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[Contents]

THE
CAMPAIGN OF 1776
AROUND
NEW YORK AND BROOKLYN.
INCLUDING A NEW AND CIRCUMSTANTIAL ACCOUNT OF
THE BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND AND THE
LOSS OF NEW YORK,
WITH A
REVIEW OF EVENTS TO THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR,
CONTAINING MAPS, PORTRAITS, AND ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS.
BY
HENRY P. JOHNSTON.

BROOKLYN, N.Y.:
PUBLISHED BY THE LONG ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
1878.
Copyright, 1878,
By HENRY P. JOHNSTON,
For the Society.
S.W. GREEN,
PRINTER AND ELECTROTYPER,
16 and 18 Jacob Street,
New York.

[[Enlarge]]

NEW YORK and BROOKLYN WITH THEIR ENVIRONS IN 1776.

Compiled by H.P. JOHNSTON.

Steel Engr. F. von Egloffstein, N.Y.

PREFACE.

The site now occupied by the two cities of New York and Brooklyn, and over which they continue to spread, is pre-eminently "Revolutionary soil." Very few of our historic places are more closely associated with the actual scenes of that struggle. As at Boston in 1775, so here in 1776, we had the war at our doors and all about us. In what is now the heart of Brooklyn Revolutionary soldiers lay encamped for months, and in the heat of a trying summer surrounded themselves with lines of works. What have since been converted into spots of rare beauty—Greenwood Cemetery and Prospect Park—became, with the ground in their vicinity, a battle-field. New York, which was then taking its place as the most flourishing city on the continent, was transformed by the emergency into a fortified military base. Troops quartered in Broad Street and along the North and East rivers, and on the line of Grand Street permanent camps were established. Forts, redoubts, batteries, and intrenchments encircled the town. The streets were barricaded, the roads blocked, and efforts made to obstruct the navigation of both rivers. Where we have stores and warehouses, Washington fixed alarm and picket posts; and at points where costly residences stand, men fought, died, and were buried. In 1776 the cause had become general; soldiers gathered here from ten of the original thirteen States, and the contest assumed serious proportions. It was here around New York and Brooklyn that the War of the Revolution began in earnest.

The record of what occurred in this vicinity at that interesting period has much of it been preserved in our standard histories by Gordon, Marshall, Irving, Hildreth, Lossing, Bancroft, Carrington, and others. In the present volume it is given as a single connected account, with many additional particulars which have but recently come to light. This new material, gathered largely from the descendants of officers and soldiers who participated in that campaign, is published with other documents in [Part II.] of this work, and is presented as its principal feature. What importance should be attached to it must be left to the judgment of the reader.

The writer himself has made use of these documents in filling gaps and correcting errors. Such documents, for example, as the orders issued by Generals Greene and Sullivan on Long Island, with the original letters of Generals Parsons, Scott, and other officers, go far towards clearing up the hitherto doubtful points in regard to operations on the Brooklyn side. There is not a little, also, that throws light on the retreat to New York; while material of value has been unearthed respecting events which terminated in the capture of the city by the British. Considerable space has been devoted to the preparations made by both sides for the campaign, but as the nature of those preparations illustrates the very great importance attached to the struggle that was to come, it may not appear disproportionate. The narrative also is continued so as to include the closing incidents of the year, without which it would hardly be complete, although they take us beyond the limits of New York.

But for the cheerful and in many cases painstaking co-operation of those who are in possession of the documents referred to, or who have otherwise rendered assistance, the preparation of the work could not have been possible. The writer finds himself especially under obligations to Miss Harriet E. Henshaw, of Leicester, Mass.; Miss Mary Little and Benjamin Hale, Esq., Newburyport; Charles J. Little, Esq., Cambridge; Mr. Francis S. Drake, Roxbury; Rev. Dr. I.N. Tarbox and John J. Soren, Boston; Prof. George Washington Greene, East Greenwich, R.I.; Hon. J.M. Addeman, Secretary of State of Rhode Island, and Rev. Dr. Stone, Providence; Hon. Dwight Morris, Secretary of State of Connecticut; Dr. P.W. Ellsworth and Captain John C. Kinney, Hartford; Miss Mary L. Huntington, Norwich; Benjamin Douglas, Esq., Middletown; Mr. Henry M. Selden, Haddam Neck; Hon. G.H. Hollister, Bridgeport; Hon. Teunis G. Bergen, Mr. Henry E. Pierrepont, J. Carson Brevoort, Esq., Rev. Dr. H.M. Scudder, and Mr. Gerrit H. Van Wagenen, Brooklyn; Mr. Henry Onderdonk, Jr., Jamaica, L.I.; Frederick H. Wolcott, Esq., Astoria, L.I.; Hon. John Jay, Charles I. Bushnell, Esq., Miss Troup, Mrs. Kernochan, Prof. and Mrs. O.P. Hubbard, Gen. Alex. S. Webb, Rev. A.A. Reinke, New York City; Mr. William Kelby, New York Historical Society; Prof. Asa Bird Gardner, West Point; Hon. W.S. Stryker, Adjutant-General, Trenton, N.J.; Richard Randolph Parry, Esq., Hon. Lewis A. Scott, and Mr. J. Jordan, Philadelphia; Hon. John B. Linn, Harrisburg; Mrs. S.B. Rogers and Mr. D.M. Stauffler, Lancaster; Dr. Dalrymple, Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore; Hon. Cæsar A. Rodney, J.R. Walter, and W.S. Boyd, Wilmington, Del.; Oswald Tilghman, Esq., Easton, Md.; Hon. Edward McPherson, Rev. Dr. John Chester, and Lieutenant-Colonel T. Lincoln Casey, Washington; President Andrews and Mr. Holden, Librarian, Marietta College; and Mr. Henry E. Parsons and Edward Welles, Ashtabula, Ohio.

The cordial and constant encouragement extended by the Rev. Dr. Richard S. Storrs, President of the Long Island Historical Society, and the interest taken in the work by Hon. Henry C. Murphy, Benjamin D. Silliman, Esq., and the Librarian, Mr. George Hannah, are gratefully acknowledged.

New York City, June, 1878.

CONTENTS.

[PART I.]

[PART II.]

LIST OF MAPS.

1. [New York, Brooklyn, and Environs in 1776.]

2. [Plan of the Battle of Long Island and the Brooklyn Defences.]

3. [President Stiles' Sketch of the Brooklyn Works.]

4. [Ewing's Draught of the Long Island Engagement.]

5. [Map of New York City and of Manhattan Island, with the American Defences.]

6. [Field of the Harlem Heights "Affair."]

PORTRAITS.

1. [John Lasher, Colonel First New York City Battalion.]

2. [Edward Hand, Colonel First Continental Regiment, Pennsylvania.]

3. [John Glover, Colonel Fourteenth Continental Regiment, Massachusetts.]

4. [Jedediah Huntington, Colonel Seventeenth Continental Regiment, Connecticut.]

PART I.

THE CAMPAIGN.

CHAPTER I.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CAMPAIGN—PLANS AND PREPARATIONS.

"Our affairs are hastening fast to a crisis; and the approaching campaign will, in all probability, determine forever the fate of America."

So wrote John Hancock, President of Congress, June 4th, 1776, to the governors and conventions of the Eastern and Middle colonies, as, in the name of that body, he reminded them of the gravity of the struggle on which they had entered, and urged the necessity of increasing their exertions for the common defence. That this was no undue alarm, published for effect, but a well-grounded and urgent warning to the country, is confirmed by the situation at the time and the whole train of events that followed. The campaign of 1776 did indeed prove to be a crisis, a turning-point, in the fortunes of the Revolution. It is not investing it with an exaggerated importance, to claim that it was the decisive period of the war; that, whatever anxieties and fears were subsequently experienced, this was the year in which the greatest dangers were encountered and passed. "Should the united colonies be able to keep their ground this campaign," continued Hancock, "I am under no apprehensions on account of any future one." "We expect a very bloody summer in New York and Canada," wrote Washington to his brother John Augustine, in May; and repeatedly, through the days of preparation, he represented to his troops what vital interests were at stake and how much was to depend upon their discipline and courage in the field.

But let the significance of the campaign be measured by the record itself, to which the following pages are devoted. It will be found to have been the year in which Great Britain made her most strenuous efforts to suppress the colonial revolt, and in which both sides mustered the largest forces raised during the war; the year in which the issues of the contest were clearly defined and America first fought for independence; a year, for the most part, of defeats and losses for the colonists, and when their faith and resolution were put to the severest test; but a year, also, which ended with a broad ray of hope, and whose hard experiences opened the road to final success. It was the year from which we date our national existence. A period so interesting and, in a certain sense, momentous is deserving of illustration with every fact and detail that can be gathered.

What was the occasion or necessity for this campaign; what the plans and preparations made for it both by the mother country and the colonies?

The opening incidents of the Revolution, to which these questions refer us, are a familiar chapter in its history. On the morning of the 19th of April, 1775, an expedition of British regulars, moving out from Boston, came upon a company of provincials hastily forming on Lexington Common, twelve miles distant. The attitude of these countrymen represented the last step to which they had been driven by the aggressive acts of the home Parliament. Up to this moment the controversy over colonial rights and privileges had been confined, from the days of the Stamp Act, to argument, protest, petition, and legislative proceedings; but these failing to convince or conciliate either party, it only remained for Great Britain to exercise her authority in the case with force.

The expedition in question had been organized for the purpose of seizing the military stores belonging to the Massachusetts Colony, then collected at Concord, and which the king's authorities regarded as too dangerous material to be in the hands of the people at that stage of the crisis. The provincials, on the other hand, watched them jealously. King and Parliament might question their rights, block up their port, ruin their trade, proscribe their leaders, and they could bear all without offering open resistance. But the attempt to deprive them of the means of self-defence at a time when the current of affairs clearly indicated that, sooner or later, they would be compelled to defend themselves, was an act to which they would not submit, as already they had shown on more than one occasion. To no other right did the colonist cling more tenaciously at this juncture than to his right to his powder. The men at Lexington, therefore, drew up on their village grounds, not defiantly, but in obedience to the most natural impulse. Their position was a logical one. To have remained quietly in their homes would have been a stultification of their whole record from the beginning of the troubles; stand they must, some time and somewhere. Under the circumstances, a collision between the king's troops and the provincials that morning was inevitable. The commander of the former, charged with orders to disperse all "rebels," made the sharp demand upon the Lexington company instantly to lay down their arms. A moment's confusion and delay—then scattering shots—then a full volley from the regulars—and ten men fell dead and wounded upon the green. Here was a shock, the ultimate consequences of which few of the participants in the scene could have forecast; but it was the alarm-gun of the Revolution.

Events followed rapidly. The march of the British to Concord, the destruction of the stores, the skirmish at the bridge, and, later in the day, the famous road-fight kept up by the farmers down to Charlestown, ending in the signal demoralization and defeat of the expedition, combined with the Lexington episode to make the 19th of April an historic date. The rapid spread of the news, the excitement in New England, the uprising of the militia and their hurried march to Boston to resist any further excursions of the regulars, were the immediate consequence of this collision.

Nor was the alarm confined to the Eastern colonies, then chiefly affected. A courier delivered the news in New York three days later, on Sunday noon, and the liberty party at once seized the public military stores, and prevented vessels loaded with supplies for the British in Boston from leaving port. Soon came fuller accounts of the expedition and its rout. Expresses carried them southward, and their course can be followed for nearly a thousand miles along the coast. On the 23d and 24th they passed through Connecticut, where at Wallingford the dispatches quaintly describe the turning out of the militiamen: "The country beyond here are all gone." They reached New York at two o'clock on the 25th, and Isaac Low countersigns. Relays taking them up in New Jersey, report at Princeton on the 26th, at "3.30 a.m." They are at Philadelphia at noon, and "forwarded at the same time." We find them at New Castle, Delaware, at nine in the evening; at Baltimore at ten on the following night; at Alexandria, Virginia, at sunset on the 29th; at Williamsburg, May 2d; and at Edenton, North Carolina, on the 4th, with directions to the next Committee of Safety: "Disperse the material passages [of the accounts] through all your parts." Down through the deep pine regions, stopping at Bath and Newbern, ride the horsemen, reaching Wilmington at 4 p.m. on the 8th. "Forward it by night and day," say the committee. At Brunswick at nine the indorsement is entered: "Pray don't neglect a moment in forwarding." At Georgetown, South Carolina, where the dispatches arrive at 6.30 p.m. on the 10th, the committee address a note to their Charleston brethren: "We send you by express a letter and newspapers with momentous intelligence this instant arrived." The news reaching Savannah, a party of citizens immediately took possession of the government powder.

The wave of excitement which follows the signal of a coming struggle was thus borne by its own force throughout the length of the colonies. And from the coast the intelligence spread inland as far as settlers had found their way. In distant Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, men heard it, and began to organize and drill. At Charlotte, North Carolina, they sounded the first note for independence. From many points brave and sympathetic words were sent to the people of Massachusetts Bay, and in all quarters people discussed the probable effect of the startling turn matters had taken in that colony. The likelihood of a general rupture with the mother country now came to be seriously entertained.

Meanwhile the situation to the eastward assumed more and more a military aspect. On the 10th of May occurred the surprise and capture, by Ethan Allen and his party, of the important post of Ticonderoga, where during the summer the provincials organized a force to march upon and, if possible, secure the Canadas. The Continental Congress at Philadelphia, after resolving that the issue had been forced upon them by Great Britain, voted to prepare for self-defence. They adopted the New England troops, gathered around Boston, as a Continental force, and appointed Washington to the chief command. Then on the 17th of June Bunker Hill was fought, that first regular action of the war, with its far-reaching moral effect; and following it came the siege of Boston, or the hemming in of the British by the Americans, until the former were finally compelled to evacuate the city.

It is here in these culminating events of the spring and summer of 1775 that we find the occasion for the preparations made by Great Britain for the campaign of 1776. Little appreciating the genius of the colonists, underrating their resources and capacity for resistance, mistaking also their motives, King George and his party imagined that on the first display of England's power all disturbance and attempts at rebellion across the sea would instantly cease. But the sudden transition from peace to war, and the complete mastery of the situation which the colonists appeared to hold, convinced the home government that "the American business" was no trifling trouble, to be readily settled by a few British regiments. As the season advanced, they began to realize the fact that General Gage, and then Howe succeeding him, with their force of ten thousand choice troops, were helplessly pent up in Boston; that Montreal and Quebec were threatened; that colonists in the undisturbed sections were arming; and that Congress was supplanting the authority of Parliament. A more rigorous treatment of the revolt had become necessary; and as the time had passed to effect any thing on a grand scale during the present year, measures were proposed to crush all opposition in the next campaign. Follow, briefly, the course of the British Government at this crisis.

Parliament convened on the 26th day of October. The king's speech, with which it opened, was necessarily devoted to the American question, and it declared his policy clearly and boldly. His rebellious subjects must be brought to terms. "They have raised troops," he said, "and are collecting a naval force; they have seized the public revenue, and assumed to themselves legislative, executive, and judicial powers, which they already exercise, in the most arbitrary manner, over the persons and properties of their fellow subjects: and although many of these unhappy people may still retain their loyalty, and may be too wise not to see the fatal consequence of this usurpation and wish to resist it, yet the torrent of violence has been strong enough to compel their acquiescence, till a sufficient force shall appear to support them. The authors and promoters of this desperate conspiracy have, in the conduct of it, derived great advantage from the difference of our intentions and theirs. They meant only to amuse by vague expressions of attachment to the parent state, and the strongest protestations of loyalty to me, whilst they were preparing for a general revolt. On our part, though it was declared in your last session that a rebellion existed within the province of the Massachusetts' Bay, yet even that province we wished rather to reclaim than to subdue.... The rebellious war now levied is become more general, and is manifestly carried on for the purpose of establishing an independent empire. I need not dwell upon the fatal effects of the success of such a plan.... It is now become the part of wisdom, and (in its effects) of clemency, to put a speedy end to these disorders, by the most decisive exertions. For this purpose, I have increased my naval establishment, and greatly augmented my land forces, but in such a manner as may be the least burthensome to my kingdoms. I have also the satisfaction to inform you, that I have received the most friendly offers of foreign assistance, and if I shall make any treaties in consequence thereof, they shall be laid before you."

A stranger in Parliament, knowing nothing of the merits of the controversy, would have assumed from the tone of this speech that the home government had been grossly wronged by the American colonists, or at least a powerful faction among them, and that their suppression was a matter of national honor as well as necessity. But the speech was inexcusably unjust to the colonists. The charge of design and double-dealing could not be laid against them, for the ground of their grievances had been the same from the outset, and their conduct consistent with single motives; and if independence had been mentioned at all as yet, it was only as an ulterior resort, and not as an aim or ambition. The king and the Ministry, on the other hand, were wedded to strict notions of authority in the central government, and measured a citizen's fidelity by the readiness with which he submitted to its policy and legislation. Protests and discussion about "charters" and "liberties" were distasteful to them, and whoever disputed Parliament in any case was denounced as strong-headed and factious. The king's speech, therefore, was no more than what was expected from him. It reflected the sentiments of the ruling party.

As usual, motions were made in both houses that an humble address in reply be presented to his Majesty, professing loyalty to his person, and supporting his views and measures. The mover in the Commons was Thomas Ackland, who, in the course of his speech at the time, strongly urged the policy of coercion, and emphasized his approval of it by declaring that it would have been better for his country that America had never been known than that "a great consolidated western empire" should exist independent of Britain. Lyttleton, who seconded the motion, was equally uncompromising. He objected to making the Americans any further conciliatory offers, and insisted that they ought to be conquered first before mercy was shown them.

