town before the entrance of the British, the pumps and fire-engines were in bad order, and a brisk south wind fanned the flame. Two regiments of soldiers and many men from the fleet were employed to arrest the progress of the devouring element, and at length succeeded in extinguishing the fire, but not till it had consumed about 1,000 houses.

Probably the fire was occasioned by the inconsiderate revelry of the British sailors, who had been permitted to regale themselves on shore

The Americans were strongly posted toward the northern extremity of the island of New York. To attack them in front was unadvisable, but General Howe resolved to make an attempt on their rear, or to hem them in on the island without the possibility of escape. For this purpose, leaving three brigades of British and one of Hessian troops to guard New York, early in the morning of the 12th of October he embarked the rest of the army in flat-bottomed boats, and, in the course of the same morning, landed at Thog's Neck, in the county of West Chester. But finding that place unsuitable to his purpose, he again embarked, proceeded to the mouth of Hutchinson's river, and landed there; when the troops had a skirmish with an American party, and succeeded in dislodging them from a narrow pass of which they had taken possession.

On the 21st of October, the main body of the British army marched to New Rochelle, lying on the sound which separates Long Island from Connecticut. There the second division of foreign troops, consisting of upward of 5,000 Hessians and Waldeckers, under General Knyphausen, with about 2.000 baggagehorses, which had arrived in a fleet of seventy-two sail, joined General Howe. General Washington's first intention was to maintain his position on the island of New York; but General Lee, in whose military talents and experience the army had great confidence, on joining the army after the successful defence of Charleston, strongly remonstrated against that resolution, asserting that the British, by a chain of works, would completely hem in the Americans, and compel them to surrender, even without a battle. His representations induced General Washington, with the consent of a council of war, to alter his plan, and move his army from Kingsbridge to White Plains, on the left of his present position, maintaining a line parallel to that in which the British army was marching, and separated from it by the river Bronx. On the 26th of October, the main body of the American army, consisting of about 17,000 ill-disciplined men, took possession of a slightly fortified camp on the east side of the Bronx, which an advanced detachment had been employed in preparing. A bend in the river covered their right flank, and General Washington posted a body of about 1,600 men, under General McDougall, on a hill in a line with his right wing, but separated from it by the Bronx.

The British general having collected his troops, brought forward his artillery with considerable difficulty; and having got everything ready for active operations, advanced in two columns toward the American camp. He accompanied the left column in person; General Clinton led the right. A distant cannonade began, with little effect on either side. The detachment on the hill, under Mc Dougall, attracted the notice of General Howe, and he resolved to dislodge it. He ordered General Leslie, with the second brigade of British troops, and Colonel Donop, with the Hessian grenadiers, on that service. On their advance, the American militia fled with precipitation; but about 600 regulars, who were under McDougall, vigorously defended themselves for some time. They were compelled, however, to retreat, and the British took possession of the hill; but they were at too great a distance to be able to annoy any part of the American line.

Three days afterward, General Howe, having received reinforcements from New York and other quarters, resolved to attack the American camp. But a

heavy rain during the whole night rendered the ground so slippery, that in the morning it would have been very difficult to ascend the acclivity of the hills on which the Americans were posted; and therefore it was deemed unadvisable to make the attempt.

General Washington, apprehensive of an attack, and doubtful of the issue on the ground which he then occupied, early in the morning of the 1st of November left his camp, retired toward North Castle, and took a strong position behind the river Croton. General Howe, perceiving that it was the purpose of his adversary to avoid a general engagement, and finding it out of his power to force a battle, in such a country, unless in very disadvantageous circumstances, ceased to pursue the American army. He well knew that soon it would be almost dissolved, on the expiration of the term for which many of the men had engaged to serve; and therefore he turned his attention to the reduction of Forts Washington and Lee; the first on the island of New York, not far from Kingsbridge and the other on the Jersey side of the North river, nearly opposite the former. The Americans had flattered themselves, that by means of these two forts they would be able to command the navigation of the North river; but that had proved an illusion, as several British vessels had passed the forts without sustaining any injury from their fire. It had been debated in an American council of war, whether, in the present posture of their affairs, those two places ought to be retained. General Lee was decidedly of opinion that they ought to be abandoned; but General Greene urged the propriety of defending them, and his opinion prevailed.

Fort Washington was garrisoned by about 3,000 men, under the command of Colonel Magaw, who thought he could defend the place till about the end of December. On the 15th of November, General Sir William Howe summoned the garrison to surrender, on pain of being put to the sword; but received for answer, that they would defend themselves to the last extremity. Early next morning, a vigorous attack was begun by the British and Hessian troops, in four divisions; and, after a severe engagement, in which the assailants lost about 1,000 men in killed and wounded, Colonel Magaw was compelled to surrender as prisoners-of-war, himself and his garrison, amounting to two thousand six hundred men, inclusive of the country militia. The fall of Fort Washington was a heavy blow to the infant republic, and greatly discouraged its raw and disorderly army.

Fort Lee, on the Jersey side of the river, nearly opposite to Fort Washington,

next engaged the attention of the British general. That fort stood on a slip of land, about ten miles long, lying between the Hudson and the Hackensack, and English Neighborhood. Early on the morning of the 18th of November, Earl Cornwallis, with a strong detachment, in flat-bottomed boats, passed through the communication between the East and North rivers, by Kingsbridge, with the intention of cutting off the retreat of the troops in Fort Lee. General Greene, however, who commanded in those parts, being apprized of his movement, by a rapid march escaped with the main body of the garrison, but left behind some stragglers, and also his heavy artillery and baggage, which fell into the hands of the British. Thus the Americans were driven, with considerable loss, from the island of New York, and from the Jersey bank of the North river.

