Landing-place of the Hessians.

Howe confronted.

Skirmish near New Rochelle.

General Heath

other troops from Montressor's Island' and Flushing landed there; and on the twenty

second, Knyphausen, with the second divi sion of German hirelings, just arrived at New York, landed upon Myers's Point, now Davenport's Neck, near New Rochelle.'

4

When Washington perceived this movement, he sent strong detachments, under General Heath, to oppose the landing of the British, and occupy lower West Chester. A redoubt had been thrown up on the hills, near William's Bridge; all the passes to King's Bridge were well guarded, and a detachment was at White Plains making intrenchments there. The causeways to Throck's and Pell's Necks were also guarded, the latter by Colonel Hand and his riflemen; and on the night of the first landing, a the bridge was removed, and General Howe was left upon an island. He suspected his Tory guides of treachery, but he soon ascertained the

a Oct. 12.

truth and decamped, after being driven back from the causeway by Hand, with the aid

of Prescott (the hero of Breed's Hill) and a

three-pounder, under Lieutenant Bryant. Howe crossed in his boats to Pell's Point, a little above,b and marched over Pelham Manor toward New Rochelle. After a hot

b Oct. 18.

skirmish with Glover's brigade, of Sullivan's division,
in which the Americans were repulsed, Howe'encamped upon
high ground between Hutchinson's River and New Rochelle
village, where he remained until the twenty-first, when he
took post upon the heights of New Rochelle," north of the
village, on the road to White Plains and Scarsdale. Knyp-
hausen and his division arrived the next day, and encamped
upon the land now owned by E. K. Collins, Esq., between

HOWE'S HEAD-QUARTERS.
New Rochelle and Mamaroneck.

On the twenty-fourth of September, Colonel Jackson, with Major Henly (aid-de-camp to General Heath), and two hundred and forty men, made a descent upon the British on Montressor's Island, in flatboats. They were repulsed with a loss of twenty-two men. Among them was Major Henly, who was shot while at the head of his men. He was carried to the camp, and buried by the side of the brave Knowlton. These re-enforcements arrived on the eighteenth of October. The fleet consisted of seventy-two sail, having on board four thousand Hessians, six thousand Waldeckers, two companies of chasseurs, two hundred English recruits, and two thousand baggage horses.

3 The main body of the Germans landed upon Bauffet's Point, on the east side of Davenport's Neck, where, it is said, the Huguenot settlers of New Rochelle first touched our shores. Davenport's Neck is a beautiful fertile peninsula, jutting into the Sound near the village of New Rochelle. The view here given is from the high rocky bank at Bauffet's Point, looking southeast upon the wooded islands which here dot the Sound. The shores of Long Island are seen in extreme distance.

4 William Heath was a native of Roxbury, Massachusetts, near which some of his descendants still re

Weath

side. He was appointed a provincial brigadier in 1775. The Continental Congress gave him the same commission, and on the ninth of August, 1776, made him a major general, together with Spencer, Sullivan, and Greene. He commanded near King's Bridge after the Americans left New York, and in the following year he was in chief command in the Eastern department. Burgoyne's captured army were in his custody. In 1779 he commanded on the Hudson, and there was the principal theater of his military life, until the close of the war. General Heath

was a useful officer, but circumstances prevented his making much display. He published an interesting volume, entitled "Heath's Memoirs," which is now much sought after by collectors of valuable American books. General Heath died in 1814, the last survivor of the major generals of the Revolution. 5 Heath's Memoirs, page 67. For a sketch of Colonel Prescott, see page 539, vol. i. These heights are now (1852) partly wooded and partly cultivated; then they were covered by the primitive forest, except around the house above delineated, where Howe made his quarters. That house is upon the eastern side of the highway from New Rochelle to White Plains, about a mile from the former

American Army in West Chester.

Skirmishes.

Fort Lee.

Condition of the Army

a Oct. 16,

Washington viewed this first planting of the British standard upon the main land in proclaimed free America with great anxiety, for clouds were gathering in the horizon of the future. Nominally, he had an army of nineteen thousand men, but in discipline, order, and all the concomitants of true soldiers' they were not one third of that number. The time of service of many of them was drawing to a close, and cold weather was approaching to chill the ardor of half-clad patriots. A powerful enemy, well provided, was crouched as a tiger within cannon-voice, ready to spring upon its prey. Yet Washington's spirit did not quail, and he resolved to confront the foe with his motley troop, as if with a parity of veterans. He called a council of war at the quarters of General Lee, a to decide upon the propriety of evacuating Manhattan Island. General Lee, fresh from the 1776. field of victory at Charleston, had just arrived and gave his weighty opinion in favor of a total abandonment of the island. The main army was speedily marched toward the Bronx, in West Chester, leaving a garrison, under Colonel Magaw, of Pennsylvania, sufficient to hold Fort Washington and its dependencies. In four divisions, under Generals Lee, Heath, Sullivan, and Lincoln, the American army moved slowly up the western side of the Bronx, and formed a series of intrenched camps upon the hills from the heights of Fordham to White Plains, a distance of about thirteen miles. While presenting a front parallel to that of Howe, frequent skirmishes occurred, in which the Americans were generally the winners.' General Greene with a small force garrisoned Fort Lee, situated upon the Palisades, nearly opposite Fort Washington, and on the twenty-first of October the commander-in-chief left Morris's house and made his head-quarters near White Plains, where, directed by a French engineer, the Americans