The issue thus fairly stated by and for the government immediately roused the old opposition, that "ardent and powerful opposition," as Gibbon, who sat in the Commons, describes it; and again the House echoed to attack and invective. Burke, Fox, Conway, Barré, Dunning, and others, who on former occasions had cheered America with their stout defence of her rights, were present at this session to resist any further attempt to impair them. Of the leading spirits, Chatham, now disabled from public service, alone was absent.

Lord John Cavendish led the way on this side, by moving a substitute for Ackland's address which breathed a more moderate spirit, and in effect suggested to his Majesty that the House review the whole of the late proceedings in the colonies, and apply, in its own way, the most effectual means of restoring order and confidence there. Of course this meant concession to America, and it became the signal for the opening of an impassioned debate. Wilkes, Lord Mayor of London, poured out a torrent of remonstrances against the conduct of the Ministry, who had precipitated the nation into "an unjust, ruinous, felonious, and murderous war." Sir Adam Fergusson, speaking less vehemently and with more show of sense, defended the government. Whatever causes may have brought on the troubles, the present concern with him was how to treat them as they then existed. There was but one choice, in his estimation—either to support the authority of Great Britain with vigor, or abandon America altogether. And who, he asked, would be bold enough to advise abandonment? The employment of force, therefore, was the only alternative; and, said the speaker, prudence and humanity required that the army sent out should be such a one as would carry its point and override opposition in every quarter—not merely beat the colonists, but "deprive them of all idea of resistance." Gov. Johnstone, rising in reply, reviewed the old questions at length, and in the course of his speech took occasion to eulogize the bravery of the provincials at Bunker Hill. It was this engagement, more than any incident of the war thus far, that had shown the determination of the "rebels" to fight for their rights; and their friends in Parliament presented it as a foretaste of what was to come, if England persisted in extreme measures. Johnstone besought the House not to wreak its vengeance upon such men as fought that day; for their courage was deserving, rather, of admiration, and their conduct of forgiveness. Honorable Temple Lutrell followed with an attack upon the "evil counsellors who had so long poisoned the ear of the Sovereign." Conway, who on this occasion spoke with his old fire, and held the close attention of the House, called for more information as to the condition of affairs in the colonies, and at the same time rejected the idea of reducing them to submission by force. Barré entered minutely into the particulars and results of the campaign since the 19th of April, as being little to England's credit, and urged the Ministry to embrace the present opportunity for an accommodation with America, or that whole country would be lost to them forever. Burke, in the same vein, represented the impolicy of carrying on the war, and advised the government to meet the colonists with a friendly countenance, and no longer allow Great Britain to appear like "a porcupine, armed all over with acts of Parliament oppressive to trade and America." Fox spoke of Lord North as "a blundering pilot," who had brought the nation into its present dilemma. Neither Lord Chatham nor the King of Prussia, not even Alexander the Great, he declared, ever gained more in one campaign than the noble lord had lost—he had lost an entire continent. While not justifying all the proceedings of the colonists, he called upon the Administration to place America where she stood in 1763, and to repeal every act passed since that time which affected either her freedom or her commerce. Wedderburne and Dunning, the ablest lawyers in the House, took opposite sides. The former, as Solicitor-General, threw the weight of his opinion in favor of rigorous measures, and hoped that an army of not less than sixty thousand men would be sent to enforce Parliamentary authority. Dunning, his predecessor in office, questioned the legality of the king's preparations for war without the previous consent of the Commons. Then, later in the debate, rose Lord North, the principal figure in the Ministry, and whom the Opposition held mainly responsible for the colonial troubles, and defended both himself and the king's address. Speaking forcibly and to the point, he informed the House that, in a word, the measures intended by the government were to send a powerful sea and land armament against the colonists, and at the same time to proffer terms of mercy upon a proper submission. "This," said the Minister, "will show we are in earnest, that we are prepared to punish, but are nevertheless ready to forgive; and this is, in my opinion, the most likely means of producing an honorable reconciliation."

But all the eloquence, reasoning and appeal of the Opposition failed to have any more influence now than in the earlier stages of the controversy, and it again found itself in a hopeless minority. Upon a division of the House, the king was supported by a vote of 278 to 110. The address presented to him closed with the words: "We hope and trust that we shall, by the blessing of God, put such strength and force into your Majesty's hands, as may soon defeat and suppress this rebellion, and enable your Majesty to accomplish your gracious wish of re-establishing order, tranquillity, and happiness through all parts of your United Empire." In the House of Lords, where Camden, Shelburne, Rockingham, and their compeers stood between America and the Ministry, the address was adopted by a vote of 69 to 33.[1]

This powerful endorsement of the king's policy by Parliament, however, cannot be taken as representing the sense of the nation at large. It may be questioned whether even a bare majority of the English people were ready to go to the lengths proposed in his Majesty's address. The Ministry, it is true, pointed to the numerous ratifying "addresses" that flowed in, pledging the support of towns and cities for the prosecution of the war. Some were sent from unexpected quarters. To the surprise of both sides and the particular satisfaction of the king, both Manchester and Sheffield, places supposed to be American in sentiment, came forward with resolutions of confidence and approval; and in ministerial circles it was made to appear that substantially all England was for coercion. But this claim was unfounded. As the king predicted, the loyal addresses provoked opposition addresses. Edinburgh and Glasgow, despite the efforts of their members, refused to address. Lynn was said to have addressed, but its members denied the assertion, and claimed that the war was unpopular in that town. The paper from Great Yarmouth was very thinly signed, while Bristol, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Dudley, and other places sent in counter-petitions against the war. The justices of Middlesex unanimously voted that it was expedient to reduce the colonies to a proper sense of their duty; but at a meeting of the freeholders of the same county, held at Mile-end, to instruct their members in Parliament, little unanimity prevailed, "much clamor arose," a protest was entered against the proposed resolutions, and only one of the sheriffs consented to sign them all. London, as the country well knew, sympathized largely with America, but in a manner which nullified her influence elsewhere. Her populace was noisy and threatening; Wilkes, her Lord Mayor, was hated at court; her solid men kept to business. "Are the London merchants," wrote the king to Lord North,[2] "so thoroughly absorbed in their private interests not to feel what they owe to the constitution which has enriched them, that they do not either show their willingness to support, either by an address, or, what I should like better, a subscription, to furnish many comforts to the army in America?" An address from this quarter, signed by "respectable names," he thought might have a good effect, and one was presented on October 11th, with 941 signatures; but it was entirely neutralized by the presentation, three days before, of another address more numerously signed by "gentlemen, merchants, and traders of London," in which the measures of government were condemned. When the point was made in the Commons that the war was a popular measure in England, Lutrell promptly replied that he had made many a journey through the interior of the country during the summer season, and had conversed with "a multitude of persons widely different in station and description," only to find that the masses were in sympathy with the colonists. The division of sentiment was probably correctly represented by Lord Camden early in the year, in his observation that the landed interest was almost wholly anti-American, while the merchants, tradesmen, and the common people were generally opposed to a war.[3]

Having voted to push the war in earnest, Parliament proceeded to supply the sinews. On November 3d, Lord Barrington brought in the army estimates for 1776. Fifty-five thousand men, he reported, was the force necessary and intended to be raised for the purposes of the nation, the ordinary expense of maintaining which would be something over £1,300,000. Of these troops, twenty thousand would be retained to garrison Great Britain, ten thousand for the West Indies, Gibraltar, Minorca and the coast of Africa, while the actual force destined for America was to be increased to thirty-four battalions, each of 811 men, including two regiments of light horse, amounting, in the aggregate, to upwards of twenty-five thousand men. Barrington, at the same time, frankly acknowledged to the House that these figures showed well only on paper, as none of the regiments for America were complete, and, what was a still more unwelcome admission, that great difficulty was experienced in enlisting new recruits. Nothing, he said, had been left untried to secure them. The bounty had been raised and the standard lowered, and yet men were not forthcoming. Anticipating this dearth, he had warned the king of it as early as July, when the latter first determined to increase the army. "I wish, sir, most cordially," wrote this faithful secretary, "that the force intended for North America may be raised in time to be sent thither next spring; but I not only fear, but am confident, the proposed augmentation cannot possibly be raised, and ought not to be depended on."

Barrington was compelled to give an explanation of this state of things, for the point had been made in and out of Parliament that few recruits could be had in England, because the particular service was odious to the people in general. For the government to admit this would have been clearly fatal; and Barrington argued, per contra, that the scarcity of soldiers was to be traced to other and concurrent causes. The great influx of real and nominal wealth of recent years, the consequent luxury of the times, the very flourishing state of commerce and the manufactures, and the increased employment thus furnished to the lower classes, all contributed to keep men out of the army. Above all, it was represented that the true and natural cause was an actual lack of men, which was due chiefly to the late increase of the militia, who could not be called upon to serve except in extreme cases, and who were not available for the regular force. Barrington, a veteran in official service, true to the king, and justifying the war—though not at all clear as to the right of taxing the colonies—no doubt expressed his honest convictions in making this explanatory speech to the House. There was much, also, that was true in his words; but, whatever the absolute cause, the fact did not then, and cannot now escape notice, that in preparing to uphold the authority of Parliament, and preserve the integrity of her empire in America, Great Britain, in 1775, found it impossible to induce a sufficient number of her own subjects to take up arms in her behalf.

It remained, accordingly, to seek foreign aid. Europe must furnish England with troops, or the war must stop. The custom of employing mercenaries was ancient, and universally exercised on the Continent. Great Britain herself had frequently taken foreign battalions into her pay, but these were to fight a foreign enemy. It would be a thing new in her history to engage them to suppress fellow-Englishmen. But the king regarded war as war, and rebellion a heinous offence; and the character of the troops serving for him in this case became a secondary matter. A more serious question was where to get them. No assistance could be expected from France. Holland declined to lend troops to conquer men who were standing out for their rights on their own soil. In Prussia, Frederick the Great expressed the opinion that it was at least problematical whether America could be conquered, it being difficult to govern men by force at such a distance. "If you intend conciliation," he said in conversation to a party of Englishmen, "some of your measures are too rough; and if subjection, too gentle. In short, I do not understand these matters; I have no colonies. I hope you will extricate yourselves advantageously, but I own the affair seems rather perplexing."[4]

Of all the European powers, Russia and the German principalities alone presented a possible field of encouragement.[5] To the former, King George looked first; for England's friendly attitude had been of the greatest advantage to Russia in her campaigns against Turkey. The king, therefore, at an early date, gave directions that Gunning, the British Minister at Moscow, should approach the Empress Catherine on the subject of lending aid; and, on the proper occasion, Gunning held an interview with Panin, the Russian Prime Minister. Catherine promptly returned what appeared to be a very favorable reply. To use Gunning's own words communicating Russia's answer: "The empress had ordered him (Panin) to give the strongest assurances, and to express them in the strongest terms, of her entire readiness on this and all other occasions to give his Majesty every assistance he could desire, in whatever mode or manner he might think proper. She embraced with satisfaction this occasion of testifying her gratitude to the king and nation for the important services she had received in the late war—favors she the more valued and should not forget as they were spontaneously bestowed.... We were as fully entitled to every succor from her as if the strongest treaties subsisted."[6]

Greatly elated by this unequivocal tender of aid, King George wrote to the empress in his own hand, thanking her for the proffer; and Gunning at the same time was instructed to ask for twenty thousand Russians, and enter into a treaty formally engaging their services. If he could not secure twenty thousand, he was to get all he could. But Gunning's negotiations were to fail completely. To his surprise and chagrin, when he opened the subject of hiring Russian troops, the empress and Panin answered with dignity that it was impossible to accommodate him; that Russia's relations with Sweden, Poland, and Turkey were unsettled, and that it was beneath her station to interfere in a domestic rebellion which no foreign Power had recognized. This sudden change in Catherine's attitude, which without doubt was the result of court intrigue,[7] filled the English king with mortification and disappointment, and compelled him to seek assistance where he finally obtained it—in the petty states of the "Hessian" princes.

Success in this direction compensated in part for the Russian failure. What the British agent, Colonel Faucett, was able to accomplish, what bargains were struck to obtain troops, how much levy money was to be paid per man, and how much more if he never returned, is all a notorious record. From the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, Faucett hired twelve thousand infantry; from the Duke of Brunswick, three thousand nine hundred and a small body of cavalry; and from the reigning Count of Hanau, a corps six hundred and sixty strong. These constituted the "foreign troops" which England sent to America with her own soldiers for the campaign of 1776.

The plans for the campaign were laid out on a scale corresponding with the preparations. When Sir William Howe was sent out to reinforce General Gage at Boston, in the spring of 1775, it was assumed by the Ministry that operations would be confined to that quarter, and that if Massachusetts were once subdued there would be nothing to fear elsewhere. But the continued siege of Boston changed the military status. Howe was completely locked in, and could effect nothing. The necessity of transferring the seat of war to a larger field became apparent after Bunker Hill, and military plans were broached and discussed in the Cabinet, in the army, and in Parliament. Lord Barrington, who well knew that men enough could not be had from England to conquer the colonies, advocated operations by sea. An effective blockade of the entire American coast, depriving the colonists of their trade, might, in his view, bring them to terms. Mr. Innes, in the House, proposed securing a strong foothold in the south, below the Delaware, and shutting up the northern ports with the fleet. But the basis of the plan adopted appears to have been that suggested by Burgoyne at Boston in the summer of 1775, and by Howe in January, 1776. "If the continent," wrote the former to Lord Rochfort, Secretary of State for the Colonies, "is to be subdued by arms, his Majesty's councils will find, I am persuaded, the proper expedients; but I speak confidently as a soldier, because I speak the sentiments of those who know America best, that you can have no prospect of bringing the war to a speedy conclusion with any force that Great Britain and Ireland can supply. A large army of foreign troops such as might be hired, to begin their operations up the Hudson River; another army, composed partly of old disciplined troops and partly of Canadians, to act from Canada; a large levy of Indians, and a supply of arms for the blacks to awe the southern provinces, conjointly with detachments of regulars; and a numerous fleet to sweep the whole coast, might possibly do the business in one campaign."[8] To Lord Dartmouth, Howe represented that with an army of twenty thousand men, twelve thousand of whom should hold New York, six thousand land on Rhode Island, and two thousand protect Halifax, with a separate force at Quebec, offensive operations could be pushed so as to put "a very different aspect" on the situation by the close of another year.

The plan as finally arranged was a modification of these two views. It was decided that Howe should occupy New York City with the main body of the army, and secure that important base; while Carleton, with Burgoyne as second in command, should move down from Canada to Ticonderoga and Albany. By concert of action on the part of these forces, New England could be effectually cut off from co-operation with the lower colonies, and the unity of their movements broken up. It was proposed at the same time to send an expedition under Lord Cornwallis and Admiral Parker, to obtain a footing in Virginia or either of the Carolinas, and encourage the loyal element in the South to organize, and counteract the revolt in that quarter. By carrying out this grand strategy, King George and his advisers confidently expected to end all resistance in America at one blow.

Thus Great Britain, instead of attempting to recover her authority over the colonists by a candid recognition of privileges which they claimed as Englishmen, resolved in 1775 to enforce it. The government went to war, with the nation's wealth and influence at its back, but with only half its popular sympathies and moral support. Parliament refused to listen to the appeals of its ablest members to try the virtues of concession and conciliation. A heavy war budget was voted, the Continent of Europe was ransacked for troops which could not be enlisted in England, and every effort made to insure the complete submission of the colonies in 1776.

How America prepared to meet the coming storm is properly the subject of the [succeeding chapter] of this work. But we find her in no position in 1775 to assume the character of a public enemy towards the mother country. She still claimed to be a petitioner to the king for the redress of grievances. If she had taken up arms, it was simply in self-defence, and these she was ready to lay down the moment her rights were acknowledged. A revolution, involving separation from England, was not thought of by the mass of the American people at this time. The most they hoped for was, that by offering a stout resistance to an enforcement of the ministerial policy they could eventually compel a change in that policy, and enjoy all that they demanded under the British constitution. Towards the close of the year, however, when the intelligence came that the king had ignored the last petition from Congress, and had proposed extreme war measures, the colonists felt that serious work was before them. Independence now began to be more generally discussed; Washington's troops were re-enlisted for service through the following year, and Congress took further steps for the common defence.

Future military operations were necessarily dependent on the plans to be developed by the British. But as the siege of Boston progressed, it became obvious that that point at least could not be made a base for the ensuing campaign. No other was more likely to be selected by the enemy than New York; and to New York the war finally came.

The topography of this new region, the transfer to it of the two armies, and the preparations made for its defence by the Americans, next claim attention.

CHAPTER II.

FORTIFYING NEW YORK AND BROOKLYN.

