assault gave opportunity for a large pro- | favourable impression upon the army. A portion of the detachment to escape. Gen- great proportion of the troops lost all coeral Washington passed over to Brooklyn fidence in their officers, and in themselves during the action; and, unable to rescue his men from their perilous situation, was constrained to be the inactive spectator of the slaughter of his best troops. The loss of the Americans on this occasion, for the number engaged, was great: General Washington stated it at 1,000 men; but his returns probably included only the regular regiments. General Howe, in an official letter, made the prisoners amount to 1,097. Among these were Major-general Sullivan, and Brigadier-generals Stirling and Woodhull. The amount of the killed was never with precision ascertained. The British loss, as stated by General Howe, was twentyone officers, and 346 privates killed, wounded, and taken prisoners. The British now encamped in front of the American lines, and, on the succeeding night, broke ground within 600 yards of a redoubt on the left. In this critical state of the American army on Long Island-in front a numerous and victorious enemy, with a formidable train of artillery; the fleet indicating an intention to force a passage into East River, to make some attempt on New York; the troops lying without shelter from heavy rains, fatigued and dispirited-it was determined to withdraw from the island; and on the morning of the 30th this difficult movement was effected with great skill and judgment, and with complete success; the whole army, amounting to 9,000 men, the military stores, nearly all the provisions, and the artillery, except a few heavy cannon, being safely landed in New York. The whole operation was conducted with such secrecy, silence, and order, that, under cover of a thick fog, which overspread the island from about 2 A.M., the last boat was crossing the river before the movement was observed by the enemy, who were then unable to prevent it. In the Life of Washington, by Jared Sparke, it is observed, that "this retreat, in its plan, execution, and success, has been regarded as one of the most remarkable military events in history, and as reflecting the highest credit on the talents and skill of the commander. So intense was the anxiety of Washington, so unceasing his exertions, that for forty-eight hours he did not close his eyes, and rarely dismounted from his horse."* The defeat of the 27th made a most un*Sparke's Life of Washington, p. 179. Before this unfortunate event, they met the enemy in the spirit of freemen fighting their highest interests, and under the per suasion that their familiar use of arms rea dered them equal to the disciplined b talions which they were to oppose. But on this occasion, by evolutions which they di not comprehend, they found themselves encompassed with difficulties from which their utmost exertions could not extrica them, and involved in dangers from which mere bravery could not deliver them. Enter taining now a high opinion of the adreness of the enemy, they apprehended a fa snare in every movement. These melancholy facts were thus narrated by General Washington, in his letter to congress:"Our situation is truly distressing. The check our detachment sustained on the 27th ultimo, has dispirited too great a proportio of our troops, and filled their minds with apprehension and despair. The militia instead of calling forth their utmost efforta to a brave and manly opposition, in order ta repair our losses, are dismayed, intractable and impatient to return. Great numbers f them have gone off; in some instances almost by whole regiments, by half ones and by companies at a time. This circunstance of itself, independent of others, when fronted by a well-appointed enemy, superer in number to our whole collected force. would be sufficiently disagreeable; but whet their example has infected another part d the army-when their want of discipline, and refusal of almost every kind of restrain: and government, have produced a like con duct, but too common to the whole, and a entire disregard of that order and subordi nation necessary to the well-doing of a army, and which had been inculcated before, as well as the nature of our military estab lishment would admit of our condition is still more alarming; and, with the deepest concern, I am obliged to confess my want of confidence in the generality of the troops. No sooner had the British secured the possession of Long Island, than they made dispositions to attack New York. It was a serious question whether that place w defensible against so formidable an enemy; and General Washington called a council of general officers, to decide whether it should be evacuated without delay, or longer de fended. The officers, in compliance with the views of congress, were very averse force; the consequence being that Washto the abandonment of the city; and it ington had opportunity to draw all his forces was resolved, contrary to the individual together within the lines on the heights opinion of Washington, to endeavour to of Haerlem, and there encamp them. The defend it. The army was