XXXIV. ground, exclaiming, "Are these the men with whom I CHAPTER am to defend America?" His attendants turned his horse's head, and hurried him from the field. Orders were sent to Putnam, who commanded in the city, to evacuate at once. The retreat was made, of necessity, in a very hasty and disorderly manner; three hundred men fell into the hands of the enemy; the heavy artillery was left behind, with a large quantity of provisions and military stores. It was only by moving rapidly by the Greenwich road, along the western shore, that Putnam escaped at all. 1776. In a skirmish the next day, the Americans behaved Sept. 16. better, and repulsed the enemy, not, however, without the loss of Colonel Knowlton, of Connecticut, and one or two other very promising officers. The British, on entering the city, were received with open arms by their numerous partisans. A few nights after a fire broke out, which spread rapidly, and, before Sept. 20. it could be extinguished, Trinity Church and near a third part of the town lay in ruins. It was reported to have been kindled by the "Sons of Liberty," and some persons, seized on this suspicion, were precipitated into the flames by the enraged British soldiers. It would seem, however, to have been accidental, and to have owed its spread to a long and excessive drought. The Americans still remained intrenched on Harlem Heights, and in this position the armies lay facing each other for several weeks. The sick in the American camp were very numerous; it was impossible to find proper hospitals; and they lay about in almost every barn, stable, shed, and even under the fences and bushes. The troops were not the only sufferers. Washington was obliged to issue very severe orders, to restrain, not the private soldiers, but even some of the officers, from CHAPTER plundering the unfortunate inhabitants of York Island, under pretense that they were Tories. XXXIV. 1776. Not venturing to attack the American camp, Howe Oct. 12. detached a part of his forces to occupy Throg's Point, on the mainland shore of the Sound. Undeterred by the fire of Forts Washington and Lee, British ships ascended the Hudson, and cut off all supplies from the country south and west of that river. Thus in danger of being shut in on both sides, Washington, under advice of a council of war, extended his forces across King's Bridge. York Island was thus abandoned, except Fort Washington, in which a garrison was left of three thousand men. The army, arranged in four divisions, under Lee, Heath, Sullivan, and Lincoln, by movements to the left, was gradually concentrated in a strongly-fortified camp near White Plains. There was a great deficiency of draught cattle, and the removal of the baggage was not accomplished without very severe labor. The British followed up the Oct. 28. retreating army, and attacked M'Dougall, who occupied, with sixteen hundred men, a commanding height on the right of the American camp, but separated from it by the River Bronx. The Americans resisted but feebly; and, after a short struggle, in which they lost three or four hundred men, killed and prisoners, they were driven from the hill. A general engagement now seemed inevitable; but, while Howe delayed, for satisfactory reasons, as Cornwallis afterward testified before the House of Commons, but which political motives made it impossible either for Howe or himself to explain, Washington fortified a still stronger position, two miles in his rear, on the heights of North Castle, into which he unexpectedly withdrew, and in which the British general did not venture to attack him. Oct. 31. Howe moved, instead, toward King's Bridge. New Jer XXXIV. sey seemed to be threatened, and all the troops from the CHAPTER states south of the Hudson were ordered to the west side of that river, whither Washington's head-quarters were 1776. also transferred. To avoid the British ships, the American troops were obliged to march as far north as King's Ferry, at the entrance of the Highlands, being thus subjected to a painful circuit of sixty miles. Heath's division was stationed in the Highlands, with orders to throw up additional fortifications for the defense of that important pass. Lee, with the remainder of the New England regiments, was left to guard the east side of the Hudson. The term of the New England militia, which composed no inconsiderable part of the army, was now just about to expire. Washington was inclined to abandon York Island altogether, by withdrawing the troops left in garrison there. But, in that case, all chance of control over the navigation of the Hudson would be lost-a matter deemed of great importance by Congress, and especially so by the New York Convention. Fort Washington, and the works on Harlem Heights, were held by Magaw's and Shea's Pennsylvania regiments, Rawlins's Maryland riflemen, and some of the militia of the flying camp. Greene, who commanded on the Jersey side, thought the position might be maintained. Before the commander-in-chief was able to make a personal examination, it was unexpectedly assaulted from four different points by as many British columns. The extent of the lines, still unfinished, was altogether too great for the garrison. Colonel Magaw, who commanded, made the best defense he could, and the assailants, in gaining possession of the outworks, lost some four hundred men. But when the enemy appeared within a hundred yards of the fort, into which the garrison had crowded, the discouraged soldiers refused XXXIV. CHAPTER to man the lines, and the whole force, two thousand-in number, with a great quantity of artillery, fell into the 1776. hands of the British. Nov. 16. This severe blow was soon followed up. Some six thousand British troops, a greater force than Washington could muster, were landed on the Jersey shore, above Fort Lee. To avoid being shut up in the narrow neck between the Hudson and Hackensack, Washington was obliged to evacuate that post, with the loss of baggage, artillery, and stores. During these operations, the New York Convention was greatly alarmed lest the numerous Tories of that state should rise in arms, and openly join the British forces. Often obliged, by the movements of the armies, to change its locality, that body sat successively at Harlem, King's Bridge, Philip's Manor, Croton River, and Fishkill some of the time, to guard against surprise, with arms in the hands of its members. A committee was appointed, of which Jay was chairman, " for inquir- Washington's army, by this time, was greatly re- duced. XXXIV. piring. The whole flying camp soon claimed their dis- CHAPTER charge; and no inducements could procure a moment's delay. Some of the New York militia refused to do 1776. duty. Howe, they said, offered "peace, liberty, and safety" so they understood his proclamation—and what more could they ask? The continentals were enlisted only for a year, and their term of service was fast drawing to a close; nor did they always wait to complete it, desertions being very numerous. Exclusive of Heath's division in the Highlands, and the corps under Lee on the east side of the Hudson, Washington's army did not exceed four thousand men. The ground which he occupied was a level plain between the Hackensack and the Passaic; the army had no intrenching tools; and a British column, led by Cornwallis, was rapidly approaching. Obliged to retreat, but anxious not to be cut off from Philadelphia, Washington crossed the Passaic to Newark, his troops exposed to all the severity of approaching winter, without tents, badly supplied with blankets, and very imperfectly clad. The British, well furnished with every necessary, pressed upon him with a much superior force; and Washington again retired, first across the Nov. 28. Raritan to Brunswick, and thence to Princeton, where a corps was left, under Sterling, to check the enemy's advance, while Washington continued his retreat to Tren- Dec. 2. ton, where he transported his remaining stores and baggage across the Delaware. The first state Legislature under the new Constitution of New Jersey, having met at Princeton, had chosen Aug. 27. William Livingston as governor, an office which he continued to hold till after the adoption of the Federal Constitution. Though Livingston had esteemed the Declaration of Independence premature, no one was more stanch than he in its support. In compliance with |
