form his camp, with his head-quarters at Hackinsack, in the rear of Fort Lee. 61 General Heath was left in command in the Highlands, and General Lee, with a dissolving force 62 of more than eight thousand men, remained at North Castle, with orders to join the main army in New Jersey if the enemy should aim a blow in that quarter.

On the day of the battle at White Plains, Knyphausen, with six German battalions, marched from New Rochelle, crossed the head of Harlem River, at Dyckman’s Bridge, 63 took possession of the abandoned works in the vicinity of King’s Bridge, and encamped upon the plain [Nov. 2.] between there and Fort Washington. The Americans in Fort Independence and redoubts near, fled, on his approach, to Fort Washington, and now the whole country beyond Harlem, between Dobbs’s Ferry and Morrisania, west of the Bronx, was in the possession of the royal army. Fort Washington was completely environed by hostile forces. On the fifth, three British ships of war passed up the Hudson unharmed, and on the night of the fourteenth, a large number of flat-boats went up and were moored near King’s Bridge. The commander-in-chief would now have ordered the evacuation of Fort Washington, had not Greene urged the necessity of holding it, in connection with Fort Lee, for the defense of the river.

On the fifteenth [Nov., 1776.] Howe was informed of the real condition of the garrison and works at Fort Washington, by a deserter from Magaw’s battalion, and he immediately sent a messenger with a summons for the commander to surrender, or peril his garrison with the doom of massacre. Magaw, in a brief note, promptly refused compliance, and sent a copy of his answer to Washington at Hackinsack. Confident of success, Howe ordered a cannonade to be opened upon the American outworks from two British redoubts, situated upon the east side of the Harlem River, a little above the High Bridge. The cannonade commenced early on the morning of the sixteenth, to cover the landing of troops which crossed the Harlem there, preparatory to a combined attack at four different points. Expecting this, Magaw made a judicious disposition of his little force. 64 Colonel Rawling’s with his Maryland riflemen, was posted in a redoubt (Fort Tryon) upon a hill north of Fort Washington, and a few men were stationed at the outpost called Cock-hill Fort. Militia of the Flying Camp, under Colonel Baxter, were placed on the rough wooded hills east of the fort, along the Harlem River, and others, under Colonel Lambert Cadwalader, of Pennsylvania, manned the lines in the direction of New York.

Magaw commanded in the fort. The plan of attack was well arranged. Knyphausen, with five hundred Hessians and Waldeckers, was to move to the attack on the north simultaneously with a division of English and Hessian troops, under Lord Percy, who were to assail the lines on the south. At the same time, Brigadier Mathews, supported by Cornwallis, was to cross the Harlem River, with the guards, light infantry, and two battalions of grenadiers, and land above Fort Washington, under cover of the guns on the West Chester Hills, just mentioned, 65 while Colonel Stirling, with the 42d regiment, was to cross at a point a little above the High Bridge. These arrangements were carried out. Knyphausen divided his forces. One division, under Colonel Rall (killed at Trenton seventy days afterward), drove the Americans from Cock-hill Fort, while Knyphausen, with the remainder, penetrated the woods near Tubby Hook, and, after clambering over felled trees and other obstructions, attacked Rawlings in Fort Tryon. The fort was gallantly defended for some time, and many Hessians were slain.

VIEW AT FORT WASHINGTON. 66

Rawlings was finally forced to yield, and retreated to Fort Washington, under cover of its guns, when Knyphausen planted the Hessian flag upon Fort Tryon. In the mean while, Percy had crossed near Harlem, swept over the plain, drove in the American pickets at Harlem Cove (Manhattanville), and attacked Cadwalader at the advanced line of intrenchments. 67 Percy’s force was eight hundred strong; Cadwalader had only one hundred and fifty men, and one eighteen-pounder. Both parties fought bravely, and Percy, yielding, moved toward the American left, behind a wood, and the combat ceased for a while.