New York City, in 1776, lay at the end of Manhattan Island, in shape somewhat like an arrow-head, with its point turned towards the sea and its barbs extended at uneven lengths along the East and Hudson rivers. It occupied no more space than is now included within the five lower and smallest of its twenty-four wards. Excepting a limited district laid out on the east side, in part as far as Grand street, the entire town stood below the line of the present Chambers street, and covered an area less than one mile square. Then, as now, Broadway was its principal thoroughfare. Shaded with rows of trees, and lined mainly with residences, churches, and public-houses, it stretched something more than a mile to the grounds of the old City Hospital, near Duane street. Its starting-point was the Battery at the end of the island, but not the Battery of to-day; for, under the system of "harbor encroachments," the latter has more than trebled in size, and is changed both in its shape and its uses. The city defences at that time occupied the site. Here at the foot of Broadway old Fort George had been erected upon the base of the older Fort Amsterdam, to guard the entrance to the rivers, and with its outworks was the only protection against an attack by sea. It was a square bastioned affair, with walls of stone, each face eighty feet in length, and within it stood magazines, barracks, and, until destroyed by fire, the mansion of the colonial governors. For additional security, about the time of the French war, an extensive stone battery, with merlons of cedar joists, had been built just below the fort along the water's edge, enclosing the point from river to river, and pierced for ninety-one pieces of cannon.[9]

At this period, the city represented a growth of one hundred and sixty years. Give it a population of twenty-five thousand souls[10]—more rather than less—and line its streets with four thousand buildings, and we have its census statistics approximately. The linear characteristics of the old town are still sharply preserved. Upon the west side, the principal streets running to the North River—Chambers, Warren, Murray, Barclay, Vesey, Dey, and Cortlandt—retain their names and location; but the water-line was then marked by Greenwich street. The present crowded section to the west of it, including Washington and West streets and the docks, is built on new ground, made within the century. Behind Trinity Church, and as far down as the Battery, the shore rose to a very considerable bluff. Necessarily, much the greater part of the city then lay east of Broadway. The irregular streets to be found on this side are relics of both the Dutch and English foundation; of their buildings, however, as they stood in 1776, scarcely one remains at the present time. New streets have been built on the East River as well as on the North, materially changing the water boundary of this part of the island. Front and South streets had no existence at that date. On the line of Wall street, the city has nearly doubled in width since the Revolution.

Before its contraction, and in view of its convenience and protection from storms, the East River was the harbor proper of New York. Most of the docks were on that side, and just above Catherine street lay the ship-yards, where at times, in colonial days, an eight-hundred-ton West Indiaman might be seen upon the stocks.

What is now the City Hall Park was called in 1776 "the Fields," or "The Common." The site of the City Hall was occupied by the House of Correction; the present Hall of Records was the town jail, and the structure then on a line with them at the corner of Broadway was the "Bridewell." The [City Hall] of that day stood in Wall street, on the site of the present Custom-House, and King's, now Columbia, College in the square bounded by Murray, Barclay, Church, and West Broadway. Queen, now Pearl, was the principal business street; fashion was to be found in the vicinity of the Battery, and Broad and Dock streets; the Vauxhall Gardens were at the foot of Reade; and to pass out of town, one would have to turn off Broadway into Chatham street, which extended through Park Row, and keep on to the Bowery.

John Adams has left us a brief description of New York, as he saw it when passing through to the first Congress at Philadelphia in 1774, in company with Cushing, Paine, and Samuel Adams. His diary runs:

"Saturday, Aug. 20.—Lodged at Cock's, at Kingsbridge, a pretty place.... Breakfasted at Day's [127th street], and arrived in the city of New York at ten o'clock, at Hull's, a tavern, the sign the Bunch of Grapes. We rode by several very elegant country-seats before we came to the city.... After dinner, Mr. McDougall and Mr. Platt came, and walked with us to every part of the city. First we went to the fort, where we saw the ruins of that magnificent building, the Governor's house [burned Dec. 29, 1773]. From the Parade, before the fort, you have a fine prospect of Hudson River, and of the East River, or the Sound, and of the harbor; of Long Island, beyond the Sound River, and of New Jersey beyond Hudson's River. The walk round this fort is very pleasant, though the fortifications are not strong. Between the fort and the city is a beautiful ellipsis of land [Bowling Green], railed in with solid iron, in the centre of which is a statue of his majesty on horseback, very large, of solid lead gilded with gold, standing on a pedestal of marble, very high. We then walked up the Broad Way, a fine street, very wide, and in a right line from one end to the other of the city. In this route we saw the old Church and the new Church [Trinity]. The new is a very magnificent building—cost twenty thousand pounds, York currency. The prison is a large and a handsome stone building; there are two sets of barracks. We saw the New York College, which is also a large stone building. A new hospital is building, of stone. We then walked down to a shipyard. Then we walked round through another street, which is the principal street of business. Saw the several markets. After this we went to the coffee-house, which was full of gentlemen; read the newspapers, etc.... The streets of this town are vastly more regular and elegant than those in Boston, and the houses are more grand, as well as neat. They are almost all painted, brick buildings and all."

Other glimpses we get from English sources. The traveler Smyth, while visiting this city during the British occupation, has this to say:[11] "Nothing can be more delightful than the situation of New York, commanding a variety of the most charming prospects that can be conceived. It is built chiefly upon the East River, which is the best and safest harbour, and is only something more than half a mile wide. The North River is better than two miles over to Powles Hook, which is a strong work opposite to New York, but is exposed to the driving of the ice in winter, whereby ships are prevented from lying therein during that season of the year. The land on the North River side is high and bold, but on the East River it gradually descends in a beautiful declivity to the water's edge.... Amongst the multitude of elegant seats upon this island, there are three or four uncommonly beautiful, viz., Governor Elliot's, Judge Jones's, Squire Morris's, and Mr. Bateman's. And opposite, upon the Continent, just above Hell-gates, there is a villa named Morrisania, which is inferior to no place in the world for the beauties, grandeur, and extent of perspective, and the elegance of its situation." Eddis, who had been compelled to leave Maryland on account of his loyal sentiments, was hardly less impressed with the city's appearance when he stopped here on his way to England in 1777. "The capital of this province," he wrote, August 16th, "is situated on the southern extremity of the island; on one side runs the North, and on the other the East River, on the latter of which, on account of the harbour, the city is principally built. In several streets, trees are regularly planted, which afford a grateful shelter during the intense heat of the summer. The buildings are generally of brick, and many are erected in a style of elegance.... Previous to the commencement of this unhappy war, New York was a flourishing, populous, and beautiful town.... Notwithstanding the late devastation [fire of 1776], there are still many elegant edifices remaining, which would reflect credit on any metropolis in Europe."[12]

Beyond the limits of the city, Manhattan Island retained much of its primitive appearance. Roads, farms, country-seats, interspersed it, but not thickly; and as yet the salient features were hills, marshes, patches of rocky land, streams, and woods. Just upon the outskirts, midway between the rivers, at about the corner of Grand and Centre Streets, the ground rose to a commanding elevation on the farm of William Bayard, which overlooked the city and the island above a distance of more than three miles. Further east, a little north of the intersection of Grand and Division Streets, stood another hill, somewhat lower, where Judge Jones lived, from which opened an extensive view of the East River and harbor. On the west side, on this line, the surface sank from Bayard's mount into a spreading marsh as far as the Hudson, and over which now run portions of Canal and Grand and their cross streets. Where we have the Tombs and surrounding blocks, stood the "Fresh Water" lake or "Collect," several fathoms deep, with high sloping banks on the north and west, and on whose surface were made the earliest experiments in steam navigation in 1796.

One nearly central highway, known as the King's Bridge or Post Road, ran the entire length of the island. Where it left the city at Chatham Square, it was properly the Bowerie or Bowery Lane. Continuing along the present street by this name, it fell off into the line of Fourth Avenue as far as Fourteenth Street, crossed Union Square diagonally to Broadway, and kept the course of the latter to Madison Square at Twenty-third Street. Crossing this square, also diagonally, the road stretched along between Fourth and Second Avenues to Fifty-third Street, passed east of Second Avenue, and then turning westerly entered Central Park at Ninety-second Street. Leaving the Park at a hollow in the hills known as "McGowan's Pass," just above the house of Andrew McGowan, on the line of One Hundred and Seventh Street, west of Fifth Avenue, it followed Harlem Lane to the end of the island. Here, on the other side of King's Bridge, then "a small wooden bridge,"[13] the highway diverged easterly to New England and northerly to Albany.

This portion of the island above the city was known as its "Out-ward," and had been divided at an early date into three divisions, under the names of the Bowery, Harlem, and Bloomingdale divisions. Each contained points of settlement. The Bowery section included that part of the city laid out near Fresh Water Pond and around Chatham Square below Grand Street, and the stretch of country above beyond the line of Twenty-third Street. In this division were to be found some of the notable residences and country-seats of that day. James De Lancey's large estate extended from the Bowery to the East River, and from Division nearly to the line of Houston Street. The Rutgers' Mansion stood attractively on the slopes of the river bank about the line of Montgomery Street, and above De Lancey's, on the Bowery, were the De Peysters, Dyckmans, and Stuyvesants.

The Harlem division of the Out-ward, with which are associated some of the most interesting events of 1776, included what is now known as Harlem, with the island above it as far as King's Bridge. Dutch farmers had settled here a hundred years before the Revolution. As early as 1658, the Director-General and Council of New Netherland gave notice that "for the further promotion of Agriculture, for the security of this Island, and the cattle pasturing thereon, as well as for the greater recreation and amusement of this city of Amsterdam in New Netherland, they have resolved to form a New Village or Settlement at the end of the Island, and about the lands of Jochem Pietersen, deceased, and those which adjoin thereto." The first settlers were to receive lots to cultivate, be furnished with a guard of soldiers, and allowed a ferry across the Harlem River, for "the better and greater promotion of neighborly correspondence with the English of the North."[14] In 1776, the division was interspersed with houses and fields, especially in the stretch of plains or flat land just above One Hundred and Tenth Street, and from the East River to the line of Ninth Avenue. The church and centre of the village were on the east side, in the vicinity of One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street, and the old road by which they were reached from the city branched off from the main highway at McGowan's Pass.

Bloomingdale was a scattered settlement, containing nearly all the houses to be found along the Bloomingdale Road, but the name appears to have identified principally the upper section beyond Fiftieth Street. Here lived the Apthorpes at Ninety-second Street; the Strikers, Joneses, and Hogelands above; and, lower down, the Somerindykes and Harsens. As fixed by law, at that time, this road started from the King's Bridge Road, at the house of John Horn, now the corner of Twenty-third Street and Fifth Avenue, and followed the line of the present Broadway and the recent Bloomingdale Road to the farm of Adrian Hogeland, at One Hundred and Eighth Street.[15] Nearly on a line with Hogeland, but considerably east of him, lived Benjamin Vandewater; and these two were the most northerly residents in the division.

Still another suburb of the city was the village of Greenwich, overlooking the Hudson on the west side, in the vicinity of Fourteenth Street, to which the Greenwich Road, now Greenwich Street, led along the river bank in nearly a straight line. The road above continued further east about as far as Forty-fifth Street, and there connected, by a lane running south-westerly, with the Bloomingdale Road at Forty-third Street. Among the country-seats in this village were those of the Jeaunceys, Bayards, and Clarkes; and above, at Thirty-third Street and Ninth Avenue, stood the ample and conspicuous residence of John Morin Scott, one of the leading lawyers of the city, and a powerful supporter of the American cause.

Across the East River, the "Sister City" of Brooklyn in 1776 was as yet invisible from New York. A clump of low buildings at the old ferry, and an occasional manor-seat, were the only signs of life apparent on that side. Columbia Heights, whose modern blocks and row of wharves and bonded stores suggest commercial activity alone, caught the eye a century ago as "a noble bluff," crowned with fields and woods, and meeting the water at its base with a shining beach. The parish or village proper was the merest cluster of houses, nestled in the vicinity of the old Dutch church, which stood in the middle of the road a little below Bridge Street. The road was the King's highway, and it ran from Fulton Ferry—where we have had a ferry for two hundred and forty years at least—along the line of Fulton Street, and on through Jamaica to the eastern end of Long Island. Besides the settlements that had grown up at these two points—the church and the ferry, which were nearly a mile and a half apart—a village centre was to be found at Bedford, further up the highway, another in the vicinity of the Wallabout, and still another, called Gowanus, along the branch road skirting the bay. These all stood within the present municipal limits of Brooklyn.

As it had been for more than a century before, the population on the Long Island side was largely Dutch at the time of the Revolution. The first-comers, in 1636 and after, introduced themselves to the soil and the red man as the Van Schows, the Cornelissens, the Manjes, and the like—good Walloon patronimics—and the Dutch heritage is still preserved in the names of old families, and even more permanently in the name of the place itself; for the word Brooklyn is but the English corruption of Breukelen, the ancient Holland village[16] of which our modern city appears to have been the namesake. Smyth, the English traveler, makes the general statement towards the close of the Revolution, that two thirds of the inhabitants of Long Island, especially those on the west end, were of Dutch extraction, who continued "to make use of their customs and language in preference to English," which, however, they also understood. "The people of King's County [Brooklyn]," he says, "are almost entirely Dutch. In Queen's County, four fifths of the people are so likewise, but the other fifth, and all Suffolk County, are English as they call themselves, being from English ancestors, and using no other language." Major Baurmeister, one of the officers of the Hessian division which participated in the battle of Long Island, leaves us something more than statistics in the case. He appears to have noted every thing with lively appreciation. To a friend in Germany, for instance, we find him writing as follows: "The happiness of the inhabitants, whose ancestors were all Dutch, must have been great; genuine kindness and real abundance is everywhere; any thing worthless or going to ruin is nowhere to be perceived. The inhabited regions resemble the Westphalian peasant districts; upon separate farms the finest houses are built, which are planned and completed in the most elegant fashion. The furniture in them is in the best taste, nothing like which is to be seen with us, and besides so clean and neat, that altogether it surpasses every description. The female sex is universally beautiful and delicately reared, and is finely dressed in the latest European fashion, particularly in India laces, white cotton and silk gauzes; not one of these women but would consider driving a double team the easiest of work. They drive and ride out alone, having only a negro riding behind to accompany them. Near every dwelling-house negroes (their slaves) are settled, who cultivate the most fertile land, pasture the cattle, and do all the menial work."[17] That the English element, however, had crept in to a considerable extent around Brooklyn at this time, is a matter of record.

The topography of this section of Long Island was peculiar, presenting strong contrasts of high and low land. Originally, and indeed within the memory of citizens still living, that part of Brooklyn lying south and west of the line of Nevins Street was practically a peninsula, with the Wallabout Bay or present Navy Yard on one side of the neck, and on the other, a mile across, the extensive Gowanus creek and marsh, over which now run Second, Third, and Fourth Avenues. The creek set in from the bay where the Gowanus Canal is retained, and rendered the marsh impassable at high-water as far as the line of Baltic Street. Blocks of buildings now stand on the site of mills that were once worked by the ebb and flow of the tides. The lower part of what is known as South Brooklyn was largely swamp land in 1776. Here the peninsula terminated in a nearly isolated triangular piece of ground jutting out into the harbor, called Red Hook, which figured prominently in the military operations. From this projection to the furthest point on the Wallabout was a distance of three miles, and the scenery along the bank presented a varied and attractive appearance to the resident of New York. The "heights" rose conspicuously in all the beauty of their natural outline; lower down the shore might be seen a quaint Dutch mill or two; on the bluffs opposite the Battery, the mansions of Philip and Robert Livingston were prominent; and not far from where the archway crosses Montague Street stood the Remsen and, nearer the ferry, the Colden and Middagh residences. From every point of view the perspective was rural and inviting.[18]

Vastly changed to-day is all this region, which was now to be disturbed by the din and havoc of war. Its picturesqueness long since disappeared. Upon Manhattan Island, the city's push "uptown"-ward has been like the cut of a drawing knife, a remorseless process of levelling and "filling-in." Forty times in population and twenty in area has it expanded beyond the growth of 1776. Brooklyn is a new creation. Would its phlegmatic denizen of colonial times recognize the site of his farms or his mills? Even the good Whig ferryman, Waldron, might be at a loss to make out his bearings, for the green banks of the East River have vanished, and its points become confused. The extent of its contraction he could learn from the builders of the bridge, who have set the New York pier eight hundred feet out from the high-water mark of 1776, and the Brooklyn pier two hundred or more, narrowing the stream at that point to a strait of but sixteen hundred feet in width.

The first active steps looking to the occupation of New York were taken by the Americans early in January of this year. Reports had reached Washington's headquarters that the British were fitting out an expedition by sea, whose destination was kept a profound secret. In Boston, rumors were afloat that it was bound for Halifax or Rhode Island. In reality it was the expedition with which Sir Henry Clinton was to sail to North Carolina, and there meet Cornwallis, from England, to carry out the southern diversion. Ignorant of the British plans, and suspecting that Clinton might suddenly appear at New York, Washington on the 4th of January called the attention of Congress to the movement, and suggested that it would be "consistent with prudence" to have some New Jersey troops thrown into the city to prevent the "almost irremediable" evil which would follow its occupation by the enemy. Two days later, General Charles Lee, holding rank in the American army next to Washington, pressed a plan of his own, to the effect that he be sent himself by the commander-in-chief to secure New York, and that the troops for the purpose (there being none to spare from the force around Boston) be hastily raised in Connecticut. This was approved at headquarters, and on the 8th inst. Lee received instructions as follows:

"Having undoubted intelligence of the fitting out of a fleet at Boston, and of the embarkation of troops from thence, which, from the season of the year and other circumstances, must be destined for a southern expedition; and having such information as I can rely on, that the inhabitants, or a great part of them, on Long Island in the colony of New York, are not only inimical to the rights and liberties of America, but by their conduct and public professions have discovered a disposition to aid and assist in the reduction of that colony to ministerial tyranny; and as it is a matter of the utmost importance to prevent the enemy from taking possession of the City of New York and the North River, as they will thereby command the country, and the communication with Canada—it is of too much consequence to hazard such a post at so alarming a crisis....

"You will therefore, with such volunteers as are willing to join you, and can be expeditiously raised, repair to the City of New York, and calling upon the commanding officer of the forces of New Jersey for such assistance as he can afford, and you shall require, you are to put that city into the best posture of defence which the season and circumstances will admit, disarming all such persons upon Long Island and elsewhere (and if necessary otherwise securing them), whose conduct and declarations have rendered them justly suspected of designs unfriendly to the views of Congress.... I am persuaded I need not recommend dispatch in the prosecution of this business. The importance of it alone is a sufficient incitement."[19]

Washington wrote at the same time to Governor Trumbull, of Connecticut, Colonel Lord Stirling, of New Jersey, and the New York Committee of Safety, urging them to give Gen. Lee all the assistance in their power.