accordingly ar- head-quarters of the general were fixed at a 1 ranged in three divisions; one of which, short distance from Mount Washington, on consisting of 5,000 men, was to remain in which the fort so named was situated. New York; another, amounting to 9,000, was to be stationed at King's Bridge; and s the residue of the army was to occupy the 1 intermediate space, so as to support either - extreme. The unexpected movements of the British soon evinced the correctness of the opinion of the general-in-chief; and in a second council it was determined, by a large majority, that it had become not only prudent, but necessary, to withdraw the army from New York; several: English ships of war passing up North River on the one side of York Island, and East River on the other side. Sir Henry Clinton embarked at Long Island, at the head of 4,000 men, and proceeded through Newtown Bay, then crossed East River, and landed, under cover of the ships, at Kipp's Bay, three miles above New York. Works of considerable strength had been thrown up at this place, to oppose the landing of the enemy; but they were immediately abandoned by the troops stationed in them, who, terrified at the fire from the ships, fled precipitately toward the main body, and communicated their panic to a detachment marching to their support. General Washington, to his extreme mortification, met the whole party retreating in the utmost disorder, and endeavoured to rally them; but, on the appearance of a small corps of the British, they again broke, and fled in confusion. Nothing was now left him but to withdraw the few remaining troops from New York, and to secure the posts on the heights. The division in New York, under the command of General Putnam, retreated with difficulty, and not without considerable loss, since, although not more than fifteen men were killed during the operation, upwards of 300 were taken prisoners; besides which, nearly all the heavy guns, and a great quantity of baggage, stores, and provisions were necessarily left behind. Had General Howe taken advantage of his position, and spread his force across the island, from Kipp's Bay to Hudson's River, he might have entirely cut off the greater part of Putnam's division; but, fortunately, this was not done, nor was much vigour exhibited in the pursuit of the retreating General Sullivan, who had been made a prisoner at Long Island, was now sent, on parole with a verbal message from Lord Howe to the congress; importing, that "though he could not treat with them in that character, yet he was very desirous of having a conference with some of the members, whom he would consider as private gentlemen. He stated that himself, with the general, had full powers to compromise the dispute between Great Britain and America upon terms advantageous to both; that he wished a compact might be settled at a time when no decisive blow was struck, and neither party could say that it was compelled to enter into such agreement; that were they disposed to treat, many things which they had not yet asked, might and ought to be granted; and that if, upon the conference, they found any probable ground of an accommodation, the authority of congress would be afterwards acknowledged to render the treaty complete." Sullivan reached congress with this message on the 2nd of September, and was desired to reduce it to writing. On the 5th, he was requested to inform Lord Howe, that "congress being the representatives of the free and independent states of America, they cannot, with any propriety, send any of their members to confer with his lordship in their private characters; but that, ever desirous of establishing peace on reasonable terms, they will send a committee of their body to know whether he has any authority to treat with persons authorised by congress for that purpose in behalf of America, and what that authority is, and to hear such propositions as he shall think fit to make respecting the same.” operation, ing the same." On the following day, a committee was elected by ballot, consisting of Messrs. Franklin, John Adams, and Edward Rutledge, for the purpose of conferring with Lord Howe; and, on the 14th, they arrived at Staten Island, where they were received courteously by the British commissioners. In the report of their proceedings presented to congress, the committee observed, that it did not appear to them that his lordship's commission contained any other authority of importance than was con tained in the act of parliament, and, conse- received considerable reinforcements, th quently, it would leave any agreement made army advanced in two columns, and took a with him precarious and voidable by the position behind the Brunx river. Up English government. He had no authority this movement the Americans assembled to recognise the independence of the revolted their main force, and awaited an attor states; and they, on the other hand, declared, which soon ensued, and several hundreds in the name of the Union, that upon no other fell in the action. During this engagemen ground than as independent states would they at the White Plains, the whole of the Ar treat with Great Britain. As his