FLAG-STAFF, FORT WASHINGTON. 68

While Rawlings and Cadwalader were keeping the assailants at bay, Mathews and Stirling landed. The former pushed up the wooded heights, drove Baxter’s troops from their redoubt (Fort George) and rocky defense, and stood victor upon the hills overlooking the open fields around Fort Washington. Stirling, after making a feigned landing, dropped down to an estuary of the river, landed within the American lines, and, rushing up the acclivity by a sinuous road, attacked a redoubt on the summit, and made about two hundred prisoners. 69 Informed of this, and perceiving the peril of being placed between two fires, Cadwalader retreated along the road nearest the Hudson, closely pursued by Percy, and battling all the way. When near the upper border of Trinity Cemetery (One hundred and Fifty-fifth Street), he was attacked on the flank by Colonel Stirling, who was pressing across the island to intercept him. 70 He continued the retreat, and reached the fort, after losing a few killed, and about thirty made prisoners. On the border of the cemetery, and near the fort, severe skirmishes took place, and many of the Hessian pursuers were slain. The defense was gallant; but pike, ball, and bayonet, used by five thousand men, overpowered the weakened patriots, and at meridian they were nearly all gathered within the ramparts of the fort. General Howe now sent another summons to surrender. Perceiving further resistance to be vain, Magaw complied, 71 and at hall past one o’clock [Nov. 16, 1776.] the British flag was waving where the Union banner was unfurled defiantly in the morning. The garrison, amounting to more than two thousand men, were made prisoners of war, 72 and with these the jails of New York were speedily gorged. It was a terrible disaster for the little Republican army. Of all the gallant men who battled there on that day, not one is known among the living. Probably the last survivor of them all, and the last living relic of the British army in America, was the venerable JOHN BATTIN, who died at his residence in Greenwich Street, in the city of New York, on the twenty-ninth of June, 1852, at the age of one hundred years and four months. His body is entombed in Trinity Cemetery, upon the very ground where he fought for his king seventy-six years before. 73

Washington, standing upon Fort Lee with his general officers, and the author of "Common Sense," saw some of the slaughter near the doomed fortress, and with streaming eyes he beheld the meteor flag of England flashing above its ramparts in the bright November sun. The fort was lost forever, and its name was changed to Knyphausen. The chief now turned his thoughts toward the defense of the federal city of Philadelphia, for he penetrated the design of Howe to push thitherward. Fort Lee was abandoned, but before its stores could be removed, Cornwallis had crossed the Hudson with six thousand men, and was rapidly approaching it. 74 The garrison fled to the camp at Hackinsack, and now commenced the retreat of Washington across the Jerseys, toward the Delaware, noted on pages 14 and 15.

VIEW AT KING’S BRIDGE. 75

General Knyphausen held Fort Washington and the neighboring works, while the main British army was operating elsewhere in 1777. The fortifications were strengthened, and King’s Bridge and vicinity presented a formidable barrier to the invasion of York Island by land. After the fall of Fort Washington, and the departure of both Americans and British to New Jersey, General Heath established a cordon of troops [January, 1777.] from the heights at Wepperham (Yonkers) to Mamaroneck, under the command of Brigadier John Morin Scott. That officer left the army two months later for civil employment, and the Americans retired, so that their left rested upon Byram River. While the strong detachments of the two armies were occupying their relative positions, many skirmishes took place, especially between the Americans and corps of Loyalists, formed under various leaders. The latter traversed Lower West Chester, annoyed the American outposts and patrols, and distressed the inhabitants. 76

In the summer of 1777, Washington, believing the post at New York to be weak, because the main army of the British was in New Jersey and a large detachment was on Rhode Island, ordered General Heath to approach King’s Bridge, and if circumstances appeared to promise success, to attack the fortifications there. The withdrawal of troops from New Jersey or Rhode Island, if not the possession of New York, were hoped for results. Heath advanced, and summoned Fort Independence, on Tetard’s Hill, to surrender. The commandant refused, and while preparing for attack, Heath received intelligence of movements in the East, which made it prudent to withdraw and watch his Highland camp and fortifications. In the succeeding autumn, Sir Henry Clinton captured Forts Clinton and Montgomery, and Kingston was destroyed. Several months before, a British detachment had destroyed stores at Peekskill (p. 741, vol. i.), and Tryon had desolated Danbury and vicinity. 77 These events, which have already been considered, directed the attention of Washington more to the security of the Highlands than offensive operations against New York.

After the battle at Monmouth [June {original text has "January".}, 1778.], and the retreat of the British army to New York, Knyphausen again took command near King’s Bridge, with his quarters at Morris’s house. The Queen’s Rangers, under Simcoe, and other Loyal corps, a troop of light horse under Emmerick, and Delancey’s battalions, now became active in patroling Lower West Chester. To oppose their incursions, General Charles Scott, of Virginia, with quite a strong force, took post on the Greenburg Hills, and extended his left toward New Rochelle. Sometimes he advanced as far as Valentine’s Hill, 78 and the foraging parties of the enemy were kept in check. Frequent skirmishes occurred, and the most vigilant and wary were the most successful.