Lee, who had been an officer in the British army, serving at one time under Burgoyne in Portugal, had already established a reputation for himself in Washington's camp as a military authority, and enjoyed the full confidence of the commander-in-chief, despite certain eccentricities of manner and an over-confidence in his own judgment and experience. The defects and weaknesses of his character, which eventually brought him into disgrace as a soldier, were not as yet displayed or understood. At the present time he was eager to be of essential service to the colonies, and he entered into the New York project with spirit. In Connecticut the governor promptly seconded his efforts, by calling out two regiments of volunteers to serve for six weeks under the general, and appointed Colonels David Waterbury, of Stamford, and Andrew Ward, of Guilford, to their command. By the 20th, Lee found himself ready to proceed; but while on his way, near Stamford, he received a communication from the Committee of Safety at New York, representing that the rumors of his coming had created great alarm in the city, and earnestly requesting him to halt his troops on the Connecticut border, until his object were better known to the committee. Here was something of a dilemma, and it may be asked how it should have arisen. Why, indeed, was it necessary to organize a force outside of New York to secure it? Was not this the time for the city to prepare for her defence, and welcome assistance from whatever quarter offered? The answer is to be found in the exceptional political temperament of New York at this time. Her population contained a large and powerful loyalist element, which hoped, with the assistance of the three or four British men-of-war then in the harbor, to be able to give the place, at the proper moment, into the hands of the king's troops. Only a short time before, Governor Tryon had informed Howe that it only needed the presence of a small force to secure it, and develop a strong loyal support among the inhabitants of both the city and colony. The patriotic party had abated none of its zeal, but it recognized the danger of precipitating matters, and accordingly pursued what appeared to colonists elsewhere to be a temporizing and timid policy, but which proved the wisest course in the end. The city was at the mercy of the men-of-war. Any attempt to seize it could be answered with a bombardment. The situation required prudent management; above all, it required delay on the part of the Americans until they were ready for a decisive step. That the Committee of Safety was thoroughly true to the country, no one can doubt a moment after reading their daily proceedings. In their letter to Lee they say: "This committee and the Congress whose place we fill in their recess, are, we flatter ourselves, as unanimously zealous in the cause of America as any representative body on the continent: so truly zealous, that both the one and the other will cheerfully devote this city to sacrifice for advancing that great and important cause." But knowing the state of affairs in their midst better than others, they urged caution instead of haste in bringing the war to New York. In this case, they informed Lee that no works had been erected in the city, that they had but little powder, that they were sending out ships for more without molestation from the men-of-war, their object being kept secret, and that a general alarm then in the dead of winter, driving women and children into the country, would work great distress. "For these reasons," continue the committee, "we conceive that a just regard to the public cause, and our duty to take a prudent care of this city, dictate the impropriety of provoking hostilities at present, and the necessity of saving appearances with the ships of war till at least the month of March. Though we have been unfortunate in our disappointments with respect to some of our adventures, yet be assured, sir, we have not been idle. Our intrenching tools are almost completed to a sufficient number; we are forming a magazine of provisions for five thousand men for a month in a place of safety, and at a convenient distance from this city; we have provided ourselves with six good brass field-pieces; have directed carriages to be made for our other artillery, and are raising a company of artillery for the defence of the colony on the Continental establishment. These things, when accomplished, with other smaller matters, and with the arrival of some gunpowder, the prospect of which is not unpromising, will enable us to face our enemies with some countenance." Lee, with due consideration, replied to the committee that he should comply with their request about the troops, and do nothing that could endanger the city.

It was not until the 4th of February that the general entered New York. On the same day Clinton arrived in the harbor from Boston, with his southern expedition, but only to make a brief stay. The coming of these officers threw the city into great excitement. Many of the inhabitants expected an immediate collision, and began to leave the place. One Garish Harsin, writing from New York to William Radclift at Rhyn Beck, sums up in a single sentence the effect of the harbor news:[20] "It is impossible to describe the confusion the place was in on account of the regulars being come." And when rumors magnified Clinton's two or three transports into a British fleet of nineteen sail, Harsin informs his friend that the people were taking themselves out of town "as if it were the Last Day." Pastor Shewkirk, of the Moravian Church, in his interesting diary[21] of passing events, tells us that "the inhabitants began now to move away in a surprising manner," and that "the whole aspect of things grew frightful, and increased so from day to day." To add to the discomfort and suffering of the people, the weather was very cold, and the rivers full of ice.

The Committee of Safety, in their anxiety as to the effect of Lee's occupation of the city, had already written to the Continental Congress on the subject, and that body at once sent up a committee, consisting of Messrs. Harrison, Lynch, and Allen, to advise with Lee and the New York Committee. The latter accepted the situation, consented to the entry of the troops into town, and at a conference with Lee and the Congress Committee on the 6th, agreed to the immediate prosecution of defensive measures.

Upon his arrival, the general sent his engineer, Captain William Smith, "an excellent, intelligent, active officer," to survey and report upon the salient points of the position, especially around Hell Gate and on Long Island. Lee and Stirling also went over the ground several times. As a result of these inspections, the general became convinced that to attempt a complete defence of the city would be impracticable, because the ample sea-room afforded by the harbor and rivers gave the enemy every advantage, enabling them, with their powerful fleet, to threaten an attack in front and flank. Lee saw this at once, and reported his views to Washington, February 19th. "What to do with the city," he wrote, "I own, puzzles me. It is so encircled with deep navigable waters, that whoever commands the sea must command the town;" and to the New York Committee he said that it would be impossible to make the place absolutely secure. In view of this, he proposed to construct a system of defences that should have an alternative object, namely, that in case they should prove inadequate for the city's protection, they should at least be sufficient to prevent the enemy from securing a permanent foothold in it.

Under this plan, the line of the East River required the principal attention, as here it seemed possible to offer the best resistance to British attempts upon the city. First, to cut off the enemy's communication between the Sound and the river, it was proposed to blockade the passage at Hell Gate by a fort on Horn's Hook, at the foot of East Eighty-eighth Street, as well as by works opposite, on the present Hallet's Point. A further object of these forts was to secure safe transit between Long Island and New York. In the next place, batteries were planned for both sides of the river at its entrance into the harbor, where the city was chiefly exposed. On the New York side, a battery was located at the foot of Catherine Street at the intersection of Cherry, and where the river was narrowest. This was called Waterbury's Battery. To cover its fire a stronger work was ordered to be built on Rutgers' "first hill," just above, which was named Badlam's Redoubt, after Captain Badlam, then acting as Lee's chief artillery officer. Lower down a battery was sunk in a cellar on Ten Eyck's wharf, Coenties Slip, a short distance below Wall Street, and called Coenties Battery. These three, with part of the Grand Battery and Fort George, included all the works planned by Lee to guard the East River from the New York side.

In connection with these, works were laid out on the bank opposite on Long Island, the importance of which was apparent. Not only was the site well adapted for guns to sweep the channel and prevent the enemy's ships from remaining in the river long enough to do the city serious damage, but it also commanded the city, so as to make it untenable by the British should they succeed in occupying it. This bluff, "Columbia Heights," was in fact the key to the entire situation. Lee considered its possession and security of "greater importance" than New York; and to hold it he proposed establishing there an intrenched camp[22] for three or four thousand men, fortified by "a chain of redoubts mutually supporting each other." Of these redoubts, one was located on the edge of the bluff opposite the Coenties Battery, and stood on the line of Columbia Street, at about the foot of the present Clark Street. This came to be known as Fort Stirling. In its rear, near the corner of Henry and Pierrepont streets, it was proposed to erect a large citadel; but this, although begun, was never completed.[23] Lee's scheme of defence did not include the fortifying of either Red Hook or Governor's Island.

The East River thus provided for, attention was paid to the city and the North River side. Lee examined Fort George and the Grand Battery, but gave it as his opinion that neither of them could be held under the concentrated fire of large ships. He advised, accordingly, that the northern face of the fort be torn down, and a traverse built across Broadway above it at the Bowling Green, from which the interior of the work could be raked, should the enemy attempt to land and hold it. As the North River was "so extremely wide and deep," the general regarded the obstruction of its passage to the ships as out of the question. Batteries, however, could be erected at various points along the west side where it rose to a ridge, and the power of the ships to injure the town very considerably diminished. All the streets leading up from the water were ordered to be barricaded to prevent the enemy from coming up on the flanks; forts were to be erected on Jones', Bayard's, and Lispenard's hills, north of the town, covering the approach by land from that direction; the roads obstructed to artillery; and redoubts, redans, and flêches thrown up at defensible points throughout the entire island, as far as King's Bridge.[24] "I must observe," said Lee to the Committee of Safety, "that New York, from its circumstances, can with difficulty be made a regular tenable fortification; but it may be made a most advantageous field of battle—so advantageous, indeed, that, if our people behave with common spirit, and the commanders are men of discretion, it must cost the enemy many thousands of men to get possession of it."

To construct these extensive works Lee could muster, two weeks after his arrival, but seventeen hundred men. Waterbury's Connecticut regiment was first on the ground; the First New Jersey Continentals, as yet incomplete, under Colonel the Earl of Stirling, soon followed; and from Westchester County, New York, came two hundred minute-men under Colonel Samuel Drake. Dutchess County sent down Colonels Swartwout and Van Ness with about three hundred more; and on the 24th Colonel Ward arrived with his Connecticut regiment, six hundred strong, which had rendezvoused at Fairfield. Stirling's regiment was quartered principally in the lower barracks at the Battery; Waterbury's at the upper, on the site of the new Court House; Ward's was sent to Long Island; and Drake's minute-men were posted at Horn's Hook, opposite Hell Gate, where they began work on the first battery marked out for the defence of New York City during the Revolution.

John Lasher
COLONEL FIRST NEW YORK CITY BATTALION 1775-1776.
Steel Engr. F. von Egloffstein N.Y.

But Lee's stay at this point was to be brief. The Continental Congress appointed him to the command of the newly created Department of the South, and on the 7th of March he left New York in charge of Lord Stirling, who, a month before, had been promoted by Congress to the rank of brigadier-general. This officer's energy was conspicuous. His predecessor had already found him "a great acquisition," and he pushed on the defences of the city as rapidly as his resources would permit. The force under his immediate command, according to the returns of the 13th, amounted to a total of two thousand four hundred and twenty-two officers and men,[25] besides the city independent companies under Colonels John Lasher and William Heyer, and local militia,[26] who swelled the number to about four thousand. On the 14th, Washington wrote to Stirling that the enemy appeared to be on the point of evacuating Boston, and that it was more than probable they would sail southward. "I am of opinion," he wrote, "that New York is their place of destination. It is an object worthy of their attention, and it is the place that we must use every endeavor to keep from them. For, should they get that town, and the command of the North River, they can stop the intercourse between the Northern and Southern colonies, upon which depends the safety of America. My feelings upon this subject are so strong, that I would not wish to give the enemy a chance of succeeding at your place.... The plan of defence formed by General Lee is, from what little I know of the place, a very judicious one. I hope, nay, I dare say, it is carrying into execution with spirit and industry. You may judge of the enemy's keeping so long possession of the town of Boston against an army superior in numbers, and animated with the noble spirit of liberty; I say, you may judge by that how much easier it is to keep an enemy from forming a lodgment in a place, than it will be to dispossess them when they get themselves fortified." Stirling immediately sent urgent appeals for troops in every direction. He ordered over the Third New Jersey Continental Regiment under Colonel Dayton, and wrote for three hundred picked men from each of the six nearest counties of that State. Ward's and Waterbury's regiments, which were impatient to return home to attend to their spring farming, were many of them induced to remain two weeks beyond their term of enlistment until Governor Trumbull could supply their places with troops under Colonels Silliman and Talcott. Congress also ordered forward five or six Pennsylvania regiments. Meanwhile the New York Committee of Safety co-operated zealously with the military authorities.[27] At Stirling's request they voted to call out all the male inhabitants of the city, black and white, capable of doing "fatigue duty," to work on the fortifications—the blacks to work every day, the whites every other day;[28] and the same orders were conveyed to the committee of King's County, where the inhabitants were directed to report to Colonel Ward, with spades, hoes and pickaxes. To troops needing quarters the committee turned over the empty houses in the city, or those that were "least liable to be injured;" coarse sheets were ordered for the straw beds in the barracks; the upper story of the "Bridewell" was converted into a laboratory or armory for repairing guns and making cartridges; and all necessary details provided for as far as possible. In case of an alarm, the troops were to parade immediately at the Battery, in the Common, and in front of Trinity Church. To annoy expected British men-of-war, the committee despatched Major William Malcolm, of the Second city battalion, to dismantle the Sandy Hook Light, which the major effected in a thorough manner, breaking what glasses he could not move, and carrying off the oil. On Long Island, a guard of King's County troopers was posted at the Narrows, and another at Rockaway, to report the approach of ships; and in the city, cannon were mounted in the batteries as fast as they were completed. On the 20th, Stirling could report that everybody turned to "with great spirit and industry," and that the work went on "amazingly well."

On the same date Brigadier-General Thompson, of Pennsylvania, reported at New York, and held the command until the arrival, a few days later, of Brigadier-General Heath, of Massachusetts, who in turn was relieved, April 4th, by Major-General Putnam.

Affairs at Boston now reached a crisis. The siege, which the provincial troops had so successfully maintained for ten months, terminated to their own unbounded credit and the secret mortification of the enemy. On the 17th of March the city was evacuated by the British, and immediately occupied by the Americans—an event that had been foreseen and provided for at a council of war held on the 13th, at General Ward's headquarters in Roxbury. The commander-in-chief there stated that every indication pointed to an early departure of the enemy from Boston, with the probability that they were destined for New York, and he questioned whether it was not advisable to send a part of the army to that point without delay. The council coincided in this opinion, and on the following day the rifle regiment under Lieutenant-Colonel Hand, and the three companies of Virginia riflemen, under Captain Stephenson, were put on the march southward. These were followed on the 18th by five regiments under Brigadier-General Heath, who had been ordered to march by way of Providence, Norwich, New London, and the Sound. As the enemy's transports lingered around Boston for several days, no more troops were sent southward until the 29th, when six regiments were ordered on, under Brigadier-General Sullivan. On the same date Major-General Putnam received orders to proceed to New York, assume command, and continue the work of fortifying the city upon the plan adopted by General Lee. On the 1st of April, Brigadier-General Greene's brigade moved in the same direction, and was followed in a day or two by General Spencer's. Five regiments remained at Boston, under Major-General Ward.

Waiting until all the troops were on the march, Washington, on April 4th, himself set out from Cambridge for New York. Crowned with his first honors as the deliverer of Boston, he was greeted on his route with respectful admiration and enthusiasm. He had come to New England comparatively unknown—"a Mr. Washington, of Virginia;" he left it secure in the affections and pride of its people. Expecting him at Providence the next day, the 5th, General Greene, who had been delayed at that place, ordered two regiments of his brigade—Hitchcock's Rhode Island and Little's Massachusetts—to appear in their best form and escort the general into the city. The minuteness of Greene's directions on the occasion furnishes us with the material for a picture of the personal appearance of the early Continental soldier when on parade. As preserved among the papers of the Massachusetts colonel, the order runs as follows:

"Providence April 4, 1776.—Col^o. Hitchcock's and Col^o. Little's regiments are to turn out to-morrow morning to escort his Excellency into town, to parade at 8 o'clock, both officers & men dressed in uniform, & none to turn out except those dressed in uniform, & those of the non-commissioned officers & soldiers that turn out to be washed, both face & hands, clean, their beards shaved, their hair combed & powdered, & their arms cleaned. The General hopes that both officers & soldiers will exert themselves for the honour of the regiment & brigade to which they belong. He wishes to pay the honours to the Commander in Chief in as decent & respectable a manner as possible."[29]

Governor Cooke, of Rhode Island, was not less attentive, and in addition to calling out "the several companies of cadets, of grenadiers, and light infantry" in Providence to meet the commander-in-chief, he had a house prepared for his reception and the accommodation of his suite, which, besides his officers, included Lady Washington and Mr. and Mrs. Custis.[30] Passing on to New London, where he hurried the embarkation of the troops, Washington kept on along the shore road, reached New Haven on the 11th, and on the 13th arrived at the city of New York. Putnam had come ten days earlier. Owing to insufficient transportation and slow sailing on the Sound, it was April 24th before the last of the soldiers reported on the ground.

The new military base in this vicinity was thus fairly established, and the commander-in-chief, after personally inspecting the position, urged on the work of defence. As the regiments on their arrival had been quartered at haphazard in the city, he first arranged the army into five brigades, with the view of putting them into suitable and permanent camps. To the command of these he assigned Heath, Spencer, Sullivan, Greene, and Stirling, in the order of their rank. The twenty-five battalions which made up the force at this date numbered together not quite ten thousand men.

But hardly were the orders for this new arrangement issued before events required its modification. Our affairs proving to be in a bad way in the direction of Canada, it became necessary to despatch General Sullivan with six regiments to the northward, and on the 29th of April the troops in New York were formed anew into four brigades, and assigned to their respective camps. Heath's first brigade was posted on the Hudson, just without the city above the Canal Street marsh and about Richmond Hill; Spencer's second, on the East River, around the Rutgers' farm and Jones' Hill; and Stirling's fourth, in the centre, near Bayard's Hill and the Bowery Road; while Greene's third brigade was assigned to "the ground marked out upon Long Island." But one work now lay before these soldiers, namely, to put New York and its vicinity in a complete state of defence in the shortest possible time. Howe and his Boston army, it was now known, had gone to Halifax instead of sailing for New York; but he could still reach, and, with reinforcements from England, attack the city before the Americans were ready to receive him. The situation, accordingly, admitted of no delays, and digging was made the order of the day. No one could have anticipated, however, that preparations were to be continued full four months longer before active campaigning opened.

