IV. 1776. dear to freemen; that Heaven would crown with CHAP. success so just a cause. To the brave he promised rewards; the coward who should skulk in time of August. battle, or retreat without orders, he threatened with instant death; and he summoned all to resolve to conquer or die. To baffle the ministerial plan of separating New England from the Middle states by the junction of the army of Canada with Howe, the command of the Hudson must be maintained. The New York convention dwelt anxiously on this idea; the survey of the river, at a point about two miles and a half below Kingsbridge, was made by Putnam and Mifflin; and Putnam undertook to complete the obstruction of the channel by a scheme of his own. In connection with this object, he was an advocate for building a fort on the height now known as Fort Washington; and he thought the position, if properly fortified, was in itself almost impregnable, without any regard to the heights above the bridge. Of the batteries by which New York was protected, the most important was the old Fort George on the south point of the island; a barrier crossed Broadway near the Bowling Green; a redoubt was planted near the river, west of Trinity church; another, that took the name of Bunker hill, near the site of the present Centre market. Earthworks were thrown up here and there along the East and Hudson rivers within the settled parts of the town, and at the northern end of the island, on hills overlooking Kingsbridge; but many intermediate points, favorable for landing, were defenceless. CHAP. Two regiments, one of which was Prescott's, were IV. all that could be spared to garrison Governor's 1776. August. island. The American lines in Brooklyn, including angles, and four redoubts which mounted twenty large and small cannon, ran for a mile and a half from Wallabout bay to the marsh of Gowanus cove; they were defended by ditches and felled trees; the counterscarp and parapet were fraised with sharpened stakes. A fortress of seven guns crowned Brooklyn heights. The entrance into the East river was guarded by a battery of five guns at Red-hook. Six incomplete continental regiments, with two of Long Island militia, constituted all the force with which Greene occupied this great extent of works. The expected British reënforcements had arrived the troops with Clinton and Cornwallis on the first, and eleven days later more than twenty-five hundred British troops from England, and more than eighty-six hundred Hessians. Sir Peter Parker had also come, bringing Campbell and Dunmore, who with Tryon and Martin hoped from victory their restoration to their governments. On the fifteenth, the Hessians, who were in excellent health after their long voyage, landed on Staten Island, eager for war. Before a conflict of arms, Lord Howe once more proposed the oftenrejected plan of Lord North. To his messenger, Lord Drummond, who had been allowed to leave the country on conditions that he had broken, Washington made no answer but by a rebuke for his want of "that attention to his parole which belongs to the character of a man of strict honor;" IV. 1776. and lest the sight of the flag of truce should lull CHAP. the army into a fatal security, on the twentieth he announced, "that no offer of peace had been August. made, that the army might expect an attack as soon as the wind and tide should prove favorable, and that every man should prepare his mind and his arms for action." To congress he on the same day wrote frankly, that it would not be possible to prevent the landing of the British on Long Island; "however," he said, "we shall attempt to harass them as much as possible, which will be all that we can do." Just at this time Greene became ill of a raging fever, and owed his life to rest, change of air, and the unwearied attention of Morgan, his physician. The loss of his service was irreparable; for the works in Brooklyn had been built under his eye, and he was familiar with the environs. His place was, on the twentieth, assigned to Sullivan. Very heavy rains delayed the movements of the British. About nine on the morning of the twenty-second, the men-of-war moved near the shore in Gravesend bay, to protect the landing of more than fifteen thousand men, chiefly British troops, from Staten Island. The English and the Highlanders, with the artillery, consisting of forty cannon, were the first to disembark; last came Donop's brigade of grenadiers and yagers, in large flat-boats, standing in the clear sun, with their muskets in hand, in line and order of battle. As it was at first reported to Washington that the British intended by a forced march to surprise the lines CHAP. at Brooklyn, he at once reënforced them with six IV. regiments; before sending more, he waited to be 1776. August. certain that the enemy were not making a feint upon Long Island, with the real design to fall directly upon New York. The troops went off in high spirits, and all the army was cheerful; but the inhabitants were struck with terror, and could hardly be persuaded that their houses would not be burnt in case of the retreat of the American army; women and children spread dismay by their shrieks and wailing, and families deserted the city, which they were not to revisit for seven years. The main body of the British army spread itself out upon the plain which stretches from Gravesend bay towards the east; the country people could offer no resistance; the British camp was thronged by farmers of the neighborhood, wearing badges of loyalty and seeking protection; while the patriots took to flight, driving cattle before them, and burning all kinds of forage. Cornwallis with the reserve, two battalions of infantry and the corps of Germans, advanced to Flatbush. Hand's Pennsylvania riflemen retired before him, burning stacks of wheat and hay on their march; his artillery drove the Americans from their slight barrier within the village to the wooded heights beyond, where in the afternoon they were strengthened by fresh arrivals from the lines. In the following days, during which Washington divided his time between the two islands, encounters took place between the advanced parties of the two armies; in these the American riflemen, IV. poor as were their arms, proved their superiority CHAP. as skirmishers; on the twenty-fourth, Donop was aimed at and narrowly escaped death. On that day, Putnam, in right of his rank as second to Washington, took the command on Long Island, but with explicit instructions to guard the passes through the woods; while the New York congress sent independent orders to Woodhull, a provincial brigadier, to drive off the horses, horned cattle, and sheep, and destroy the forage, which would otherwise have fallen into the possession of the enemy. On the twenty-fifth, two more brigades of Hessians with Von Heister came over to Flatbush, increasing the force of Howe on Long Island to "upwards of twenty thousand" rank and file.' It was the most perfect army of that day in the world, for experience, discipline, equipments, and artillery; and was supported by more than four hundred ships and transports in the bay; by ten ships of the line and twenty frigates, besides bombketches, galiots, and other small vessels. Among them were the "Phoenix" and the "Rose," which, after repelling an attack from six American galleys 1 Howe, in the Observations annexed to his Narrative, p. 45, wrote thus: “I landed upon Long Island with between 15,000 and 16,000 rank and file, having left the remainder of the army for the defence of Staten Island; my whole force at that time consisted of 20,121 rank and file, of which 1677 were sick." It is charitable to suppose that his memory was for the noment confused; on August 27, 1776, his rank and file amounted to 8 VOL. IX. 24,247, apart from the royalist force 1776. August 24. 25. |