On the night of the first of July, a strong detachment, under General Lincoln, went down the river from Tappan, in boats with muffled oars, and landed half a mile below the village of Yonkers, 79 upon the land now owned by Thomas W. Ludlow, Esq. 80 Lincoln marched cautiously over the hills to Tippett’s Brook, unobserved by Emmerick, who, with his light horse, was patrolling toward Boar Hill. Also avoiding Pruschanck’s corps, stationed upon Cortlandt’s Bridge, Lincoln reached the house of Montgomery, near King’s Bridge, before dawn, where he was discovered and fired upon by the enemy’s pickets. Delancey, at fort No. 8, ever on the alert, heard the firing, and retreated in time for safety, for Lauzun had not approached by West Farms as was intended. Washington had advanced to Valentine’s Hill, and when he heard the firing he pressed forward to the aid of Lincoln. The British troops immediately fell back, and withdrew behind their works, near King’s Bridge. Lincoln ascertained that the detachment had returned from New Jersey; that the British were re-enforced by some fresh troops; that a large party was on the north end of the island, and that a ship of war was watching at the mouth of the creek, near King’s Bridge. In view of these difficulties, Washington withdrew to Dobbs’s Ferry, where he was joined by Rochambeau on the sixth, and both armies were soon on their way to Virginia to capture Cornwallis. No other military operations of importance took place in this vicinity until the passage of King’s Bridge by American troops in the autumn of 1783, when the British were about to evacuate New York.

Stretching away eastward beyond the Sound, is Long Island, all clustered with historical associations. Almost every bay, creek, and inlet witnessed the whale-boat warfare while the British occupied the island. 81 In its swamps and broad forests partisan scouts lurked and ambushed, and almost every fertile field was trodden by the depredator’s foot. Local historians have made the record in detail; we will only glance at two or three of the most important military operations there, in which Major Benjamin Tallmadge was the chief leader. 82

On the fifth of September, 1779, Major Tallmadge proceeded from Shipan Point, near Stamford, Connecticut, with one hundred and thirty of his light dragoons, dismounted, and at ten o’clock at night attacked five hundred Tory marauders, who were quite strongly intrenched upon Lloyd’s Neck, on Long Island. 83 The surprise was complete, and before morning he landed upon the Connecticut shore with almost the whole garrison as prisoners. He did not lose a man.

In the autumn of 1780, some Rhode Island Tory refugees took possession of the manor-house of General John Smith, at Smith’s Point, fortified it and the grounds around it, and began cutting wood for the British army in New York. At the solicitation of General Smith, and with the approval of Washington, Major Tallmadge proceeded to dislodge them. They had named their fortress Fort George, and appeared too strongly intrenched to be in fear. 84 Tallmadge crossed the Sound from Fairfield with eighty dismounted dragoons, and landed in the evening at Old Man’s, now Woodville [Nov. 21, 1780.]. On account of a storm, he remained there until the next night, when, accompanied by Heathcote Muirson, he marched toward Fort George. At the mills, about two miles from the fort, he procured a faithful guide, 85 and at dawn he and his gallant soldiers burst through the stockade on the southwestern side, rushed across the parade, and, shouting " Washington and Glory!" they furiously assailed the redoubt upon three sides. The garrison surrendered without resistance. At that moment a volley was fired from the upper windows of the mansion. The incensed Americans burst open the doors, and would have killed every inmate, had not Major Tallmadge interfered.

Having secured his prisoners (three hundred in number), demolished the fort, and burned vessels lying at the wharf, laden with a great amount of stores, Tallmadge set out on his return at sunrise. On his way, leaving his corps in command of Captain Edgar, he proceeded with ten or twelve men to Corum, and there, after overpowering the guard, they destroyed three hundred tons of hay collected for the British army in New York. He arrived at Fairfield with his prisoners early in the evening, without losing a man. This brilliant exploit drew from Washington a very complimentary letter, and from Congress a gratifying resolution. 86

At Treadwell’s Neck, near Smithtown, a party of Tory wood-cutters (one hundred and fifty in number) erected a military work, which they called Fort Slongo. This Major Tallmadge determined to assail. On the evening of the ninth of October, 1781, he embarked one hundred and fifty of his dismounted dragoons, under Major Trescott at the mouth of the Saugatuck River. They landed at four o’clock the next morning, and at dawn assailed the fort. Some resistance was made, when the garrison yielded, and Trescott was victorious without losing a man. He destroyed the block-house and two iron four-pounders, made twenty-one prisoners, and carried off a brass three-pounder, the colors of the fort, seventy stand of arms, and a quantity of ammunition. 87 Every where eastward of Hempstead minor events of a similar character, but all having influence in the progress of the Revolution, were almost daily transpiring.