This interval of fortifying is not without its interest; and we may cross, first, with Greene to Long Island, to note what further was done towards securing that "capital" point in the general system of defence.

From the orders of April 24th and 25th it would appear that it was Washington's original intention to give the Brooklyn command, not to Greene, but to Sullivan. The latter was assigned to the Third Brigade before going to Canada, and on the 25th the encampment of this brigade was ordered to be marked out "upon Long Island." The fact that Sullivan was senior to Greene in rank, and was entitled, as between the two, to the honor and responsibility of the separate command, was doubtless the ground of his assignment in this case. But a greater responsibility was reserved for Sullivan in Canada, and Greene was sent to Long Island. Owing to bad weather, it was the 3d or 4th of May before the latter crossed with troops. He took with him his old brigade, consisting of Colonel Edward Hand's Pennsylvania Riflemen, his two favorite Rhode Island regiments under Colonels James Mitchell Varnum and Daniel Hitchcock, and Colonel Moses Little's regiment from Massachusetts. These ranked as the First, Ninth, Eleventh, and Twelfth of the Continental Establishment, and were as well armed and under as good discipline as any troops in Washington's army. Hand's regiment, numbering four hundred and seventy officers and men, was already on Long Island, having come from Boston in advance of the brigades, and was engaged in scouting and patrol duty at the Narrows and along the coast. Varnum's, Hitchcock's, and Little's, having an average strength of three hundred and eighty each, were the only troops around Brooklyn.[31] The Long Island militia were not as yet in the field, and the small company of Brooklyn troopers under Captain Waldron and Lieutenant Boerum, which had patrolled the coast during the early spring, do not appear on duty again until late in the season.

It now remained for these regiments to go on fortifying the water-front of this site to keep the ships out of the river, and, in addition, to secure themselves against an attack by land. What Lee's plan was in reference to Columbia Heights has already been seen. Here he proposed to establish a camp with Fort Stirling and the Citadel among its defences, the former of which had been nearly completed and the latter begun by Ward's regiment and the inhabitants. In consequence, however, of a move made by General Putnam soon after his arrival, it had evidently become necessary to enlarge this plan. Governor's Island, just off the edge of which were moored the British men-of-war, had not been occupied by either Lee or Stirling; but it lay within cannon-shot of the Battery and Columbia Heights, and an enemy once lodged there could work us mischief. General Putnam noticed its position, and he had not been here three days before he wrote, April 7th, to the President of Congress: "After getting the works [in New York] in such forwardness as will be prudent to leave, I propose immediately to take possession of Governor's Island, which I think a very important post. Should the enemy arrive here, and get post there, it will not be possible to save the city, nor could we dislodge them without great loss."[32] On the very next night he carried out his proposal, as appears from the following account of the manœuvre preserved among the papers of Colonel G. Selleck Silliman, of Fairfield, Connecticut, who had recently come down to relieve the troops under Ward and Waterbury:

"Tuesday Morning, 9th April.—Last Evening Draughts were made from a Number of Regiments here, mine among the Rest, to the Amount of 1,000 Men. With these and a proper Number of Officers Gen^l Putnam at Candle lighting embarked on Board of a Number of Vessels with a large Number of intrenching Tools and went directly on the Island a little below the City called Nutten [Governor's] Island where they have been intrenching all Night and are now at work, and have got a good Breast Work there raised which will cover them from the fire of the Ships; and it is directly in the Way of the Ship coming up to the Town. The Asia has fallen down out of Gun Shot from this Place and it deprives the Ships of the only Watering Place they have here without going down toward the Hook."[33] There was something of the Bunker Hill flavor about this move, and it was Prescott's Bunker Hill regiment that was first stationed[34] on the Island, which subsequently became one of the strongest posts of the position. At the same time another party occupied Red Hook,[35] on Long Island, which commanded the channel between the Hook and Governor's Island.

The occupation by Putnam of these two points, which was clearly necessary for a more effective defence of the East River, required, or at least resulted in, the modification of Lee's plan, and the adoption of a new line on Long Island. It was now decided to hold the Brooklyn peninsula with a chain of works thrown up across the neck from Wallabout Bay to the Gowanus Marsh; and it was in this vicinity that the encampment for Greene's brigade was marked out by Mifflin, the quartermaster-general, and afterwards approved by Washington.[36] By the fortunate recovery of the daily orders issued by General Greene on Long Island, and also of original sketches of the site, it has become possible to fix the location of this line and the names of the works with almost entire accuracy.

To defend the approach between the bay and marsh, the engineers laid out three principal forts and two redoubts, with breastworks connecting them. The site occupied was a favorable one. On the left rose the high ground, now known as Fort Greene Place or Washington Park, one hundred feet above the sea-level; and on the right, between the main road and the marsh, were lower elevations on lands then owned by Rutgert Van Brunt and Johannes Debevoise. The flanks were thus well adapted for defence, and they were near enough each other to command the ground between them. Two of the works were erected on the right of the road, and received the names of Fort Greene and Fort Box; three were on the left, and were known as the Oblong Redoubt, Fort Putnam, and the redoubt "on its left." In view of the fact that local historians heretofore have put but three fortifications on this line, where, it is now well established, there were five, a more particular description of them becomes necessary. Extending from right to left, they were laid out as follows:[37]

Fort Box.—It has been supposed that the fort by this name occupied an independent site south-west of the main line, with the object of defending Gowanus Creek where it was crossed by a mill-dam. That it stood, however, on the right of the line is beyond question. Thus the letter of a spectator of the battle[38] says: "Our lines fronted the east. On the left, near the lowest part of the above-described bay [Wallabout], was Fort Putnam, near the middle Fort Greene, and towards the creek Fort Box." In his order of June 1st, General Greene directs five companies to take post "upon the right in Fort Box;" and on August 16th a fatigue party is detailed "to form the necessary lines from Fort Box to Fort Putnam," clearly indicating that the two were on the same continuous line. To confirm the correctness of this locality, we have the fort and its name distinctly indicated on the [outline map] sketched by President Stiles, of Yale College, in his Diary of Revolutionary Events. By reference to the fac-simile of the sketch here presented, it will be seen that although there are errors in the drawing, the relative position of the principal works is preserved, and the site of Fort Box finally determined. It stands nearest Gowanus Creek, and on the right of the other forts. The work appears to have been of a diamond shape, and was situated on or near the line of Pacific Street, a short distance above Bond.[39]

[[Enlarge]]

SKETCH OF THE BROOKLYN WORKS IN 1776.

FACSIMILE FROM THE STILES DIARY
Yale College Library.

"From one who was stationed at Red Hook all last Summer together with a Map of the ground, I learn our Fortifications there were as I here draw them out on the Peninsula around Brooklyn Church." Dr. Stiles, March 21, 1777.

J. Bien Photo. Lith. N.Y.

As to its name, we must assume that it was called Fort Box in honor of Major Daniel Box, Greene's brigade-major (an office corresponding to the present assistant adjutant-general), whose services were then highly appreciated. Box first appears as an old British soldier, who had been wounded in the French war, and afterwards as an organizer and drill-master of Independent companies in Rhode Island, which subsequently furnished many fine officers to the Continental army.[40] In a letter to Colonel Pickering in 1779, Greene speaks of him in flattering terms, as having been invaluable in the earlier years of the war. That he was something of an engineer, as well as an excellent brigade-major, is evident from the fact that he assisted in marking out the lines around Boston in 1775, and later superintended the construction of Fort Lee, on the Jersey side. No doubt he had much to say about the building of the Brooklyn lines, and of the work in particular which bore his name.

Fort Greene.—About three hundred yards to the left of Fort Box, a short distance above Bond Street, between State and Schermerhorn, stood Fort Greene, star-shaped, mounting six guns, and provided with a well and magazines. Colonel Little, its commander, describes it as the largest of the works on Long Island; and this statement is corroborated by the fact that its garrison consisted of an entire regiment, which was not the case with the other forts, and that it was provided with nearly double the number of pikes. It occupied an important position on one of the small hills near the centre of that part of the line lying south-west of Washington Park, and its guns commanded the approach by the Jamaica highway. Being the principal work on the line, the engineers, or possibly Little's regiment, named it after their brigade commander.

Oblong Redoubt.—Still further to the left, and on the other side of the road, a small circular redoubt, called the "Oblong Redoubt," was thrown up on what was then a piece of rising ground at the corner of De Kalb and Hudson avenues. The reason of its name is not apparent. Greene's orders refer to it as the "Oblong Square" and the "Oblong Redoubt." Major Richard Thorne, of Colonel Remsen's Long Island militia, speaks of being on guard at "Fort Oblong" all night a short time before the battle.[41] This redoubt had very nearly direct command of the road, and in connection with Fort Greene was depended upon to defend the centre of the line.

Fort Putnam.—From the Oblong Redoubt, the line ascended north-easterly to the top of the hill included in Washington Park, where the fourth in the chain of works was erected. This was Fort Putnam. Star-shaped like Fort Greene, it was somewhat smaller than the latter, and mounted four or five garrison guns. Its strong natural position, however, made it the salient point of the line, and it became, as will be seen, the main object of attack by the British during and after the battle.[42] The fort may have taken its name, as usually supposed, from Major-General Israel Putnam; but it is altogether more probable that it was named after Colonel Rufus Putnam, the chief engineer, who marked out many of the works on Long Island as well as in New York, and who must have frequently crossed to give directions in their construction.

Redoubt on the Left.—At the eastern termination of the hill, a short distance from Fort Putnam, and on a lower grade, stood the last of the works, which is identified in the orders and letters of the day as the "redoubt on the left." It was a small affair, and occupied a point at about the middle of the present Cumberland Street, nearly midway between Willoughby and Myrtle avenues; but in 1776 the site was twenty feet higher, and appeared as a well-defined spur extending out from Fort Putnam. As it was commanded by the latter, its capture by the enemy would bring them no advantage, while as an American defence it could materially assist in protecting the left.

Between these five works a line of connecting intrenchments was laid out, while on the right it was to be continued from Fort Box to the marsh, and on the left from the Fort Putnam Hill, "in a straight line," to the swamp at the edge of Wallabout Bay. Anticipating their construction, we may say that each work became a complete fortification in itself, being surrounded with a wide ditch, provided with a sally-port, its sides lined with sharpened stakes, the garrison armed with spears to repel storming parties, and the work supplied with water and provisions to withstand a siege if necessary. The greater part of the line was picketed with abattis, and the woods cut down to give full sweep to the fire of the guns. As every thing depended upon holding this front, the necessity of making it as strong as possible was fully realized, and at the time of the engagement in August it was considered a sufficient barrier to the enemy's advance.[43]

Fort Cobble Hill.—Passing to the remaining works on Long Island, we find a redoubt on the crest of a cone-shaped hill, which stood alone near the intersection of the present Court and Atlantic streets, and which was known by the Dutch inhabitants as Punkiesberg. As it does not appear to have been called Cobble Hill before this date, the reasonable inference may be drawn that it was so named by Greene's troops because of its close resemblance to the Cobble Hill which formed one of the fortified points in the siege of Boston, but a short distance from Winter Hill, where Greene's brigade was posted. In the orders of the day, the redoubt is known as "Smith's barbette," Captain William Smith, the engineer whom Lee brought with him, having it in charge. The work mounted four guns, and, from its central interior position, could have prevented the enemy from securing a foothold on the peninsula in the rear or flank of the main line in case they effected a landing back of Red Hook or crossed Gowanus Creek above. This hill was long since cut away.[44]

Redoubt at the Mill.—Near the corner of the present Degraw and Bond streets, a small battery or breastwork, in the form of a right angle, mounting one gun, was thrown up to cover the narrow passage over a mill-dam which here crossed Gowanus Creek. It stood at the extremity of a long low sand-hill, and the dam connected this point with a tongue of land on the opposite side, on which two mills were built, known as the upper or yellow, and lower mills. The upper mill was immediately opposite the redoubt, and it was here that the Port Road came down to the edge of the creek.

Red Hook—Fort Defiance.—This work, already referred to, was originally a single water battery, mounting four eighteen-pounders, en barbette, to prevent the passage of ships east of Governor's Island, as well as to keep the enemy from landing at the southern extremity of the peninsula. Washington speaks of it in May as being "a small, but exceedingly strong" fort. Lieutenant Samuel Shaw, of Knox's artillery, who was stationed there most of the summer, states that it was named "Fort Defiance," and subsequently strengthened by additional works, which, from the Hessian map and the [Stiles draft], appear to have consisted of a second and larger redoubt connected with the first by an intrenchment or inclosed way.[45] On the 5th of July, Greene wrote to Washington that he regarded Red Hook as "a post of vast importance," and proposed stationing a considerable force there permanently, as in that case the commanding officer would be "more industrious to have every thing in readiness, and obstinate in defence" when the attack came; and on the 8th we find the order for "Col. Varnum's regiment to remove their encampment to Red Hook, and do the duty of that post."

Fort Stirling.—The first work laid out on Long Island, as we have seen, was Fort Stirling, which, in connection with batteries on the New York side, was designed to command the East River channel. Its exact site has been a point of dispute. Several writers and old inhabitants associate the name with the remains of a large fortification which stood at the corner of Henry and Pierrepont streets as late as 1836. It is clear, however, that this was a work erected by the British during the latter part of the Revolution. General Robertson, acting as Governor of New York in 1780, wrote to Lord Germaine, May 18th, that, among other works thrown up to make New York more secure against an attack by the Americans, "a large square fort is built at Brooklyn Heights."[46] The traveller Smyth, writing in the same year, says, "The town [New York] is entirely commanded by a considerable eminence in Long Island, directly opposite to it, named Brookland Heights, on which a strong regular fort with four bastions has lately been erected by the British troops." This exactly describes the work in question.[47] The corner of Henry and Pierrepont streets, moreover, being a thousand feet back from the river's edge, could not have been selected at that time as the site for a strictly water battery intended for effective resistance. The fort must be looked for nearer the edge of the bluff, and there we find it. Both the [Stiles] and the Hessian maps place it directly on the bank of the river—the latter, a little north of what was then known as the Bamper House, or at about the intersection of Clark and Columbia streets.[48]

The fort was a strong inclosed work, mounting eight guns. Ward's men broke ground for it about the 1st of March, and continued digging, as their major, Douglas, writes, through "cold, tedious weather," until other troops took their place.[49]

Greene's soldiers, whose experience around Boston had made them veterans, at least in the use of the spade, now went to work to throw up these lines. He reminded them early of the importance of the post, and the necessity of preparation and vigilance. "As the security of New York greatly dependeth on this pass," runs his order of May 5th, "while these works are constructing, the general hopes the troops will carefully forward the same as fast as possible;" and this he followed up with the caution that if any soldier left his work without liberty, he should do fatigue duty for a whole week. Orders from headquarters in New York at the same time directed General Greene to report "all extraordinaries" to the commander-in-chief; the officers at Red Hook and Governor's Island to do the same; and the officer commanding the riflemen on Long Island to "constantly report all extraordinaries to General Greene." Although no enemy had yet appeared, every regiment in the army was ordered to mount a picket every evening, to lie on their arms, and be ready to turn out at a moment's notice.

It is possible to follow the troops on Long Island in their routine of camp life all through the tedious summer they were to spend on this ground. Digging was the main thing at first, and they had so much of this that the officers complained of their inability to keep the men in clothes, they wore them out so fast, and they made themselves so begrimed with dirt at the trenches, that the allowance of soap would not clean them; all which moved Greene to write to Washington that it would be no more than "a piece of justice to the troops" to allow them a double quantity of soap. Their encampment, in the rear of the lines, appears to have been a pleasant one. The soldiers lived in bell-shaped tents with board floors, and varied their regulation fare with the produce of the Dutch farms; with the permission of their field-officers they could occasionally cross on a visit to the city. Their general, however, held them closely to duty, and we find in these early orders the beginnings of that strictness which subsequently made him known, with his other soldierly qualities, as a thorough disciplinarian. No enemy being near them, the men, when put on guard, perhaps relaxed even ordinary vigilance; but they were soon brought up sharply by the general, with the direction that every part of camp duty must be done with as much exactness as if the British were in their front, for bad habits once contracted, they are told, "are difficult to get over, and doing duty in a slovenly manner is both disgraceful and dangerous to officers and men." They were sure of being watched, too, by Lieutenant-Colonel Cornell, of Hitchcock's regiment, whose habit of reprimanding the men for every neglect had won for him the title of "Old Snarl" throughout the camp;[50] but his subsequent promotion to offices of responsibility showed that in other quarters his particular qualities were appreciated. As the warm season came on, Greene cautioned his soldiers about their health. The "colormen" were to keep the camps clean, and look after the hospitals. Many soldiers being down with fever in July, the general recommends "the strictest attention to the cookery, and that broiling and frying meat, so destructive to health, be prohibited;" going into the water in the heat of the day is also forbidden. A neglect of these matters at this critical season, Greene continues, "may be attended with dreadful consequences."

Occasionally it was found necessary to give the soldiers a sharp reproof for insulting the inhabitants or trespassing on their property. When the complaint was brought to Greene that some of his men had been stealing watermelons, he promptly issued an order that such practices must be punished. "A few unprincipled rascals," he said, "may ruin the reputation of a whole corps of virtuous men;" and on another occasion he called upon the soldiers to behave themselves "with that decency and respect that became the character of troops fighting for the preservation of the rights and liberties of America." Perhaps the offenders found an excuse for their conduct in the Tory character of the complainants; but Greene, though no friend himself to such people, could never accept this as a provocation to justify a breach of military discipline.