3

WASHINGTON'S HEAD QUARTERS.

village. It was very much dilapidated when I visited it, and was occupied by a colored family. Half a mile beyond this dwelling, on the same side of the road, is the marble monument erected to the memory of Thomas Paine. A sketch of this monument may be found in the Supplement, page 647.

1 Cotemporary writers give a sad picture of the army at that time. Among many of the subordinate officers, greed usurped the place of patriotism. Officers were elected on condition that they should throw their pay and rations into a joint stock for the benefit of a company; surgeons sold recommendations for furloughs, for able-bodied men, at sixpence each, and a captain was cashiered for stealing blankets from his soldiers. Men went out in squads to plunder from friend or foe, and immorality prevailed throughout the American army. Its appointments, too, were in a wretched condition. The surgeon's department lacked instruments. According to a general return of fifteen regiments, there were not more than sufficient instruments for one battalion.-See Washington's Letter to Congress, Sept. 24, 1776; Gordon, ii., 114. 2 On the night of the twenty-first of October, Lord Stirling sent Colonel Haslet, with Delaware and Ma ryland troops, to surprise some Loyalists then lying at Mamaroneck, under Colonel Rogers, the range during the French and Indian wars. These troops were the Queen's Rangers, afterward commanded by Simcoe. Almost eighty men were killed or captured, and the spoils were sixty stand of arms, and provisions and clothing. Rogers escaped. On the twenty-third, Colonel Hand and his riflemen attacked two hundred and forty Hessian chasseurs near East Chester, and routed them; and almost nightly the British pickets were disturbed by the Americans. These events made Howe cautious and slow in his movements. 3 The high perpendicular rocks extending along the western bank of the Hudson from Weehawken north about twenty-three miles, are so called on account of their resemblance to palisades. Congress had ordered Washington, "by every art and whatever expense, to obstruct effectually the navigation of the North River, between Fort Washington and Mount Constitution [whereon Fort Lee stood], as well to prevent the regress of the enemy's frigates lately gone up, as to hinder them from receiving succors."Journals, ii., 385.

The house occupied by Washington while the army was at White Plains is yet standing. It is a frame building, on the east side of the road, about two miles above the village. This view is from the road, looking northeast. When I last visited it (1851), Miss Jemima Miller, a maiden ninety-three years of age, and her sister, a few years her junior, were living therein, the home of their childhood. A chair and table, used by the chief, are carefully preserved by the family, and a register for the names of the numerous visitors is kept. This house was in the deep solitude of the forests, among the hills, when Washington was there; now the heights and the plain near by smile with cultivation. The present owner of the property is Abraham Miller.

The two Armies at White Plains.

The Battle there.

The Intrenchments.

cast up breast-works, rather as a defense for an intrenched camp in preparation upon the hills of North Castle two miles beyond than as permanent fortifications.'

Both armies were near White Plains on the morning of the twenty-eighth of Oc a 1776. tober. The Americans were chiefly behind their breast-works near the village, and the British were upon the hills below, eastward of the Bronx. Chatterton's Hill, a commanding eminence on the opposite side of the stream, was occupied on the evening of the twenty-seventh by Colonel Haslet, with his Delawares, some Maryland troops and militia, in all about sixteen hundred men. Early the next morning, M Dougal was ordered to reenforce Haslet with a small corps and two pieces of artillery under the charge of Captain Alexander Hamilton, and to take the general command there. At ten o'clock the British army moved toward the village in two columns, the right commanded by General Clinton, the left by De Heister and Sir William Erskine; in all thirteen thousand strong. Howe was with the second division, and when near the village, he held a council of war on horseback, which resulted in a change in the point of attack. Inclining to the left, the British placed fifteen or twenty pieces of artillery upon the slope southeast of the rail-way station, and, under cover of their fire, constructed a rude bridge over the Bronx, and attempted to cross and ascend the steep wooded heights to dislodge the Amer

Witt. Sry Kine

icans from their hastily constructed breastworks upon Chatterton's Hill. Hamilton had placed his two guns in battery, on a rocky ledge, and these swept whole platoons from the margin of the hill they were attempting to ascend. The British recoiled, fell back to their artillery, and joined another division, under General Leslie (consisting of the second British brigade, the Hessian grenadiers under Colonel Rall, a battalion of Hessian infantry, and two hundred and fifty cavalry), who were then crossing the Bronx a quarter of a mile below. There the assailants joined, and the whole force pushed up the slopes and ravines along the southwestern declivities of Chatterton's Hill. Gaining a gentle slope toward the top, they endeavored to turn M'Dougal's right flank. His advance, under Smallwood and Ritzema, gallantly opposed them while slowly retreating toward the crown of the eminence, until the British cavalry attacked the American militia on the extreme right and dispersed them.