When the British felt themselves firmly seated on Manhattan Island after the fall of Fort Washington, they leisurely prepared for permanent occupation. General Robertson immediately strengthened the intrenchments across the island from Corlaer’s Hook, erected barracks along the line of Chambers Street from Broadway to Chatham, and speedily placed the army in comfortable winter quarters. Nearly all of the Whig families whose means permitted them had left the city, and their deserted houses were taken possession of by the officers of the army and refugee Loyalists. 88 The dissenting churches were generally devoted to military purposes, 89 and the spacious sugar-houses, then three in number, were made prisons for the American captives, when the cells of the City Hall and the provost prison were full. 90 Looking with contempt upon the rebels in field and council, the British felt no anxiety for their safety, and every pleasure that could be procured was freely indulged in by the army. A theatre was established, tennis courts and other kinds of amusements were prepared, and for seven years the city remained a prey to the licentiousness of strong and idle detachments of a well-provided army. This was the head-quarters of British power in America during that time, and here the most important schemes for operations against the patriots, military and otherwise, were planned and put in motion. The municipal government was overthrown, martial law prevailed, and the business of the city degenerated almost into the narrow operations of suttling.

Here many petty depredating expeditions were planned; and from Whitehall many a vessel departed with armed troops to distress the inhabitants of neighboring provinces, 91 or with secret emissaries to discover the weakness of patriot camps, to encourage disaffection in the Republican ranks, and, by the circulation of spurious paper money 92 and lying proclamations, to disgust the people and win their allegiance to the crown. A record of the stirring incidents of the armed occupation of New York would fill a volume. 93 It tempts the pen by many allurements, but I must leave the pleasure of such a task to the local historian, and hasten to a consideration of the final evacuation of the city by the British army, and the parting of Washington with his officers.

After protracted negotiations for a year and a half, a definitive treaty of peace was signed at Paris [Sept. 3, 1783.] between American and English commissioners. A provisional treaty had been signed about nine months previously [Nov. 20, 1782.], and in the mean while, preparations for a final adjustment of the dispute had been made. On account of the pecuniary embarrassments of Congress, the arrearages of pay due to the soldiers, and the prospect of a dissolution of the army without a liquidation of those claims, general gloom and discontent prevailed. We have seen its alarming manifestation at Newburgh in the spring of 1783 (p 674, vol. i.), and, though suppressed, it was never entirely subdued. It required all the personal influence and sagacity of Washington to keep the remnant of the Continental army in organization until the final evacuation of the British in the autumn of that year, and when that event took place the Republican troops were a mere handful. 94

WASHINGTON’S HEAD-QUARTERS. 95

In August, Washington was called to attend upon Congress, then sitting at Princeton. 96 He left General Knox in command of the little army at Newburgh and vicinity, and, with Mrs. Washington and a portion of his military family, he made his residence at Rocky Hill, near the Millstone River, about four miles from Princeton, where he remained until November, when he joined Knox and the remnant of the Continental army at West Point, preparatory to entering the city of New York. 97

On the seventh of August [1783.], Sir Guy Carleton, then in chief command of the British army, received instructions to evacuate the city of New York. This event was delayed in order to make arrangements for the benefit of the Loyalists in the city and state, 98 and it was not until late in October when Carleton notified Washington of his determination to leave our shores. On the second of November, Washington issued his "Farewell Address to the Armies of the United States" 99 from Rocky Hill, and on the fourteenth of the same month he conferred with Governor Clinton, 100 and made arrangements to enter and take possession of the city.

Clinton issued an appropriate proclamation on the fifteenth, and summoned the officers of the civil government to meet him in council at East Chester. A day or two afterward, Washington, Clinton, and Carleton held a conference at Dobbs’s Ferry (p. 763, vol. i.), and the twenty-fifth was fixed upon as the time for the exodus of the British troops. Both parties adopted measures for the preservation of order on the occasion. On the morning of that day – a cold, frosty, but clear and brilliant morning – the American troops, under General Knox, 101 who had come down from West Point and encamped at Harlem, marched to the Bowery Lane, and halted at the present junction of Third Avenue and the Bowery.

There they remained until about one o’clock in the afternoon, when the British left their posts in that vicinity and marched to Whitehall. 102 The American troops followed, 103 and before three o’clock General Knox took formal possession of Fort George amid the acclamations of thousands of emancipated freemen, and the roar of artillery upon the Battery. Washington repaired to his quarters at the spacious tavern of Samuel Fraunce, and there during the afternoon, Governor Clinton gave a public dinner to the officers of the army, and in the evening the town was brilliantly illuminated.