The Tory element in the population required other and sterner treatment.[51] It had developed to such an extent in Kings and Queens counties as to require its suppression by the civil and military power combined. The refusal of the majority of the voters in Queens to send delegates to the New York Provincial Convention in 1775 indicated not only a confidence on their part that the Home Government would succeed in crushing the rebellion, but a secret intention as well to give the British troops upon their arrival all the aid and comfort in their power. As they provided themselves with arms and the British fleet with provisions, the Continental Congress took up the matter, ordered the arrest of the leaders, and dispatched Colonel Heard, of New Jersey, with a regiment of militia to execute the business. Arrests were made, but the complete suppression of the loyalists here was never effected.

While Lee was in command he saw no solution of the problem other than to remove the entire Tory population to some other quarter where they could do less mischief in the event of active operations; but Congress, to the regret of Washington, could not sanction so radical a method. Greene did his best to root out this element, but we may imagine that it was uncongenial work, and that he took far more interest in the progress of his redoubts than in chasing suspected persons on the island.[52]

By the 1st of June the works around Brooklyn appear to have so far progressed as to admit of the mounting of some of the cannon, and on the evening of that date the troops were ordered to parade with arms and man the lines. On the 17th the general assigned them to permanent positions as follows:

"Colonel Varnum's regiment is to take Fort Box and the Oblong Redoubt for their alarm-posts—Fort Box, six companies; Oblong Redoubt, two companies. Captain Wolverton's Independent Company[53] to join those in the redoubt, and to receive orders from Colonel Varnum.

Colonel Hitchcock's regiment to take Fort Putnam and the fort or redoubt on the left of it for their alarm-posts.

Colonel Little's regiment to take Fort Greene for their alarm-posts."

To impress his soldiers with his own sense of the great importance of the Long Island front, Greene added the determined words: "In case of an attack, all these posts are to be defended to the last extremity." And Colonel Little, who had proved his fitness to command the post assigned him by his cool and soldierly conduct at Bunker Hill, quietly resolved that if the enemy assaulted Fort Greene it should never be surrendered while he was alive.[54]

Guards were now stationed at the forts and greater vigilance enjoined about the camp. Even as early as May 25th, when the works were still far from complete, the orders were strict that none but a general officer should be admitted to them without special leave. The lines were to be manned every morning "between day and sunrise," and the troops exercised at parapet firing. The orders of July 1st directed the commanding officers of the regiments "to make a line round each of the forts and fortifications for the troops to begin a fire on the enemy if they attempt to storm the works, and the troops are to be told not to fire sooner than the enemy's arrival at these lines, unless commanded. The line should be about eighty yards from the parapet." The officers of the guards were to be accountable for every thing in the forts, but particularly for the rum lodged there for the use of the men in time of action. Provisions also were to be supplied to each alarm-post "in case of siege," and the water-casks kept constantly full of fresh water. To assure the effectiveness of the means of defence, one hundred spears were to be placed in Fort Greene, thirty in the works to the right, twenty in the Oblong Redoubt, fifty in Fort Putnam, and twenty to the left of it.

And so the work went on under Greene's eye, and by the middle of summer his troops[55] had inclosed themselves on the Brooklyn peninsula, with lines which, though unfinished, were still of very respectable strength.

Recrossing the river to New York, we find the other brigades there at work as uninterruptedly as Greene's on Long Island. The many well-known "general orders" issued by the commander-in-chief during this season testify to the great amount of fatigue duty performed by the troops. Washington regretted that the necessity for it left so little opportunity for drilling and he urged his officers to make the most of what time they had for this purpose. But his chief anxiety was to have the defences pushed on, and by the middle of June the principal works were completed or well under way. The location and names of these are indicated in the orders and maps of the day.[56] Beginning on the North River side and continuing around the city, they were as follows:

Grenadier Battery.—This was a "beautiful" circular battery, situated on the bank of the North River where it ran out into a well-defined bluff, at the corner of the present Washington and Harrison streets. Captain Abraham Van Dyck's Grenadier Company of New York City Independents built it while Lee and Stirling were in command, and received the thanks of Washington in general orders for the skilful manner in which they had executed their work. The fort mounted two twelve-pounders and two mortars. The grenadier company was organized by Stirling a few years before, when he lived in New York, and he watched the construction of the battery with considerable pride. The Pennsylvania Gazette of May 8th, 1776, contains a letter from Captain Van Dyck to Stirling, informing him of the completion of the work, and desiring "the approbation of their former captain." Stirling replied that he had frequently admired the battery, and reflected with "real satisfaction" on the hour when he formed the company.

Jersey Battery.—A short distance below, on the line of Reade Street, just west of Greenwich, stood the Jersey Battery—a five-sided work, mounting two twelve and three thirty-two pounders. A line of intrenchments connected these two batteries, and, extending beyond on either side, made the position a particularly strong one. Their guns had the range of the bank up and down the river, and could enfilade an enemy attempting to land in that vicinity.

McDougall's and the Oyster Battery.—The works next below on the Hudson consisted of two batteries situated on the high ground in the rear and to the south of Trinity Church. The one on the bluff near the church, or on the line of the present Rector Street, a little east of Greenwich, was known under Stirling as McDougall's Battery; but this name does not appear in the return of June 10th, and in its place in the order of the works we have the "Oyster" Battery. It is possible that this was the work a little south of McDougall's, at the intersection of the present Morris and Greenwich streets. Its location is described by Putnam in May as "behind General Washington's head-quarters."[57] It mounted two thirty-two-pounders and three twelve-pounders. In March, McDougall's Battery was provided with six guns.

Fort George and the Grand Battery.—These works at the lower end of the city had been pronounced almost useless by Lee, but as it was of course necessary to include that point in the system of defence they were repaired and greatly strengthened under Washington. In Fort George were mounted two twelve-pounders and four thirty-two-pounders. The walls of the Grand Battery were banked up from within, and mounted thirteen thirty-two-pounders, one twenty-four-pounder, three eighteen-pounders, two twelve-pounders, one thirteen-inch brass mortar, two eight-inch and one ten-inch iron mortars.

Whitehall Battery.—A small work on the Whitehall dock on the East River, and practically a continuation of the Grand Battery. It carried two thirty-two-pounders.

Waterbury's Battery.—On the dock at the north-east angle of Catherine and Cherry streets, mounting, in June, two twelve-pounders.

Badlam's Redoubt.—On the hill above, south of Market and between Madison and Monroe streets. It mounted seven guns in March, but appears not to have been occupied later in the season.

Spencer's Redoubt.—This was either the horseshoe redoubt at the intersection of Monroe and Rutgers streets, or the larger star redoubt between Clinton and Montgomery, east of Henry Street.[58] It mounted two twelve-pounders and four field-pieces.

Jones' Hill.—From Spencer's Redoubt a line of intrenchments extended around along the crest of the high land above Corlear's Hook to a circular battery on the northern slope of Jones' Hill, a little north of the intersection of Broome and Pitt streets, and was pierced for eight guns. During Stirling's command it was proposed to call this fortification "Washington," but it was known subsequently simply as Jones' Hill. From this battery the works continued along the line of Grand Street to the Bowery, and included two more circular batteries—one on Grand at the corner of Norfolk Street, and the other near the corner of Grand and Eldridge streets.

Bayard's Hill Redoubt.—Upon this commanding site, west of the Bowery, where Grand and Mulberry streets intersect, was erected a powerful irregular heptagonal redoubt, mounting eight nine-pounders, four three pounders, and six royal and cohorn mortars. It had the range of the city on one side and the approach by the Bowery on the other. Lasher's New York Independent companies first broke ground for it about the 1st of March, and continued digging there as well as on the redoubt around the hospital until May 16th, when they were relieved, with Washington's "thanks for their masterly manner of executing the work on Bayard's Hill."[59] In the March return this battery is called the "Independent Battery," and it also received the name of "Bunker Hill," which was retained by the British during their occupation; but its proper name as an American fort was "Bayard's Hill Redoubt," this having been given to it officially in general orders; and it was so called in letters and orders repeatedly through the summer.

Thompson's Battery.—This was the name given to the work thrown up at Horn's Hook by Colonel Drake's Westchester minute-men soon after Lee's arrival. It mounted eight pieces.[60]

Governor's Island.—The forts erected on this island were among the strongest around New York. According to a letter from Colonel Prescott of July 3d, they consisted of a citadel with outworks, and were garrisoned during the latter part of the summer by Prescott's and Nixon's regiments. The works mounted in June four thirty-two and four eighteen pounders.

Paulus or Powle's Hook.—The point of land on the New Jersey side, opposite the city, and which is now the site in part of Jersey City. Works were commenced here about May 20th, and in June they mounted three thirty-two-pounders, three twelve-pounders, and two three-pounder field-pieces.[61]

In addition to these, several other redoubts were erected north of the town, in which no cannon were mounted, and which had no names. They were probably thrown up to be ready for occupation in case the enemy succeeded in landing above the city. There was a circular battery at the corner of Broome and Forsyth streets; another in the middle of Broadway, opposite White Street; another, of octagonal shape, near the corner of Spring and Mercer streets; a half-moon battery above this, between Prince and Spring, on the line of Thompson Street; another on the northwesterly continuation of Richmond Hill, at McDougall and Houston streets; and still another on the river-bank, near the junction of Christopher and Greenwich streets. The hospital on Duane Street was strongly fortified, and breastworks were thrown up at numerous points between and around the forts. On June 10th the entire number of guns fit for service in and around New York was one hundred and twenty-one, thirty-three of which were held as a reserve for field service, "to be run where the enemy shall make their greatest efforts." The mortars were nineteen in number.

As for barricades, the city was full of them. Some were built of mahogany logs taken from West India cargoes. Not a street leading to the water on either side that was not obstructed in this manner; so that, had the enemy been able to gain a footing in the city under the fire of their ships, they would still have found it, to use Lee's expression, "a disputable field of battle." The City Hall Park was almost entirely inclosed. There was a barrier across Broadway in front of St. Paul's Church, another at the head of Vesey Street, and others at the head of Barclay, Murray, and Warren. On the Park Row or Chatham Street side a barricade stretched across Beekman Street; another, in the shape of a right angle, stood in Printing House Square, one face opposite Spruce Street, the other looking across the Presbyterian churchyard and Nassau Street;[62] another ran across Frankfort Street; another at the entrance of Centre Street; and still another near it, facing Chatham Street.

Another element in the defence was a motley little fleet, made up of schooners, sloops, row-galleys, and whale-boats, and placed under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Benjamin Tupper,[63] who had distinguished himself by a naval exploit or two in Boston Harbor during the siege. Crews were drafted from the regiments and assigned to the various craft, whose particular mission was to scour the waters along the New Jersey and Long Island coast, to watch for the British fleets, and prevent communication between the Tories and the enemy's ships already lying in the harbor. Tupper, as commodore, appears first in the sloop Hester as his flag-ship, and later in the season in the Lady Washington, while among his fleet were to be found the Spitfire, General Putnam, Shark, and Whiting. The gallant commodore's earliest cruises were made within the Narrows, along the Staten Island shore, and as far down as Sandy Hook, where he attempted the feat of destroying the light-house. But he found this structure, which the enemy had occupied since Major Malcom dismantled it in March, a hard piece of masonry to reduce. He attacked it confidently, June 21st, after demanding its surrender, but retired when he found that an hour's bombardment made no impression upon its walls.[64] He kept a good lookout along these waters, gathered information from deserters, and when reporting on one occasion that the enemy's fleet were short of provisions and the men reduced to half allowance, he added, with unction, "May God increase their wants!" A little later we meet again with the adventuresome Tupper and his flotilla.

As the soldiers went on with their exacting duties, the monotony of the routine was now and then relieved by some diversion or excitement. One day there is "Tory-riding"[65] in the city, in which citizens appear to have figured principally. Then the whole camp is startled by the report that a "most accursed scheme" had come to light, just "on the verge of execution," by which Washington and all his generals were to have been murdered, the magazines blown up, and the cannon spiked by hired miscreants in the army at the moment the enemy made their grand attack upon the city.[66] Again, on the 9th of July, the brigades are all drawn up on their respective parade-grounds, listen to the reading for the first time of the Declaration of Independence, and receive it, as Heath tells us, "with loud huzzas;" and, finally, to celebrate the event, a crowd of citizens, "Liberty Boys," and soldiers collect that evening at Bowling Green and pull down the gilded statue of King George, which is then trundled to Oliver Wolcott's residence at Litchfield, Ct., for patriotic ladies to convert into bullets for the American soldiers.[67]

But now occurred a much more stirring and important event to engage the attention of the army, and this was the arrival of the enemy. It was full time for them to make their appearance. Nearly three months and a half had elapsed since the evacuation of Boston; the spring and a whole month of summer had gone; the best season for active movements was passing rapidly; and unless the British began operations soon, all hope of conquering America "in one campaign" would have to be abandoned. Rumors of their coming took definite shape in the last week of June, when word reached camp that an American privateer had captured a British transport with more than two hundred Highlanders as prisoners. On the 25th and 26th three or four large ships arrived off Sandy Hook, one of which proved to be the Greyhound, with Sir William Howe on board; on the 29th a fleet of forty-five sail anchored off the same point, and four days later the number had increased to one hundred and thirty.[68] This was the fleet from Halifax with Howe's Boston veterans. Preparations were made to land them on the Long Island coast near the Narrows; but on being informed that the Americans were posted on a ridge of hills not far distant, Howe disembarked his troops opposite on Staten Island,[69] and there went into camp to wait the arrival of the reinforcements from England under Admiral Howe. The middle of July saw these also encamped on the island, with the fleet increased to nearly three hundred transports and ships of war. On the 1st of August there was an unexpected arrival in the shape of the discomfited expedition under Generals Clinton and Cornwallis, that was to gain a foothold in the South;[70] and last of all, on the 12th of August came the British Guards and De Heister's Hessians, after a tedious voyage of thirteen weeks from Spithead, completing Howe's force, and swelling the fleet in the Narrows to more than four hundred ships. England had never before this sent from her shores a more powerful military and naval armament upon foreign service.

The arrival of the enemy hastened Washington's preparations. The troops which Congress had called out to reinforce his army were coming in too slowly, and expresses were sent to governors, assemblies, and committees of safety, announcing the appearance of the enemy, and urging in the most pressing terms the instant march of the reinforcements to New York. To his soldiers with him the commander-in-chief issued both warning and inspiring orders. On the 2d of July, a few days after Howe arrived, he reminded them that the time was at hand which would probably determine whether Americans were to be freemen or slaves. "The fate of unborn millions," he said, "will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us no choice but a brave resistance or the most abject submission. This is all we can expect. We have, therefore, to resolve to conquer or die. Our country's honor calls upon us for a vigorous and manly exertion, and if we now shamefully fail we shall become infamous to the whole world. Let us, therefore, rely upon the goodness of the cause and the aid of the Supreme Being, in whose hands victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble actions. The eyes of all our countrymen are now upon us, and we shall have their blessings and praises, if happily we are the instruments of saving them from the tyranny meditated against them.... Any officer or soldier, or any particular corps, distinguishing themselves by any acts of bravery and courage, will assuredly meet with notice and rewards; and, on the other hand, those who behave ill will as certainly be exposed and punished: the general being resolved, as well for the honor and safety of the country as of the army, to show no favor to such as refuse or neglect their duty at so important a crisis."

The digging still went on; the troops were ordered to keep their arms in condition for immediate use; the officers cautioned to look after the health of their men, as the season was excessively warm and sickly; and every attention to necessary details enjoined.

In addition to their military and naval commands, the two Howes were invested by their government with extraordinary powers as civil commissioners. They were authorized to issue pardons, and to open up the question of reconciliation and a peaceable settlement of the troubles; but their first advances in a civil capacity completely failed, though not without furnishing an entertaining episode. On the 14th of July they dispatched an officer in a barge with a communication for General Washington. The barge was detained by one of Commodore Tupper's boats in the harbor until Washington's pleasure in regard to it could be known. Suspecting, by previous experience at Boston, that Howe would not recognize his military title, Washington consulted a few of his officers in the matter, and it was the unanimous opinion that should the communication be addressed to him as a private individual it could not, with propriety, be received. Colonel Reed, the adjutant-general, and Colonel Knox immediately went down the bay and met the British officer. The latter, with hat in hand, bowed politely and said to Colonel Reed, "I have a letter from Lord Howe to Mr. Washington." "Sir," replied Reed, "we have no person in our army with that address." "But will you look at the address?" continued the officer, at the same time taking out of his pocket a letter marked

"GEORGE WASHINGTON, Esq.,
New York.
HOWE."