On the 12th of November, General Washington had crossed the North river with part of his army, and taken a position not far from Fort Lee, having left upward of 7,000 men at North Castle, under the command of General Lee. At that time, the American army was in a critical and alarming state. It was composed chiefly of militia and of men engaged for a short time only. The term of service of many of them was about to expire; and the republican military force was on the point of dissolution, in the presence of a well-disciplined, well-appointed, and victorious enemy.

In that threatening posture of public affairs, General Washington applied to the state of Massachusetts for 4,000 new militia; and General Lee besought the militia under his command to remain for a few days after their term of service was expired. But the application of the commander-in-chief was not promptly answered; and the earnest entreaties of General Lee were almost utterly disregarded.

On the fall of Forts Washington and Lee, General Washington, with his little army, of about 3,000 effective men, ill-armed, worse clad, and almost without tents, blankets, or utensils for cooking their provisions, took a position behind the Hackensack. His army consisted chiefly of the garrison of Fort Lee, which had been obliged to evacuate that place with so much precipitation as to leave behind them the tents and most of the articles of comfort and accommodation in their possession. But although General Washington made a show of resistance by occupying the line of the Hackensack, yet he was sensible of his inability to dispute the passage of that river; he therefore retreated to Newark. There he remained some days, making the most earnest applications in every quarter for reinforcements, and pressing General Lee to hasten his march to the southward and join him.

On the advance of Earl Cornwallis, General Washington abandoned Newark, and retreated to New Brunswick, a small village on the Raritan. While there, the term of service of a number of his troops expired, and he had the mortification to see them abandon him. From New Brunswick the Americans retreated to Trenton. There General Washington received a reinforcement of about 2,000 men from Pennsylvania. He had taken the precaution of collecting and guarding all the boats on the Delaware from Philadelphia for seventy miles higher up the river. He sent his sick to Philadelphia, and his heavy artillery and baggage across the Delaware. Having taken these precautionary measures, and being somewhat encouraged by the reinforcements which he had received, he halted some time at Trenton, and even began to advance toward Princeton; but being informed that Earl Cornwallis, strongly reinforced, was marching against him, he was obliged to seek refuge behind the great river Delaware. On the 8th of December he accomplished the passage at Trenton Ferry, the van of the British army making its appearance just as his rear-guard had crossed.

General Washington was careful to secure all the boats on the south side of the river, and to guard all those places where it was probable that the British

army might attempt to pass; so that his feeble army was secured from the danger of an immediate attack. The British troops made demonstrations of an intention to cross the river, and detachments were stationed to oppose them; but the attempt was not seriously made. In this situation the American commander anxiously waited for reinforcements, and sent some parties over the river to observe and annoy the enemy.

While General Washington was retreating through the Jerseys, he earnestly desired General Lee, who had been left in command of the division of the army at North Castle, to hasten his march to the Delaware and join the main army. But that officer, notwithstanding the critical nature of the case, and the pressing orders of his commander, was in no haste to obey. He marched slowly to the southward, at the head of about 3,000 men; and his sluggish movements and unwary conduct proved fatal to his own personal liberty, and excited a lively sensation throughout America. He lay carelessly without a guard, and at some distance from his troops, at Baskenridge, in Morris county, where, on the 13th of December, Colonel Harcourt, who, with a small detachment of light horse, had been sent to observe the movements of that division of the American army, by a gallant act of partisan warfare, made him prisoner, and conveyed him rapidly to New York. For some time he was closely confined, and considered not as a prisoner-of-war, but as a deserter from the British army. The capture of General Lee was regarded as a great misfortune by the Americans; for at that time he enjoyed, in a high degree, the esteem and confidence of the friends of congress; on the other hand, the British exulted in his captivity, as equal to a signal victory, declaring that "they had taken the American palladium."

General Sullivan, who on the 4th of September had been exchanged for Gen eral Prescott, when Lord Stirling also had been exchanged for General McDon ald, succeeded to the command of Lee's division, and soon conducted it across the Delaware to General Washington's army. At the same time General Gates with part of the army of Canada, arrived in camp. But even after the junction of those troops, and a number of militia of Pennsylvania, General Washington's force did not exceed 5,000 men; for though many had joined the army, yet not a few were daily leaving it; and of those who remained, the greater part were raw troops, ill-provided, and all of them dispirited by defeat.

General Howe, with an army of 27,000 men, completely armed and disciplined, well-provided, and flushed with success, lay on the opposite side of the Delaware; stretching from New Brunswick to the vicinity of Philadelphia, and ready, it was believed, to pass over as soon as the severity of the winter was set in, and the river completely frozen. To the Americans this was the most gloomy period of the contest; and their affairs appeared in a very hopeless condition. To deepen the gloom of this period, so alarming to the Americans, and to confirm the confidence of the British army, General Clinton, with two brigades of British and two of Hessian troops, escorted by a squadron of men-of-war under Sir Peter Parker, was sent against Rhode Island. The American force, incapable of making any effectual resistance, abandoned the island on General Clinton's approach; and on the day that General Washington crossed the Delaware, he took possession of it without opposition or loss. At the same time the British fleet blocked up Commodore Hopkins' squadron, and a number of privateers at Providence.

When the American army retreated through the Jerseys, dejection took possession of the public mind. General Washington called on the militia of that state to take the field; but his call was not obeyed. Fear triumphed over patriotism; and every one was more anxious to provide for his personal safety than to support the national cause.

On the 30th of November, when the sun of American independence seemed