FRAUNCE’S TAVERN. 104

On Thursday [Dec. 4.] the principal officers of the army yet remaining in service assembled at Fraunce’s, to take a final leave of their beloved chief. The scene is described as one of great tenderness. Washington entered the room where they were all waiting, and taking a glass of wine in his hand, he said, "With a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable." Having drunk, he continued, "I can not come to each of you to take my leave, but shall be obliged to you if each will come and take me by the hand." Knox, who stood nearest to him, turned and grasped his hand, and, while the tears flowed down the cheeks of each, the commander-in-chief kissed him. This he did to each of his officers, while tears and sobs stifled utterance. 105 Washington soon left the room, and passing through corps of light infantry, he walked in silence to Whitehall, followed by a vast procession, and at two o’clock entered a barge to proceed to Paulus’s Hook on his way to lay his commission at the feet of Congress, at Annapolis. 106 When he entered his barge, he turned to the people, took off his hat, and waved a silent adieu to the tearful multitude.

Washington remained a few days in Philadelphia, where he delivered in his accounts to the proper officers, 107 and then hastened, with his wife, to Annapolis, where he arrived on the evening of the nineteenth [Dec., 1783.]. The next day he informed Congress of his desire to resign his commission as commander-in-chief of the armies of the United States. That body resolved that it should be done at a public audience the following Tuesday [Dec. 23.], at meridian. The day was fine, and around the State House (see page 196) a great concourse was assembled.

The little gallery of the Senate Chamber (see page 636) was filled with ladies, among whom was Mrs. Washington. 108 The members of Congress were seated and covered; the spectators were all uncovered. Washington entered, and was led to a chair by the venerable Secretary Thomson, when General Mifflin, 109 the president of Congress, arose and informed him that "the United States, in Congress assembled, were prepared to receive his communications" The chief arose, and with great dignity and much feeling delivered a brief speech, and then handed his commission to the president.

Mifflin received it, and made an eloquent reply. 110 When the whole business was closed, Washington and his lady set out for Mount Vernon, accompanied by the governor of Maryland and his suite, as far as South River. All the way from New York to Annapolis, and from thence to Mount Vernon, his progress was a triumphal march. He was escorted from place to place by mounted citizens and volunteer military corps, and was every where greeted with the most emphatic demonstrations of love and respect. 111 For more than eight years he had served his country faithfully and efficiently. Now that it was acknowledged free and independent, he crowned the glory of his patriotic devotion by resigning into the hands of his country’s representatives the instrument of his power, and as a plain untitled citizen he sat down in peace in the midst of his family, on the banks of the Potomac.

1 The Rose and Phœnix, after remaining in Haverstraw Bay five weeks, had passed the American batteries and joined the fleet. – See page 596.

3 This view is from the road on the high shore, a little below Fort Hamilton, looking southeast; the house in the center belonged to Simon Cortelyou, a Tory, during the Revolution, and has not been altered. Gravesend Bay is seen beyond the house, and the distant land is Coney Island beach.

4 Many Whig families left the city, and for seven long years of exile they endured privations with heroic fortitude. * Many of their houses were destroyed by fire, and others were ruined by military occupants.

5 Israel Putnam was born in Salem, Massachusetts, on the seventh of January, 1718. He was a vigorous, athletic lad, and in 1739 we find him cultivating land in Pomfret, Connecticut. He was appointed to the command of the first troops raised in Connecticut for the French and Indian war in 1755, in which capacity the reader has met him several times in these volumes. He returned to his farm after the peace, where he remained until he heard of the affair at Lexington. At the head of Connecticut troops, he distinguished himself in the battle of Bunker Hill. He was one of the four major generals appointed by Congress in 1775. His services during the war are mentioned in many portions of this work, and we will not repeat them here. His last military services were performed at West Point and vicinity in 1779, where he was chiefly engaged in strengthening the fortifications. Paralysis of one side impaired the activity of his body, but his mind retained its powers until his death. He lived in retirement after the war, and died at Brooklyn, Windham county, Connecticut, on the twenty-ninth of May, 1790, aged seventy-two years. His remains repose beneath a marble slab in the grave-yard south of the village, upon which is an appropriate inscription. *

6 Over all the sites of Revolutionary fortifications, near Brooklyn, the modern city is rapidly spreading. Streets and avenues reticulate the whole area, and it is difficult now to identify the consecrated places. By a careful comparison of maps, military plans, and other authorities, with maps of the modern city, I have endeavored to locate the various works. I am satisfied that there will be found no material errors in the statement. *