"No, sir," said Reed, "I cannot receive that letter." "I am very sorry," returned the officer, "and so will be Lord Howe, that any error in the superscription should prevent the letter being received by General Washington." "Why, sir," replied Reed, whose instructions were positive not to accept such a communication, "I must obey orders;" and the officer, finding it useless to press the matter, could only repeat the sentiment, "Oh! yes, sir, you must obey orders, to be sure." Then, after exchanging letters from prisoners, the officers saluted and separated. The British barge had gone but a short distance when it quickly put about, and the officer asked by what particular title Washington chose to be addressed. Colonel Reed replied, "You are sensible, sir, of the rank of General Washington in our army." "Yes, sir, we are," said the officer; "I am sure my Lord Howe will lament exceedingly this affair, as the letter is quite of a civil nature, and not of a military one. He laments exceedingly that he was not here a little sooner." Reed and Knox supposed this to be an allusion to the Declaration of Independence, but making no reply, they again bowed, and parted, as Knox says, "in the most genteel terms imaginable."[71]

But Howe was unwilling to have the matter dropped in this fashion, and on the 20th he sent his adjutant-general, Lieutenant-Colonel Patterson, to hold an interview with Washington in person, if possible, and urge him to receive the letter and also to treat about the exchange of prisoners. Patterson landed at the Battery, and was conducted to Colonel Knox's quarters at the Kennedy House, without the usual formality of having his eyes blindfolded. Washington, "very handsomely dressed"[72] and making "a most elegant appearance," received him with his suite, and listened attentively while Patterson, interspersing his words at every other breath with "May it please your Excellency," explained the address on the letter by saying that the etc. etc. appended meant every thing. "And, indeed, it might mean any thing," replied Washington, as Patterson then proceeded to say, among other things, that the benevolence of the king had induced him to appoint General and Admiral Howe his commissioners to accommodate the unhappy disputes; that it would give them great pleasure to effect such an accommodation, and that he (Colonel Patterson) wished to have that visit considered as preliminary to so desirable an object. Washington replied that he himself was not vested with any authority in the case; that it did not appear that Lord Howe could do more than grant pardons, and that those who had committed no fault wanted no pardons, as they were simply defending what they deemed their indisputable rights.[73] Further conversation followed, when Patterson, rising to leave, asked, "Has your Excellency no particular commands with which you would please to honor me to Lord and General Howe?" "Nothing," replied Washington, "but my particular compliments to both;" and, declining to partake of a collation prepared for the occasion, the British adjutant-general took his departure. Again the king's "commissioners" had failed, and Washington had preserved the dignity of the young nation and his own self-respect as the commander of its armies.

An incident, of greater moment as a military affair, and which disturbed Washington as much as the Patterson interview must have diverted him, was the easy passage, on the 12th of July, of two of the British men-of-war, the Rose and Phœnix, past all the batteries, unharmed, up the North River. Taking advantage of a brisk breeze and running tide, the ships with their tenders sailed rapidly up from the Narrows, and to avoid the fire of the batteries as much as possible kept near the Jersey shore. The American artillerists opened upon them with all their guns along the river, but could do them no serious damage, while by accident, in their haste to load the pieces, six of their own gunners were killed. The ships sent many shots into the city, some crashing through houses but doing no other injury, while the roar of the cannon frightened the citizens who had not already moved away, and caused more to go.[74] At the upper end of the island, around Fort Washington, where the batteries and river obstructions were as yet incomplete, the ships suffered still less harm, and sailing by, anchored safely in the broad Tappan Bay above. Their object was to cut off the supplies which came down the river to Washington's army, and, as supposed, to encourage the loyalists in the upper counties and supply them with arms. Washington acknowledged that the event showed the weakness and inadequacy of the North River line of defences, and reported to Congress that it developed a possible plan of attack by the British upon his rear. Measures were taken to annoy if not destroy the ships, and, on the 3d of August, Commodore Tupper, with four of his sloops and schooners, boldly attacked the enemy, but though, as Washington wrote, "our officers and men, during the whole affair, behaved with great spirit and bravery," neither side sustained serious damage. On the night of the 16th two fire-rafts were directed against the ships, which were successful so far as to destroy one of the tenders; and on the 18th the enemy weighed anchor and returned to the Narrows as readily as they came up.

It was now apparent that the great struggle between the two armies could be postponed no longer, and no day after the arrival of the Hessians passed that the British attack was not looked for. The orders of August 8th cautioned the men to be at their quarters, "especially early in the morning or upon the tide of flood," when the enemy's fleet might be expected, and every preparation was made to resist the landing of the British at any point upon Manhattan Island.[75]

Upon Long Island General Greene and his men were still at work on the defences, and, since the arrival of the enemy, doubly vigilant. Hand's riflemen kept close watch at the Narrows and reported every suspicious movement of the fleet. Word was brought in on the 9th that a large number of regulars were drawn up at the Staten Island ferry, and Greene immediately sent around the order for "no officer or soldier to stir from his quarters, that we may be ready to march at a moment's warning, if necessary." Upon another alarm, when probably he himself was indisposed, he directed Colonel Little, the senior regimental officer present, to superintend the disposition of the troops. His hastily written letter, penned apparently not long after midnight, runs as follows:

Thursday Morning [August 8 or 15?]

Dear Sir—By Express from Col Hand and from Red Hook, and from on board the Sloop at Governor's Island it is very evident there was a General Imbarcation of the Troops last evening from Statten Island—doubtless they'l make a dessent this morning. Youl please to order all the troops fit for duty to be at their Alarm posts near an hour sooner than is common—let their flints arms and ammunition be examined and everything held in readiness to defend the works or go upon a detachment. A few minutes past received an Express from Head Quarters. Youl acquaint the Commanding officers of Col Hitchcock's Regiment and Col Forman's Regiment of this, and direct them to observe the same orders, also the Artillery officers.

I am ys,
N. Greene.

[Addressed to Col. Little.][76]

Greene had been promoted to the rank of major-general on the 9th, and his old brigade on Long Island given to Brigadier-General John Nixon, of Massachusetts, who was promoted from a colonelcy at the same time. A new arrangement of the army was effected, and Brigadier-General Heard's brigade of five New Jersey regiments was ordered to Long Island to reinforce Greene. His division, now consisting of these two brigades—Nixon's and Heard's—numbered, August 15th, two thousand nine hundred men fit for duty. Parts of two Long Island militia regiments under Colonels Smith and Remsen which joined him about this date, and Colonel Gay's Connecticut levies, who had been on that side since the 1st of August, increased this number to something over thirty-five hundred.

But Greene was not to be a participator in the approaching scenes. The prevailing fever which had prostrated so many officers and men seized him with all but a fatal hold, and he was obliged to relinquish his command. He clung to it, however, to the last moment in hopes of a change for the better. "I am very sorry," he wrote to Washington on the 15th, "that I am under the necessity of acquainting you that I am confined to my bed with a raging fever. The critical situation of affairs makes me the more anxious, but I hope, through the assistance of Providence, to be able to ride before the presence of the enemy may make it absolutely necessary;" and he assured the commander-in-chief that his men appeared to be "in exceeding good spirits," and would no doubt be able to render a very good account of the enemy should they land on Long Island. On the 16th there was no change for the better in his condition, but on the contrary Livingston, his aid, reported that he had "a very bad night of it;" and in a day or two he was removed to New York, to the house of John Inglis now the intersection of Ninth Street and Broadway where with rest and care he slowly passed the crisis of his illness.[77]

On the 20th Washington gave orders to General Sullivan, who had recently returned from Canada, to take the command upon Long Island, until General Greene's state of health should permit him to resume it.[78]

CHAPTER III.

THE TWO ARMIES.

Right here, before entering upon the details of the coming struggle, we may delay a moment to glance at the two armies as they lay in their opposite camps waiting to engage in the serious business before them. What was their composition and organization, what their strength, who their officers and leaders? In the case of the American troops particularly may these questions be asked, because to them and their services the country has long acknowledged its obligations, and so far bound itself to perpetuate their memory. Who were the men who stood with Washington in this first and critical year of our national life—who came to this vicinity to fight on strange ground for a common cause? We are called upon to remember them, not as soldiers simply, but as public-spirited citizens arming to secure themselves in their privileges, or perhaps as ancestors who had a thought for the peace and happiness of present generations.

The original army of the Revolution was that ardent though disjointed body of provincials which gathered around Boston immediately after the Lexington alarm, and came nominally under the command of General Artemas Ward, of Massachusetts. As a military corps it entirely lacked cohesion, as the troops from New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut were under independent control, and yielded to General Ward's authority only by patriotic consent. The appointment of Washington as commander-in-chief of all the American forces relieved this difficulty, and the adoption by Congress of the Boston troops as a Continental army, under the orders and in the pay of Congress, gave that army more of a military character. But the terms of enlistment were short, and it became necessary to reorganize the entire body by new enlistments for a year's service from the 1st of January, 1776. This force thus recruited was the nucleus of the army which Washington mustered at New York in the present campaign. It consisted of twenty-seven battalions, or "regiments of foot," as they were styled, each divided into eight companies, and having a maximum strength of about six hundred and forty officers and men. With the exception of the First Regiment, or Pennsylvania Riflemen, all were from the New England States; and, as already stated, twenty-one of them, after the evacuation of Boston, marched to New York under the command of Generals Heath, Spencer, Sullivan, and Greene.

This force, diminished by the regiments sent to Canada, was quite inadequate for the purposes of the campaign, and on the 1st of June Congress issued a call for large reinforcements both for the New York army and that on the Canada border. For the former thirteen thousand eight hundred troops were voted necessary, and for the latter six thousand, while in addition it was resolved to establish a "flying camp" of ten thousand men, who could be sent wherever needed. The quota Massachusetts was to furnish for New York was two thousand; Connecticut, five thousand five hundred; New York, three thousand; and New Jersey, three thousand three hundred. For the flying camp, Pennsylvania was to recruit six thousand; Delaware, six hundred; and Maryland, three thousand four hundred. All these men were to be militia or State troops, but to serve under the orders of Congress and in its pay until at least the 1st of December following.

The necessity of these calls was impressed upon the country by urgent letters from the President and members of Congress and the leaders of the day. "The militia of the United Colonies," wrote Hancock, "are a body of troops that may be depended upon. To their virtue, their delegates in Congress now make the most solemn appeal. They are called upon to say whether they will live slaves or die freemen." To the governors and State assemblies he added: "On your exertions at this critical period, together with those of the other colonies in the common cause, the salvation of America now evidently depends.... Exert, therefore, every nerve to distinguish yourselves. Quicken your preparations, and stimulate the good people of your government, and there is no danger, notwithstanding the mighty armament with which we are threatened, but you will be able to lead them to victory, to liberty, and to happiness." But the reinforcements came forward slowly, and it was not until the enemy had actually arrived that the peculiar dangers of the situation were appreciated and the militiamen hurried to Washington's assistance at his own pressing call for them. By the 27th of August, his army, which on July 13th numbered a little over ten thousand men fit for duty, had been increased in the aggregate to twenty-eight thousand; but so many were on the sick list during this month, that he could muster not quite twenty thousand effectives, officers and men, at the opening of active operations.

To this force the State of New York contributed thirteen regiments. Of her Continental battalions then in the service, three were in the Northern department under Schuyler, part of another in the Highlands, and two, commanded by Colonels Alexander McDougall and Rudolph Ritzema, here with Washington, both of which were largely recruited from New York City. McDougall, colonel of the first battalion, had identified himself early with the liberty party in the city, became a member of the Provincial Congress, and by his zealous and energetic efforts in both his civil and military capacity contributed much towards preserving the honor and interests of the colony in the present crisis. In August he was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general in the Continental army, and rose to the grade of major-general before the close of the war. Nine of the other regiments from this State, chiefly militia, formed two brigades under Brigadier-Generals John Morin Scott and George Clinton. In Scott's command were two battalions which were credited to and represented the city distinctively. The oldest and largest was the "First Independent Battalion," commanded by Colonel John Lasher, remembered as one of the substantial citizens of the place. A man of property and influence, with a taste for military affairs and evidently popular, he had been elected colonel of the Independent Companies during the colonial régime, and now, with most of his officers and men, had taken up the Continental cause.[79] The battalion was a favorite corps, composed of young men of respectability and wealth, and when on parade was doubtless the attraction of the city. Its companies bore separate names, and the uniform of each had some distinguishing feature. There were the "Prussian Blues," under Captain James Alner; the "Oswego Rangers," under Captain John J. Roosevelt; the "Rangers," under Captain James Abeel; the "Fusileers," under Captain Henry G. Livingston; the "Hearts of Oak," under Captain John Berrian; the "Grenadiers," under Captain Abraham Van Dyck; the "Light Infantry," under Captain William W. Gilbert; the "Sportsmen," under Captain Abraham A. Van Wyck; the "German Fusileers," under Captain William Leonard; the "Light Horse," under Captain Abraham P. Lott; and the "Artillery," under Captain Samuel Tudor. As reorganized in the summer of 1776, the regiment had for its field officers Colonel John Lasher, Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew Stockholm, and Major James Abeel. The Second New York City Battalion was originally commanded by Colonel William Heyer, and among its companies were the "Brown Buffs," "Rifles," "Grenadiers," "Hussars," and "Scotsmen," the latter of whom were commanded by Captain Robert Smith, of New York, who, after doing good service at various times during the war, settled in Philadelphia, where for nearly half a century after he filled offices of public and private trust.[80] In 1776, in the reappointment of field officers, William Malcom, formerly first major, became colonel; Isaac Stoutenburgh, lieutenant-colonel; and James Alner, major.[81] The two remaining regiments of Scott's brigade were commanded by Colonel Samuel Drake, of Westchester, and Colonel Cornelius Humphrey, of Dutchess County. Scott himself was a man of the highest public spirit. A history of the progress of the revolutionary sentiment in the Colony of New York would be incomplete without a record of his career. An able lawyer and speaker, he early resisted the pretentions and arbitrary policy of the home government, and when war became inevitable, he spared no energy to provide for the crisis. In 1775 and 1776 he was one of the most active and useful members of the Provincial Congress and the Committee of Safety. "Nothing from the other side of the water," he wrote to a friend in November, 1775, "but a fearful looking for of wrath. But let us be prepared for the worst. Who can prize life without liberty? It is a bauble only fit to be thrown away." He served through the present campaign, and then continued in the public service as Secretary of the State of New York and afterwards member of the Continental Congress.

Two other acquisitions to the army in this campaign were the brothers James and George Clinton, of Ulster County, N.Y., both destined to be prominent characters in the Revolution. James Clinton, as colonel of one of the Continental regiments, superintended the construction of fortifications in the Highlands, and in August was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general in the Continental service. George was member of Congress, and after voting for the Declaration of Independence returned to command a militia brigade which the State called out during the summer, and which joined Washington's army just before the battle of Long Island. These troops were commanded by Colonel Levi Paulding, of Ulster County; Colonels Morris Graham and James Swartwout, of Dutchess; Colonel Isaac Nichol, of Orange; and Colonel Thomas Thomas, of Westchester. Before this, in November, 1775, an attempt was made to raise three regiments of militia in New York City to be commanded respectively by Henry Remsen, John Jay, and Abraham P. Lott; but the enlistment of men into other corps made it impossible to organize them.[82] In this campaign, too, we first meet with young officers from this State who subsequently rose to distinction in the service. Here Alexander Hamilton appears; and we read that upon the certificate of Captain Stephen Badlam, that he had examined Hamilton and found him qualified for a command, the New York Convention appointed him, March 14th, Captain of the "Provincial Company of Artillery of the Colony." Among others were Lieutenant-Colonel Henry B. Livingston, Majors Nicholas Fish and Richard Platt, and Hugh Hughes, teacher of a classical school, who, as assistant Quartermaster-General, rendered, at least on one occasion, a most important service to the army.

Long Island was represented in the New York quota by two regiments of militia and two small companies of "troop." The Suffolk County regiment, at the eastern end, was commanded by Colonel Josiah Smith, of South Haven parish, and that from King's County by Colonel Rutgert Van Brunt. But the militia, especially in disaffected Kings and Queens counties, could be mustered, as volunteers, with difficulty; and early in August the New York Provincial Congress ordered a draft to be made from these counties, and the troops so raised to be commanded by Colonel Jeronimus Remsen, of Queens, with Nicholas Cowenhoven, of Kings, for lieutenant-colonel, and Richard Thorne, of Queens, for major. Colonel Smith's lieutenant-colonel at this time was John Sands, and his major, Abraham Remsen. The two regiments—Smith's and Remsen's—did not report to Greene until August 15th and after, and mustered together probably less than five hundred men. The troopers, not over fifty in all, were a few horsemen from Brooklyn under Captain Adolph Waldron and Lieutenant William Boerum; and others, representing King's County, under Captain Lambert Suydam. About the middle of August, Nathaniel Woodhull, of Mastic, brigadier-general of the Long Island militia, and now President of the State Convention, dropping his civil functions, repaired to the Island to render whatever aid the situation might demand. A man of the purest motives and capable of doing good service, an unhappy, although a soldier's fate, awaited him.

New Jersey at the outbreak of the war met an obstacle to hearty co-operation with the other colonies in the conduct of William Franklin, her royal governor. Little sympathy had he with the revolutionary movement, and his influence was powerful in keeping men out of it, until the aroused State legislature ordered his arrest. In William Livingston, her new governor, New Jersey found a patriot and civil leader of the right stamp for the emergency. Part of the year he acted in a military capacity, and directed the movements of the militia in the vicinity of Amboy and Elizabeth. As the Tory element was very considerable here, the State found the same difficulty experienced by New York in raising troops for the army; but she furnished a good proportion. Her three Continental regiments under Colonels Dayton, Maxwell, and Winds, were in the Canada army during the present campaign. In the spring and summer the State sent several detachments of militia, under Lieutenant-Colonels Ward and Cadmus and other officers, to assist in fortifying New York. In answer to the last call of Congress, the legislature voted to raise a brigade of five battalions, to be known as "new levies," to serve until December 1st, and to each man that would enlist a bounty of three pounds was offered. The command of the brigade was given to Colonel Nathaniel Heard, of Woodbridge, now promoted to a State brigadier. The colonels were Philip Van Cortland, whose regiment was recruited in Bergen, Essex, and Burlington counties; David Forman, with four companies from Middlesex and four from Monmouth; Ephraim Martin, with four from Morris and four from Sussex; Philip Johnston, with three from Somerset and five from Hunterdon; and Silas Newcomb, with men from Salem, Gloucester, Burlington, and Cumberland. In September the command numbered seventeen hundred and sixty-two enlisted men, and one hundred and sixty officers.[83] We shall find these troops figuring in the movements on Long Island.