Ritzema

M.Dou

gal with only six hundred men, consisting chiefly of his own brigade and Haslet's corps, sustained an obstinate conflict for an hour. Twice the British light infantry and cavalry were repulsed, when an attack upon his flank by Rall compelled McDougal to give way. A square redoubt of earth was erected in the main street of the village, the remains of which may yet be seen a little northeast of Mr. Swinburn's Literary Institution, and where now (1852) lies a shattered howitzer, dug up from the trenches a few years ago. From this redoubt a line of breast-works extended westerly over the south side of Purdy's Hill to the Bronx, and easterly across the hills to Horton's Pond. These were not quite finished when the battle occurred on the twenty-eighth of October.-See Address of J. W. Tompkins, 1845, quoted by Bolton, ii., 368. 2 This view is from the southeastern side of the Bronx, a little more than half a mile below the rail-way station at White Plains, looking north. The rail-way bridge is seen on the extreme right. Between that and the barn on the left the British ascended. In the field, seen a little to the left of the telegraph posts, toward the center, and the one on the summit beyond, the hottest of the engagement occurred. The latter is on the land of Mr. Cornelius Horton. In a hollow, near a large hickory-tree, on the southwest side of Chatterton's Hill, are the graves of many of the slain.

HOWITZER.

Retreat of the Americans.

The Loss.

Withdrawal to North Castle.

Conflagration.

and retreat to the intrenchments at White Plains.

This was done in good order down the southeastern side of Chatterton's Hill, and across the Bronx, near the present rail-way sta

a Oct., 1776.

intrenched camp at the village, and there the American army rested, almost undisturbed, until the evening of the thirty-first. a The British troops rested upon their arms all night after the battle, and the next day, after a skirmish with Glover's brigade, they encamped within long cannon shot of the front of the American lines. Awed by the apparent strength of Washington's intrenchments, Howe dared not attack him, but awaited the arrival of Lord Percy, with four battalions from New York and two from Mamaroneck. The loss of the Americans, from the twenty-sixth to the twenty-ninth, did not exceed, probably, three hundred men, in killed, wounded, and prisoners; that of the British was about the same.

Earl Percy arrived in the evening of the thirtieth, and preparations were made to storm the American works the next morning. A tempest of wind and rain arose at midnight, and continued for twenty hours. All operations were delayed, and on the night of the thirty-first, while the storm clouds were breaking and the British host were slumbering, Washington withdrew, and encamped upon the heights of North Castle, toward the Croton River, where he had erected strong breast-works along the hills which loom up a hundred feet above the waters of the Bronx. Howe was afraid to attack him there, and on the night of the fourth of November,b he retreated toward the junction of the Hudson b 1776.

This is a view of the southeastern side of Chatterton's Hill, from the rail-way station. They crossed the Bronx at a point seen on the extreme right. On the top of the hill, in the edge of the woods on the left, Hamilton's cannons were placed.

2 The intrenchments, which appeared so formidable through Howe's telescope, were exceedingly weak, composed of earth and sods laid upon heaps of cornstalks. They were no protection against cannon-balls, and had Howe attacked these lines first, instead of the really stronger position on Chatterton's Hill, the complete dispersion, if not loss of the American army, would doubtless have been the result. His caution was too faithful in its promptings, and he wasted time and energy, for two or three days, in attempts to gain Washington's rear.

3 A little southeast of the house occupied by Washington (see sketch on page 615), on the brow of a steep hill overlooking an extensive region of country, are yet (1852) prominent remains of some of these breast-works. These are nearest the village of White Plains, and easiest of access for the student or antiquary.

Gordon relates that while the British were at White Plains, the garden of a widow was robbed at night. Her son, a mere boy, asked and obtained leave to catch the thief. With a loaded gun he concealed himself in some bushes, when a British grenadier, a strapping Highlander came, filled a bag with fruit, and placed it on his shoulder. The boy appeared behind him with his gun cocked, and threatened him with instant death if he attempted to lay down the bag. Thus the boy drove him into the American camp. When he laid down his bag, and saw that he had been driven in by a stripling, he was excessively mortified, and could not suppress the exclamation, "A British grenadier made a prisoner by such a damned brat! such a damned brat!"

On the night of the evacuation, the Presbyterian church and other buildings were fired and consumed, but without the knowledge or approval of Washington. Bolton (ii., 366) says the incendiary was Major Osborne, of the Massachusetts line. Gordon (ii., 121) remarks that "Colonel Austin, of the Massachusetts, who commanded the guards and sentries, being heated with liquor, burned the town on White Plains unnecessarily and without any orders."