CHAPTER V. THE RETREAT FROM LONG ISLAND. AUGUST 27-30, 1776. V. 1776. August 27. A BLEAK northeasterly wind sprung up at the CHAP. close of the day. The British army, whose tents had not yet been brought up, slept in front of the lines at Brooklyn, wrapped in their blankets and warmed by fires. Those of the patriot army who in their retreat from the woody heights had left their blankets behind them, and the battalions of Scott's brigade, which had come over in haste, passed the night without shelter, suffering from the cold. The dead of the Americans lay unburied in the forest; the severely wounded languished where they fell, to suffer uncared for, and to die alone; here and there a fugitive who had concealed himself in a thicket or a swamp found his way back to his old companions. The captives were forced to endure coarse revilings and cowardly insults; and, when consigned to the provost-marshal, were huddled together in crowded rooms or prison-ships, cut 27. CHAP. off from good air and wholesome food, to know V. the intensest bitterness of bondage, and waste away 1776. and die. Sadness prevailed in the American camp; August distrust and dejection succeeded the rash presumption of inexperience. The privates began to hold most of their general officers in light esteem; and Washington alone could inspire confidence. He was everywhere in person; and only when it became certain that the British would remain quiet during the night, did he retire for short rest. 28. The next morning, which was Wednesday, was chill, and the sky lowered with clouds. Unable to rely on either of his major-generals, Washington again, at the break of day, renewed the inspection of the American works, which from their great extent left many points exposed. He watched closely the British encampments, which appeared large enough for twenty thousand men; wherever he passed, he encouraged his soldiers to engage in continual skirmishes. During the morning, Mifflin brought over from New York a reënforcement of nearly one thousand men, composed of Glover's regiment of Massachusetts fishermen, and the Pennsylvania regiments of Shee and Magaw, which were "the best disciplined of any in the army." Their arrival was greeted with cheers. They raised the number of the Americans to nine thousand. In the afternoon, rain fell heavily; the lines were at some places so low that men employed in the trenches stood up to their waists in water; provisions could not be regularly served, and whole regiments had nothing to eat but raw pork and bread; but they bore up against all hardships, for their commander-in-chief was always among them, CHAP. V. exposing himself more than any one to the fury 1776. of the storm, restoring order and obedience by his incessant care, and teaching patience by his example. When the soldiers were ready to sink, the sight of their general calmly and persistently enduring the same hardships with themselves reconciled them to their sufferings. But the physical pains of Washington were his least; it shows how clear was his perception that he alone must watch for his generals and his army, that for eight-and-forty hours he gave no one moment to sleep, and for nearly all that time was on horseback in the lines. The British commander-in-chief, General William Howe, by illegitimate descent an uncle to the king, was of a very different character. Six feet tall, of an uncommonly dark complexion, a coarse frame, and a sluggish mould, he was unresistingly ruled by his sensual nature. He was not much in earnest against the Americans, partly because he was persuaded that they could not be reduced by arms, partly because he professed to be a liberal in politics, partly because he never kindled with zeal for anything. He had had military experience, and had read books on war; but being destitute of swiftness of thought and will, he was formed to carry on war by rule. He would not march till he could move deliberately, with ample means of transportation. On the field of battle he sometimes showed talent as an executive officer; but, except in moments of high excitement, he was lethargic, wanting alertness and sagacity. He hated business, August 28. V. 1776. CHAP. and his impatience at being forced to attend to it, joined to a family gloom, made him difficult of August access, and gained him the reputation of being 28. haughty and morose. His indolence was his bane: not wilfully merciless, he permitted his prisoners to suffer from atrocious cruelty; not meaning that his troops should be robbed, he left peculators uncontrolled, and the army and the hospitals were wronged by contractors. His notions of honor in money matters were not nice; but he was not so much rapacious as insatiable. Disliking to have his personal comforts infringed, he indulged freely in the pleasures of the table; without any delicacy of passion, kept a mistress; and loved to shake off dull indifference by the hazards of the faro-table. His officers were expected to be, in the field, insensible to danger like himself; in their quarters, he was willing they should openly lead a profligate life; and his example led many of the young to their ruin by gaming. He had nothing heroic about him, wanting altogether the quick eye, the instant combination, and the commanding energy of a great warrior. During the day, a party of provincial loyalists, under the command of De Lancey, overtook Woodhull two miles beyond Jamaica; after he had surrendered, his captors struck him on the head with a cutlass, and slashed his arm, inflicting wounds which before many days proved fatal. He and several of the militia who were taken with him are included in Howe's list of the captives of the previous day. All the following night Washington kept an unceasing watch over the intentions of the British CHAP. army and the condition of his own. In Philadel V. 1776. 28. 29. phia, rumor quadrupled his force; the continental August congress expected him to stay the English at the threshold, as had been done at Charleston; but the morning of Thursday showed him that the British had broken ground within six hundred yards of the height now known as Fort Greene. He saw that they intended to force his lines by regular approaches, which the nature of the ground and his want of heavy cannon extremely favored; he saw that all Long Island was in their hands, except only the neck on which he was intrenched, and that a part of his camp would soon be exposed to their guns; his men were cast down by misfortune, and falling sick from hard service, exposure, and bad food; his force was divided by a channel, more than half a mile than half a mile broad, and swept by swift tides; on a change of wind, he might be encircled by the entrance of the British fleet into the East river; or ships which had sailed round Long Island into Flushing bay might suddenly convey a part of the British army to Harlem, or to Fordham heights, in his rear. It was his first care to provide means of transportation for the retreat which it was no longer safe to delay. Through Mifflin, in whom he confided more than in any general on the island, and who agreed with him in opinion, he despatched, at an early hour, a written command to Heath, at Kingsbridge, to order every flat-bottomed boat and other craft at his post, fit for transporting 9* |