lordship rican baggage and camp stores were moved had no instructions to concede this point, off, in full view of both armies. Washingto the conference broke off, and the committee soon after this had been effected, changed returned to congress. his front, and again awaited an attack, the disposition for which was made on the morning of the 30th of October; but a heavy fall of rain occurring, the design abandoned. The American general the withdrew to the heights of North Castle, about five miles from White Plains; where, whether from the strength of his position, or from the British general having othe objects in view, no attempt to dislodge him was made. The British, on taking possession of New York, stationed a few troops in the capital; the main body of their army being on York Island, at no great distance from the American lines. The day after the retreat from New York, a considerable body of the enemy appearing in the plains between the two camps, General Washington ordered Colonel Knowlton, with a corps of rangers, and Major Leitch, with three companies of a Virginia regiment, to get in their rear, while he amused them by making apparent dispositions to attack their front. The plan succeeded; and a skirmish ensued, in which the Americans charged the enemy with great intrepidity, and gained considerable advantage; but the principal benefit of this action was its influence in reviving the spirits of the continental force. The armies did not long retain their position on York Island. The British frigates having passed up North River under a fire from Fort Washington and the post opposite to it on the Jersey shore, General Howe embarked a great part of his army in flat-bottomed boats, and, passing through Hell Gate into the Sound, landed at Frog's Neck. The object of the British general was, either to force Washington out of his present lines, or to enclose him in them. Aware of this design, General Washington moved a part of his troops from York Island to join those at King's Bridge, and detached some regiments to West Chester. A council of war was now called, and the policy of evacuating the positions was adopted, with the exception of Fort Washington, for the defence of which nearly 3,000 men were assigned. After a halt of six days the royal army advanced, without any considerable opposition, along the coast of Long Island Sound, by New Rochelle, to White Plains, where the Americans occupied a position behind intrenchments, and inflicted severe loss upon the enemy. This post was maintained for several days, till the enemy having Immediately on leaving White Plain, General Howe directed his attention to Fort Washington and Fort Lee, as their possession would secure the navigation of the Hudson, and facilitate the invasion of New Jersey. On the 15th of November, 1776, Hove, having his troops ready for the assault of Fort Washington, summoned the garrison to surrender. Colonel Magaw, the commanding officer, replying that he should defend bis works to extremity, the assault was made on the succeeding morning by the British, in four separate divisions. Having, after a brave and obstinate resistance, surmounted the outworks, Howe again summoned the garrison to surrender. His ammunition being nearly expended, and his force incompetent to repel the numbers which were ready on every side to assail him, Colonel Magaw new surrendered himself and garrison, consisting of 2,700 men, prisoners of war. The enemy lost, in the assault, about 1,200 men. The conquest of Fort Washington made the evacuation of Fort Lee necessary. Orders were therefore issued to remove the amm nition and stores from it; but, before much progress had been made in this business, Lord Cornwallis crossed the Hudson, with a number of battalions, with the intention to enclose the garrison between the Hackensack and North rivers. This movement made a precipitate retreat indispensable, which was happily effected with little loss of men; but the greater part of the artillery, stores, and baggage was left for the enemy. The loss at Fort Washington was heavy. The regi ments captured in it were some of the best troops in the army. The tents, camp-kettles, and stores, lost at this place and at Fort Lee, could not, during the campaign, be replaced, and, for the want of them, the men suffered extremely. The misfortune of this day was a severe blow to the American cause. It was particularly painful to Washington, as he had ordered the evacuation of the posts before General Howe could invest them: and the event was the more to be deplored, as the American force was daily diminished by the expiration of the soldiers' term of enlistment, and by the desertion of the militia. o'clock in the afternoon, just when the last boat of General Washington's embarkation crossed the river; as if he had calculated, it was observed, with great accuracy, the exact time necessary for his enemy to make his escape." The winter being now set in, the British army went into quarters, between the Delaware and the Hackensack. Trenton, the most important post and barrier, was occupied by a brigade of Hessians, under Colonel Rahl. General Howe now issued a