* The first work erected, after fortifying Red Hook and constructing Fort Stirling, on Brooklyn Heights (see page 593), was a redoubt called Fort Putnam, upon a wooded hill near the Wallabout, now known as Fort Greene and Washington Square. This was a redoubt with five guns; and when the trees were felled, it commanded the East River, and the roads approaching Brooklyn from the interior. An intrenchment extended from Fort Putnam northwesterly down the hill to a spring now (1852,) in a tanning-yard, with a pump in it, near the intersection of Portland Street and Flushing Avenue. This spring was then on the verge of the Wallabout. From the western side of the fort an intrenchment extended in zigzag course across the Flatbush road, near the junction of Flatbush Avenue and Power Street, to Freek’s mill-pond, at the head of Gowanus Creek, near the junction of Second Avenue and Carroll Street. Near the Intersection of Nevins and Dean Streets, about half way between Fort Putnam and the mill-pond, on the land of Debevoise and Vanbrunt, a redoubt was constructed with five guns, and called Fort Greene. A little southward of Fort Putnam, near the Jamaica road, was a small redoubt; and upon the slope of Bergen Hill (very near Boerum’s Hill), opposite Brower’s mill, was a small redoubt with four guns. It stood between Smith Street and First Avenue, not far from the termination of Hoyt Street at Carroll. This is supposed to be Box Fort. It was afterward strengthened by the British while a detachment lay encamped on Bergen Hill. Last year (1851) a friend of the writer picked up arrow heads, and buttons marked "42" (42d Highlanders), on the site of this redoubt. At the head of the tunnel of the Long Island rail-way, in the vicinity of Boerum and Atlantic Streets, was a high, conical hill, called Ponkiesbergh and Cobble Hill. A redoubt for three cannons was constructed on the top of this hill, and, from the circumstance that an intrenchment extended spirally from summit to base, it was called Cork-screw Fort. – (See Onderdonk’s Revolutionary Incidents of Long Island, ii., 118.) This redoubt remained until 1812, when it was strengthened and called Fort Swift. Fort Putnam was strengthened at the same time, and called Fort Greene. The banks then raised on those of the fort of the Revolution were very prominent until the present year (1852), when diluted patriotism and bad taste allowed them to be leveled so as to give the face of Washington Square a smooth appearance. To the eye of a true American there is more beauty in a single mound consecrated by patriotism than in a score of graveled walks trodden by the gay and thoughtless

7 New Lots village is about a mile south of the rail-way station at East New York, upon the same plain. The morass at Shoemaker’s Bridge (30 on map, page 600) is now only a wet swale, with a small sluggish stream, and presents none of the difficulties of passage of former days. It is said that at the time in question a single regiment might have kept the whole British force at bay at Shoemaker’s Bridge.

At East New York, "Howard’s half-way house" of the Revolution is yet standing, though much altered. William Howard, a son of the Whig tavern-keeper, is yet (1852) living there, at the age of ninety. * He told me that he remembers well seeing the British approaching from New Lots, and then taking his father a prisoner and compelling him to show them the Jamaica pass, and the best route over the hills east of it, to the open country toward Brooklyn. We sat in the room in which he was born eighty-nine years before.

11 William Alexander, earl of Stirling, was born in the city of New York in 1726. His father, James Alexander, was a native of Scotland, and took refuge in America in 1716, after an active espousal of the cause of the pretender, in the rebellion the previous year. His mother was the widow of David Provoost, better known in the city of New York, a little more than a century ago, as "Ready-money Provoost." * Young Alexander joined the army during a portion of the French and Indian war, and was aid-de-camp and secretary to General Shirley. He accompanied that officer to England in 1755, and while there he made the acquaintance of some of the leading statesmen of the time. By the advice of many of them, he instituted legal proceedings to obtain the title of Earl of Stirling, to which his father was heir presumptive when he left Scotland. Although he did not obtain a legal recognition of the title, his right to it was generally conceded, and from that time he was addressed as Earl of Stirling. He returned to America in 1761, and soon afterward married the daughter of Philip Livingston (the second lord of the manor), a sister of Governor Livingston, of New Jersey, and built a fine mansion (yet standing) at Baskenridge, in that state. He was a member of the Provincial Council of New Jersey for several years. In 1775, the Provincial Convention of New Jersey appointed him colonel of the first regiment of militia, and in March, 1776, the Continental Congress gave him the commission of brigadier. Lee left him in command at New York in March. He was conspicuous in the battle near Brooklyn in August, and in February ensuing Congress appointed him a major general. He performed varied and active service until the summer of 1781, when he was ordered to the command of the Northern army, his head-quarters at Albany. An invasion from Canada was then expected. Quite a large British force was at Ticonderoga and vicinity, under St. Leger, who was repulsed at Fort Stanwix in 1777, and much alarm prevailed above the Highlands. We have already met detachments in the vicinity of Johnstown (see p. 290, vol. i.) and witnessed their reception by Colonel Willett. The vigorous and effective preparations made by Lord Stirling intimidated St. Leger, and he returned to Canada. Late in the autumn Stirling took the chief command in New Jersey, and the following summer he was again in command at Albany, with a general supervision of military affairs between that place and New York. Among other orders issued by him at that time were several respecting beacons and alarm posts.

