CHAP. left in the woods was alarmed three times during the night; but each time the alarm died away. IV. 1776. August 27. At three in the morning of the twenty-seventh, Putnam was told that the picket which guarded the approach to the coast-road had been driven in; and without further inquiry he ordered Stirling, then a brigadier, with two regiments nearest at hand, "to advance beyond the lines and repulse the enemy." The two regiments that were chosen for this desperate service were the large and wellequipped one of Delawares and that of Maryland, composed of the young sons of freeholders and men of property from Baltimore and its neighborhood, though the colonels and lieutenant-colonels of both chanced to be absent on duty in New York city. They were followed by Huntington's regiment of two hundred and fifty men from Connecticut, under the lead of Parsons, a lawyer of that state, who eighteen days before had been raised from the bar to the rank of brigadier. Putnam's rash order, directing Stirling to stop the approach of a detachment which might have been 66 ten times his number," left him no discretion. The position to which he was sent was dangerous in the extreme. His course was oblique, inclining to the right; and this movement, relinquishing his direct communication with the camp, placed in his rear a marsh extending on both sides of Gowanus creek, which was scarcely fordable even at low tide, and was crossed by a bridge and a causeway that served as a dam for one of two tide-mills; on his left he had no connecting support; in front he had to encounter Grant's division, which outnum IV. 1776. August bered him four to one; and on his right he had CHAP. the bay, commanded by the fleet of Lord Howe. About where now runs Nineteenth street in Brooklyn, he formed his line along a ridge from the left 27. of the road to woods on a height now enclosed within the cemetery and known as Battle hill. Two field-pieces, all that he had to oppose against ten, were placed on the side of the hill so as to command the road and the only approach for some hundred yards. He himself occupied the right, which was the point of greatest danger; Atlee and Kichline formed his centre; Parsons commanded the left. Early in the morning Putnam was informed that infantry and cavalry were advancing on the Jamaica road. He gave Washington no notice of the danger; he sent Stirling no order to retreat; but Sullivan went out with a small party, and took command of the regiments of Henshaw and Johnston. The sun rose with an angry red glare, foreboding a change of weather; the first object seen from New York was the squadron of Sir Peter Parker attempting to sail up the bay as if to attack the town; but the wind veering to the northward, it came to anchor at the change of tide, and the "Roebuck' was the only ship that fetched high enough to exchange shot with the battery at Red-hook. Relieved from apprehension of an attack on the city, Washington repaired to Long Island; but he rode through the lines only in time to witness the disasters which were become inevitable. CHAP. The van of the British army under Clinton, guided by tory farmers of the neighborhood, having captured a patrol of American officers in the August 27. night and learnt that the Jamaica pass was not 1776. occupied, gained the heights on the first appearance of day. The whole force with Howe, after passing them without obstruction, and halting to give the soldiers time for refreshment, renewed its march. At half-past eight, or a little later, it reached Bedford, in the rear of the American left, and the signal was given for a general attack. At this moment the whole force of the Americans on Long Island was but about eight thousand,1 less rather than more; of these only about four thou sand, including all who came out with Stirling and Sullivan, were on the wooded passes in advance of the Brooklyn lines. They were environed by the largest British army which appeared in the field during the war. Could the American parties have acted together, the disproportion would yet have been more than five to one; but as they were disconnected, and were attacked one by one, and were routed in a succession of skirmishes, the disproportion was too great to be calculated. The 1 I make this statement of the force under Putnam after a very laborious examination of all the returns which I could find. The rodomontade of Howe, Almon's Debates, xi. 349, is repeated by Stedman, i. 194. But in 1779 testimony was taken on the subject before the British house of commons; Lord Cornwallis, answering as a witness, says: "It was reported they [the Americans] had six or eight thousand men on Long Is land." Almon's Debates, xiii. 9. General Robertson testifies that he believed Howe at the time was not aware of the weakness of the Americans; and, from what he had heard since, he estimates them to have been seven thousand; whom, however, he divides between the lines and the hills in a very strange manner. Almon, xiii. 314. Montresor's estimate was eight to ten thousand. Almon, xiii. 54. But Cornwallis is the best witness. IV. August regiments on the extreme left did not perceive CHAP. their danger till the British had turned their flank; they were the first to fly, and they reached the 1776. lines, though not without grievous losses. The 27. regiment of Ward of Connecticut, which made its way seasonably by the mill-pond, burned the bridge as it passed, unmindful of those who were to follow. When the cannonading from the main army and the brigades under Grant was heard, the Hessians, with flying colors and music of drums and hautboys, moved up the ridge, the yagers under Donop and some volunteers going in advance as flanking parties, and clearing the way with their small cannon; the battalions followed, not after the European tactics, but, on account of the hills and valleys where three men could not march abreast, with a widely extended front, and in ranks but two deep, using only the bayonet. At first Sullivan's party fired with nervous rapidity, and too high, doing little injury; then, on becoming aware of the danger on their flank and rear, they turned to retreat. The Hessians took possession of their deserted redoubt, its three brass six-pounders, one howitzer, and two baggage-wagons, and chased the fugitives relentlessly through the thickets. The Americans, stopped on their way by British regiments, were thrown back upon the Hessians. For a long time the forest rung with the cries of the pursuers and the pursued, the crash of arms, the noise of musketry and artillery, the notes of command given by trumpets and hautboys; the ground was strewn with the wounded and the CHAP. dead. August 27. Here and there a Hessian found amuse IV. ment in pinning with his bayonet a rifleman to 1776. a tree; the British soldiers were equally merciless. The Jersey militia fought well, till Johnston, their colonel, was shot in the breast, after showing the most determined courage. Sullivan, seeing himself surrounded, desired his men to shift for themselves. Some of them, fighting with desperate valor, cleaved a passage through the British to the American lines; others, breaking into small parties, hid themselves in the woods, from which they escaped to the lines, or were picked up as prisoners. Sullivan concealed himself in a field of maize, where he was found by three of Knyphausen's grenadiers. The contest was over at the east and at the centre. Near the bay, Stirling still maintained his position, inspiring his men with hatred of the thought of retiring before Grant, who in the house. of commons had insulted the Americans as cowards. Lord Howe, having learned that Grant's division, which halted at the edge of the woods, was in want of ammunition, went himself with a supply from his ship, sending his boat's crew with it on their backs up the hill, while further supplies followed from the store-ships. Early in the day, Parry, lieutenant-colonel under Atlee, was shot in the head as he was encouraging his men. Parsons, thinking it time to retreat, left his men in quest of orders; he was intercepted, concealed himself in a swamp, and came into camp the next morning by way of the East river. His party, abandoned to themselves, were nearly all taken prisoners; among |