Pennsylvania was well represented in this campaign. Her troops participated in nearly every engagement, and had the opportunity in more than one instance of acquitting themselves with honor. Besides her large body of "associators," or home guards, many of whom marched into New Jersey, the State sent four Continental regiments under Colonels Wayne, St. Clair, Irvine, and De Haas, to Canada, and eight other battalions, three of them Continental, to the army at New York. Of these, the oldest was commanded by Colonel Edward Hand, of Lancaster. It was the first of the Continental establishment, where it was known as the "rifle" corps. Enlisting in 1775, under Colonel Thompson, it joined the army at the siege of Boston, re-enlisted for the war under Colonel Hand in 1776, and fought all along the Continent from Massachusetts to South Carolina, not disbanding until the peace was signed in 1783. Hand himself, a native of Ireland, and, like many others in the service, a physician by profession, had served in the British army, was recognized as a superior officer, and we find him closing his career as Washington's adjutant-general and personal friend. The two other regiments, raised on the Continental basis, were commanded by Colonels Robert Magaw, formerly major of Thompson's regiment, and John Shee, of Philadelphia. The remaining battalions were distinctively State troops, and formed part of the State's quota for the Flying Camp. Colonel Samuel Miles, subsequently mayor of Philadelphia, commanded what was known as the First Regiment of Riflemen. Unlike any other corps, it was divided into two battalions, which on their enlistment in March aggregated five hundred men each. The lieutenant-colonel of the first was Piper; of the second, John Brodhead. The majors were Paton and Williams. Another corps was known as the First Regiment of Pennsylvania Musketry, under Colonel Samuel John Atlee, of Lancaster County, originally five hundred strong, and recruited in Chester and the Piquea Valley. Atlee had been a soldier in his youth in the frontier service, afterwards studied law, and in 1775 was active in drilling companies for the war. Mercer, who knew a good soldier when he met him, wrote to Washington that Atlee was worthy his regard as an officer of "experience and attention," and his fine conduct on Long Island proved his title to this word of commendation from his superior. How much of a man and soldier he had in his lieutenant-colonel, Caleb Parry, the events of August 27th will bear witness. The three other battalions were incomplete. Two were composed of Berks County militia, under Lieutenant-Colonels Nicholas Lutz and Peter Kachlein. Lutz's major was Edward Burd, and their colonel was Henry Haller, of Reading, who did not join the army until after the opening of the campaign. Another detachment consisted of part of Colonel James Cunningham's Lancaster County militiamen, under Major William Hay.

Edw. Hand

COLONEL FIRST REGIMENT OF FOOT (PENN RIFLEMEN).
BRIGADIER GENERAL 1777

Steel Engr. F. von Egloffstein N.Y.

Delaware furnished more than her proportion to the flying camp. The "Lower Counties," as this little State had been known in colonial times, had shown no haste to break with the mother country. Her people were chiefly farmers of a peaceable disposition, who used herbs for tea and felt no weight of oppression. But Delaware had her public-spirited men, who, when the crisis came, felt that the "counties" must take their place by the side of the colonies in the pending conflict. Among these were Thomas MacKean and Cæsar Rodney. Rodney's right-hand man in his patriotic efforts was John Haslet, born in Ireland, once a Presbyterian minister, now a physician in Dover, "tall, athletic, of generous and ardent feelings." The news of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence Haslet celebrated with "a turtle feast;" and he did more. Already he had begun to raise a regiment for the field, and five weeks before the opening battle it left Dover eight hundred strong, composed of some of the best blood and sinew Delaware had to offer.[84]

Maryland raised as her contingent for this campaign four regiments and seven independent companies; but of these, Smallwood's battalion and four of the companies alone had joined the army when hostilities commenced. Though forming part of the State's quota for the flying camp, this was far from being a hastily-collected force. It stands upon record that while Massachusetts was preparing for the contest in the earlier days, there were men along the Chesapeake and the Potomac who took the alarm with their northern brethren. Mordecai Gist, Esq., of "Baltimore town," was among the first to snuff the coming storm, and the first to act, for he tells us that as early as December, 1774, at the expense of his time and hazard of his business, he organized "a company composed of men of honor, family, and fortune," to be ready for any emergency. The Lexington news, four months later, found the best part of Maryland ready to arm. In Baltimore, William Buchanan, lieutenant of the county, collected a body of the older citizens for home defence, while their unmarried sons and others organized themselves into two more companies, donned "an excellent scarlet uniform," and chose Gist for their leader. When the State called for troops at large many of these young men responded, and in the spring of 1776 made up three companies, which, with six other companies that gathered at Annapolis from the surrounding country, formed the first Maryland battalion of "State regulars." William Smallwood, living on the banks of the Potomac, in Charles County, was chosen colonel; Francis Ware, lieutenant-colonel; and Mordecai Gist, first major. On the day it left for the field, July 10th, it numbered, inclusive of Captain Edward Veazey's large independent company from the Eastern Shore, seven hundred and fifty men. The State sent no better material into the service. Without cares, patriotic, well drilled, well led, priding themselves in their soldierly appearance, both officers and men were a notable and much needed acquisition to Washington's army.

Men from Virginia, too, were to take an active part in this campaign, but not until after it had opened. The State had nine regiments organized for service, five of which, under Colonels Weedon, Reed, Scott, Elliott and Buckner, joined the army during the fall. There were several Virginia officers on the ground, however, as early as July and August, one of whom was a host in himself. This was General Hugh Mercer, who had been a surgeon in the Pretender's army on the field of Culloden; who afterward coming to America figured as a volunteer in Braddock's defeat, and then settled down to practice as a physician in Fredericksburg. Appointed a Continental Brigadier, Washington intrusted him with the important command of the New Jersey front, where he kept a constant watch along the shore opposite Staten Island. He had at various times from three to six thousand troops under him, composed of Pennsylvania and New Jersey home guards and militia, but which were never enrolled as a part of Washington's army.[85]

From New England, as we have seen, came the troops sent on from Boston by Washington, which formed the nucleus or basis of the force gathered at New York. These were all Continental or established regiments, and were reinforced from this section during the summer by militia and State troops.

Massachusetts furnished the Continental battalions commanded by Colonels William Prescott, of Pepperell; John Glover, of Marblehead; Moses Little, of Newburyport; John Nixon, of Framingham; Jonathan Ward, of Southboro; Israel Hutchinson, of Salem; Ebenezer Learned, of Oxford; Loammi Baldwin, of Woburn; John Bailey, of Hanover; Paul Dudley Sargent, of Gloucester, and Joseph Read. In August, Brigadier-General John Fellows, of Sheffield, brought down three regiments of militia under Colonels Jonathan Holman, of Worcester County, Jonathan Smith, of Berkshire, and Simeon Cary, with men from Plymouth and Bristol counties. The State also sent the only artillery regiment[86] then in the service, under Colonel Henry Knox, of Boston.

Many of these officers named had already made something of a record for themselves. Prescott will be forever associated with Bunker Hill. With him there were Nixon, who was severely wounded, Ward, Little, Sargent, and not a few of the officers and men who were here in the present campaign. Many of them were representative citizens. Little, of Newburyport, whose name we have seen associated with the defences of Long Island, had been surveyor of the king's lands, owned large tracts in his own right, and was widely known as a man of character and influence. As an officer he was distinguished for his judgment and great self-possession in the field. His lieutenant-colonel, William Henshaw, of Leicester, belonged to the line of Henshaws whose ancestor had fallen in the English Revolution in defence of popular rights and privileges. A man of the old type, with cocked hat and provincial dress, modest and brave, he writes home to his wife one day that he finds it difficult to stop profanity among the troops; another day he hopes his children are improving in all the graces; and then he is heard of in the heat of some engagement. He was the first adjutant-general of the provincial army around Boston in 1775, and served in that capacity with the rank of colonel until relieved by General Gates. The services rendered by Colonel and afterwards General Glover in this as well as in other campaigns is a well-known record. Learned and Nixon became Continental brigadiers. Shepherd, Brooks, Jackson, Winthrop Sargent, and many other officers from this State, distinguished themselves in the later years of the Revolution. But perhaps no man proved his worth more in this campaign than Colonel Rufus Putnam, of Brookfield, Washington's chief engineer. He succeeded Colonel Gridley at Boston; and at New York, where engineering skill of a high order was demanded in the planning and construction of the works, he showed himself equal to the occasion. That Washington put a high estimate on his services, appears from more than one of his letters.[87]

Rhode Island at this time had two regiments in the field. In 1775 they were around Boston; in 1776 they were here again with the army—Varnum's Ninth and Hitchcock's Eleventh Continentals. A third regiment from this State, under Colonel Lippett, did not join the army until September. Varnum and Hitchcock were rising young lawyers of Providence, the former a graduate of Brown University, the latter of Yale. Hitchcock's lieutenant-colonel was Ezekiel Cornell, of Scituate, who subsequently served in Congress and became [commissary-general] of the army. Greene, Varnum, Hitchcock, and Cornell were among those Rhode Islanders who early resisted the pretensions of the British Ministry. In the discipline and soldierly bearing of these two regiments Greene took special pride, and not a few of their officers subsequently earned an honorable reputation. Varnum was created a brigadier; Hitchcock, as will be seen, closed his career as a sacrifice to the cause; Colonels Crary and Angell and the Olneys served with the highest credit; and the men of the regiments, many of them, fought through the war to the Yorktown surrender.

In proportion to her population, no State contributed more men to the army in 1776 than Connecticut, nor were all ranks of society more fully represented. Fortunately the State had in Trumbull, its governor, just the executive officer which the times demanded. A man of character and ability, greatly respected, prompt, zealous, ardent in the cause, his words and calls upon the people were seldom unheeded; and the people were generally as patriotic as their governor. In the present crisis Connecticut sent to New York six Continental battalions, seven of "new levies," and twelve of militia. Her Continentals were commanded by Colonels Samuel Holden Parsons,[88] of Lyme; Jedediah Huntington, of Lebanon; Samuel Wyllys, of Hartford; Charles Webb, of Stamford; John Durkee, of Bean Hill, near Norwich; and Andrew Ward,[89] of Guilford. The "levies" were the troops raised in answer to the last call of Congress, and were commanded by Colonels Gold Selleck Silliman, of Fairfield; Phillip Burr Bradley, of Ridgefield; William Douglas, of Northford; Fisher Gay, of Farmington; Samuel Selden, of Hadlyme; John Chester, of Wethersfield; and Comfort Sage, of Middletown. Among these names will be recognized many which represented some of the oldest and best families in the State. Wyllys was a descendant of one of the founders of Hartford. His father held the office of Secretary of State for sixty-one years; his grandfather had held it before that, and after the Revolution the honor fell to the colonel himself. The three held the office in succession for ninety-eight years. Three members of this family, which is now extinct, were in the army during this campaign, and two served with honor through the war. From Lebanon came Colonel Jedediah Huntington and his two brothers, Captains Joshua and Ebenezer. They were sons of Jabez Huntington, who like Trumbull was a type of the patriotic citizen of the Revolution. Although his business and property, as a West India merchant, would be greatly endangered if not ruined by the war, he and his family cheerfully ignored their personal interests in their devotion to the common cause. The three brothers and their brother-in-law, Colonel John Chester, served through the present campaign as they had in the previous one, and two of them, Jedediah and Ebenezer, fought to the end of the struggle. Parsons, who subsequently rose to the rank of a Continental major-general, Wyllys and Webb, were among those who pledged their individual credit to carry out the successful enterprise against Ticonderoga in 1775. In his section of the State few men were more influential than Colonel Silliman, of Fairfield, where, before the war, he had held the office of king's attorney. After the present campaign, in the course of which he was more than once engaged with the enemy, he was appointed a State brigadier, rendered further service during the British forays into Connecticut, and marched with troops to the Hudson Highlands upon Burgoyne's approach from Canada. Colonel Douglas, of Northford, engaged heart and hand in the struggle. Joining Montgomery's command in 1775, he served in the flotilla on Lake Champlain, and was subsequently appointed commodore by Congress; but accepting a colonelcy of Connecticut levies he marched to New York in 1776, after first advancing the funds to equip his regiment. With Silliman he enjoyed the confidence and good opinion of the commander-in-chief, and both were appointed to command regiments to be raised for the Connecticut Continental Line. Another of those citizen-soldiers who came from the substantial element in the population was Colonel Selden. A descendant of the Seldens who were among the first settlers in the Connecticut Valley, fifty years of age, possessing a large estate, incapacitated for severe military duty, the father of twelve children, he nevertheless answered the governor's call for troops, and joined the army at New York, from which he was destined not to return. Durkee, Knowlton, Hull, Sherman, Grosvenor, Bradley, afterwards a Continental colonel, and many others, were men from Connecticut, who gave the country their best services. The militia regiments from this State turned out at the governor's call upon the arrival of the enemy. Of the fourteen he designated to march, twelve reported at New York before August 27th, each averaging three hundred and fifty men, with Oliver Wolcott as their brigadier-general,[90] than whom no man in Connecticut had done more to further the public interests of both the State and the nation. Signing the Declaration in 1776, he was to be found in the following year fighting Burgoyne in the field, and afterwards constantly active in a military or civil capacity until the success of the cause was assured.

Pass these men in review, and we have before us not a small proportion of those "fathers" of the Revolution, to whose exertions and sacrifices America owes her independence. It was a crude, unmilitary host, strong only as a body of volunteers determined to resist an invasion of their soil. Here and there was an officer or soldier who had served in previous wars, but the great mass knew nothing of war. The Continental or established regiments formed much less than half the army, and some of these were without experience or discipline; very few had been tested under fire. As to arms, they carried all sorts—old flint-locks, fowling-pieces, rifles, and occasionally good English muskets captured by privateers from the enemy's transports. Not all had bayonets or equipments. Uniforms were the exception; even many of the Continentals were dressed in citizens' clothes.[91] The militiamen, hurriedly leaving their farms and affairs, came down in homespun, while some of the State troops raised earlier in the spring appeared in marked contrast to them, both in dress and discipline. Smallwood's Marylanders attracted attention with their showy scarlet and buff coats. The Delawares, with their blue uniform, were so nearly like the Hessians as to be mistaken for them in the field. Miles' Pennsylvanians wore black hunting shirts; and Lasher's New York battalion perhaps appeared, in the various uniforms of gray, blue and green worn by the independent companies. The general and regimental officers in the army were distinguished by different-colored cockades and sashes. For regimental colors, each battalion appears to have carried those of its own design. One of the flags captured by the Hessians on Long Island was reported by a Hessian officer to have been a red damask standard, bearing the word "Liberty" in its centre. Colonel Joseph Read's Massachusetts Continentals carried a flag with a light buff ground, on which there was the device of a pine-tree and Indian-corn, emblematical of New-England fields. Two officers were represented in the uniform of the regiment, one of whom, with blood streaming from a wound in his breast, pointed to children under the pine, with the words, "For posterity I bleed."[92]

Had this force acquired the discipline and been hardened by the service which made Washington's troops later in the war a most trusty and effective body, the campaign of 1776 would have shown another record. But not the less are we to respect it, with all its failings and defeats. If not all the men were "patriots;" if some lost faith in the cause; if others deserted it entirely and joined the enemy; if some entered the army from mercenary motives and proved cravens in the field; if still others who were honest enough in their intentions were found to be wretched material for the making of good soldiers—this was only the common experience of all popular struggles. As a body, it fairly represented the colonists in arms; and as an army, it did its share in bringing about the final grand result.

To recapitulate: Washington's army, at the opening of the campaign on August 27th, consisted of seventy-one regiments or parts of regiments, twenty-five of which were Continental, aggregating in round numbers twenty-eight thousand five hundred officers and men. Of these, Massachusetts furnished seven thousand three hundred; Rhode Island, eight hundred; Connecticut, nine thousand seven hundred; New York, four thousand five hundred; New Jersey, one thousand five hundred; Pennsylvania, three thousand one hundred; Delaware, eight hundred; and Maryland, nine hundred. Between eight and nine thousand were on the sick-list or not available for duty, leaving on the rolls not far from nineteen thousand effectives, most of them levies and militia, on the day of the battle of Long Island.[93] As officered and brigaded at this date the army stood as follows:

GEORGE WASHINGTON,

COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.

Aides-de-Camp.

Colonel William Grayson, of Virginia; Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Cary, Jr., of Massachusetts; Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel B. Webb, of Connecticut; Lieutenant Tench Tilghman, of Pennsylvania.

Secretary.

Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Hanson Harrison, of Virginia.

Adjutant-General.

Colonel Joseph Reed, of Philadelphia.

Quartermaster-General.

Colonel Stephen Moylan, of Pennsylvania.

Commissary-General.

Colonel Joseph Trumbull, of Connecticut.

Paymaster-General.

Colonel William Palfrey, of Massachusetts.

Muster-Master-General.

Colonel Gunning Bedford, of Pennsylvania.

Director of the General Hospital.

Doctor John Morgan, of Pennsylvania.

Chief Engineer.

Colonel Rufus Putnam, of Massachusetts.

Putnam's Division.

MAJOR-GENERAL ISRAEL PUTNAM.

Aides-de-Camp.

Major Aaron Burr, Major ——.

Clinton's Brigade.

BRIGADIER-GENERAL JAMES CLINTON.[94]

Brigade-Major, David Henly.

Scott's Brigade.

BRIGADIER-GENERAL JOHN MORIN SCOTT.

Brigade-Major, Nicholas Fish.

Fellows' Brigade.

BRIGADIER-GENERAL JOHN FELLOWS.

Brigade-Major, Mark Hopkins.

Heath's Division.

MAJOR-GENERAL WILLIAM HEATH.

Aides-de-Camp.

Major Thomas Henly, Major Israel Keith.

Mifflin's Brigade.

BRIGADIER-GENERAL THOMAS MIFFLIN.

Brigade-Major, Jonathan Mifflin.

Clinton's Brigade.

BRIGADIER-GENERAL GEORGE CLINTON.