From one of them, in possession of the son of Colonel Aaron Burr, I copied the annexed sketch, made by the pen of Lord Stirling, together with the full order. † Lord Stirling died at Albany on the fifteenth of January, 1783, in the fifty-seventh year of his age. It is a singular fact that at different periods during the war, Lord Stirling had under his command every brigade of the American army except those of South Carolina and Georgia. His youngest daughter married Colonel William Duer, and became the mother of William A. Duer, late president of Columbia College, and Judge John Duer, of the city of New York ‡ – See Life of Lord Stirling, by his grandson, William A. Duer, LL.D.

† The following is a copy of the order: "Each of the beacons are to be of the following dimensions: at bottom, fourteen feet square, to rise in a pyramidal form to about eighteen or twenty feet high, and then to terminate about six feet square, with a stout sapling in the center of about thirty feet high from the ground. In order to erect them, the officer who oversees the execution should proceed thus: he should order the following sized logs to be cut as near the place as possible: twenty logs of fourteen feet long and about one foot diameter; ten logs of about twelve feet long; ten logs of about ten feet long; ten logs of about nine feet long; ten logs of about eight feet long; twenty logs of about seven feet long; twenty logs of about six feet long. He should then sort his longest logs as to diameter, and place the four longest on the ground, parallel to each other, and about three feet apart from each other. He should then place the four next logs in size across these at right angles, and so proceed till all the logs of fourteen feet be placed. Then he is to go on in the same manner with logs of twelve feet long, and when they are all placed, with those of a lesser size, till the whole are placed, taking care, as he goes on, to fill the vacancies between the logs with old dry split wood or useless dry rails and brush, not too close, and leaving the fifth tier open for firing and air. In the beginning of his work, to place a good stout sapling in the center, with part of its top left, about ten or twelve feet above the whole work. The figure of the beacon will appear thus. [The sketch above given] The two upper rows of logs should be fastened in their places with good strong wooden plugs or trunnels." These beacons were erected upon hills from the Hudson Highlands through New Jersey by way of Morristown, Pluckemin, and Middlebrook, and upon the Neversink Hills at Sandy Hook. They were to be used as signals denoting the approach of the enemy, for the assembling of the militia at certain points, and to direct the movements of certain Continental battalions.

15 The most sanguinary conflict occurred after the Americans had left the Flatbush pass, and attempted to retreat to the lines at Brooklyn. The place of severest contest, and where Sullivan and his men were made prisoners, was upon the slope between the Flatbush Avenue and the Long Island rail-way, between Bedford and Brooklyn, near "Baker’s Tavern" (17), at a little east of the junction of these avenues. The preceding map, compiled from those of the English engineers for Marshall’s Life of Washington, will assist the reader in obtaining a proper understanding of the movements of the two armies.

20 An account of the New York prisons and prison-ships may be found in the Supplement to this work.

21 Nathaniel Woodhull was born at Mastic, Long Island, December 30, 1722. Agriculture was the chief pursuit of his life. He was a major, under Abercrombie, in the attack upon Crown Point and Ticonderoga, and afterward accompanied Bradstreet against Fort Frontenac. He was a colonel, under Amherst, in 1760, and at the close of the campaign he returned home and married Ruth Floyd. He espoused the popular side in the Stamp Act movements, and, possessing the esteem of the people, he was elected, with William Nicoll, a representative of Suffolk county, in the Colonial Assembly in 1769. He represented Suffolk in the first Provincial Congress in 1775, and was elected president of that body. He was appointed a brigadier of militia in August of that year, and in July, 1776, he was summoned home to embody the militia of Suffolk and Queens, to assist in repelling invasion. He was engaged in this service when he was made a prisoner, * cruelly wounded by a British officer, and died of his injuries three weeks afterward, at New Utrecht. His wife, who was with him in his last moments, conveyed his body to Mastic, and there, in a secluded family cemetery, a short distance from his residence, his remains rest.

* In consequence of the tardy movements of others, on whom devolved the duty of furnishing him with a proper force to perform the labors assigned him, General Woodhull (Udell in many old accounts) did not participate in the battle on the twenty-seventh of August. He made his head-quarters at Jamaica, and with his inadequate force he scoured the country for miles around, watching the movements of the enemy, and driving large numbers of cattle to Hempstead plains. When he perceived the position of Clinton, near the Jamaica pass, on the morning of the twenty-seventh, he sent urgent messages to the Provincial Congress asking for re-enforcements. It was now too late, for the regiments of Smith and Remsen, of Kings and Queens counties, could not be spared from the lines at Brooklyn. With a soldier’s impatience he was obliged to listen to the distant roar of battle, for with a soldier’s strict discipline he would not move without orders. When apprised of the disasters of the day, he ordered his little band to fall back four miles beyond Jamaica, on the morning of the twenty-eighth, while he awaited orders from camp. In the afternoon, he left Jamaica with two companions, to join his soldiers, and while taking refuge from a thunder-storm in the inn of Increase Carpenter, two miles east of Jamaica village, he was made a prisoner by a party of British, under Captain Sir James Baird (whom we met at Savannah, page 526), piloted by some Tories. Tradition says that Baird ordered Woodhull to shout "God save the King!" and because instead he cried "God save us all!" he smote him with his broadsword, and would have killed him on the spot, if Major Delancey, who accompanied Baird, had not interfered. The blow badly wounded the head of the general, and mangled his left arm the whole length.

I am indebted to Mr. Onderdonk for the sketch of the old Jamaica church. With him I visited New Utrecht (1850) to make a drawing of the house wherein General Woodhull died. It had just been demolished, and a modern house placed on its site by the owner, Mr. Barent Wyckoff. To the patriotism and artistic skill of Miss C. Lott, living near, I am indebted for the sketch of that venerated edifice, probably the first house erected in that town. It was of stone, covered with red tiles, and answered the description of a dwelling erected in 1658, by De Sille, the attorney general of the province. – See Doc. Hist. of New York, i., 634. The New Utrecht church, which stood near, was of octagon form like one at Jamaica. The weather-cock from its steeple now graces the barn of Mr. Lott, and the gilt dove from the pulpit sounding-board is perched upon the roof of his well.

28 See page 18. In his letter of the second of September, Washington evidently foresaw his inability to retain his position in the city of New York. He asked the question, "If we should be obliged to abandon the town, ought it to stand as winter quarters for the enemy?" and added, "If Congress, therefore, should resolve upon the destruction of it, the resolution should be a profound secret, as a knowledge of it will make a capital change in their plans." General Greene and other military men, and John Jay and several leading civilians, were in favor of destroying New York. But Congress, by resolution of the third of September, ordered otherwise, because they hoped to regain it if it should be lost. – See Journal, ii., 321.

30 On the approach of the fleet, the little garrison on Governor’s Island and at Red Hook withdrew to New York. One man at Governor’s Island lost an arm by a ball from a British ship, just as he was embarking. *

31 Both officers were exchanged soon afterward, Sullivan for General Prescott, captured nine months before (see vol. i., page 645), and Lord Stirling for Governor Brown, of Providence Island, who had been captured by Commodore Hopkins. Lord Stirling was exchanged within a month after he was made prisoner.

32 The committee consisted of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Edward Rutledge. When they reached Perth Amboy, they found the barge of Lord Howe in waiting for them, with a British officer who was left as a hostage. The meeting was friendly, and Lord Howe, who was personally acquainted with Franklin, freely expressed to that statesman his abhorrence of the war, and his sincere personal desire for peace. * The whole interview was distinguished by courtesy and good feeling. Howe informed the committee that he would not recognize them as members of Congress, but as private gentlemen, and that the independence of the colonies could not be considered for a moment. They told him he might call them what he pleased, they were nevertheless representatives of a free and independent people, and would entertain no proposition which did not recognize the independence of the colonies. The gulf between them was evidently impassable, and the conference was soon terminated, for Howe had nothing acceptable to offer. He expressed his regret because of his obligation now to prosecute the war. Franklin assured him that the Americans would endeavor to lessen the pain he might feel on their account by taking good care of themselves. Thus ended the conference. † In the third volume of the collected Writings of John Adams may be found an interesting sketch from the pen of that patriot, describing the events of a night passed in bed with Dr. Franklin at New Brunswick, on the night preceding this conference.