proclamation, in the name of his brother and himself; in which pardon was offered to all persons who, within the space of sixty days, should take the oath of allegiance, and submit to the authority of the British government. The effects of this proclamation were soon apparent. People from These successes encouraged the British to pursue the remaining American force, with the prospect of annihilating it. General Washington, who had taken post at Newark, on the south side of the Passaic, with a several quarters availed themselves of it, force reduced to 3,000 men, now considered the American cause in imminent danger. Finding himself unable to make any real opposition, he withdrew from that place as the enemy crossed the Passaic, and retreated to Brunswick, on the Rariton; Lord Cornwallis, on the same day, entering Newark. The retreat was still continued from Brunswick to Princeton; from Princeton to Trenton; and from Trenton to the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware. The pursuit was urged with so much rapidity, that the rear of one army was often within shot of the van of the other. "On the 17th of December," Steadman observes, "our army marched from Brunswick at four o'clock in the morning, and, about the same hour in the afternoon, arrived at Princeton. This place, General Washington, in person, with Stirling's brigade, left scarcely an hour before the British arrived. At Princeton the British general waited seventeen hours marched at nine o'clock in the morning of the 8th, and arrived at Trenton at four *History of the American War, vol. i., p. 220. + General Lee had been a British officer, and had engaged in the American service before the acceptance of the resignation of his commission. Sir William Howe, for this reason, pretended to view him as a traitor, and at first refused to admit him to his parole, or to consider him as a subject of exchange. Congress directed the commander-inchief to propose to Sir William Howe to exchange six field officers for General Lee. In case the proposal was rejected, that body resolved that those officers should be closely confined, and in every respect receive the treatment that General Lee did. The proposition not being acceded to, the resolution of congress was carried into effect by the executives of the states in whose custody the selected field officers were. General Lee was an ambitious and threw down their arms. No city or town, indeed, in its corporate capacity, submitted to the British government; but many families of fortune and influence openly betrayed an inclination to return to their allegiance. Many of the yeomanry claimed the benefit of the commissioners' proclamation; and a vast number of them were too much taken up with the security of their families and their property, to make any exertion in the public cause. Another source of mortification to the Americans was the capture of General Lee,† who had imprudently ventured, without any guard, to lodge at a house at Baskinridge, three miles distant from his corps. Although repeated expresses were sent to him to accelerate his march, he continued, with his force of 3,000 men, to follow slowly in the rear of the royal army; and, by his carelessness, not only endangered the cause of America, but also sacrificed his personal liberty. The English, who had conceived a very high estimate of his military abilities, now boasted man, and his fidelity to the American cause must be considered as questionable. The "treason of Lee" has been very strongly proved by Mr. George H. Moore, of the New York Historical Society. Lee reluctantly obeyed orders from General Washington, and was striving, through a party in congress, to be elevated to the supreme command. He was taken prisoner at Bealstown in New Jersey; and on March 29th, 1777, he prepared a plan of subjugating the states, and addressed it to Lord General Howe. The plan was, to move up the Chesapeake Bay with an army of 4,000, and take Annapolis; up the Potomac, and take Alexandria; and occupy New Jersey and New York; conquer Pennsylvania and dissolve congress: Carleton was to hold New England, and an invading army to move from Canada southward. public affairs did not require, at this cris that "they had taken the American palla- | nental commander-in-chief, if the situation: dium;" and they looked upon his capture as an event of the greatest consequence. This was the most gloomy period of the revolutionary war. It was the crisis of the struggle of the United States for independence. The American army, reduced in numbers, depressed by defeat, and exhausted by fatigue, naked, barefoot, and destitute of tents, and even of utensils with which to dress their scanty provisions, was fleeing before a triumphant enemy, well appointed and abundantly supplied. A general spirit of despondency throughout New Jersey was the consequence of this disastrous state of public affairs. But in this worst of times congress stood unmoved: its measures exhibited no symptoms of confusion or dismay; the public danger only roused it to more vigorous exertions, that a firmer tone might be given to the public mind, and the citizens of united America be animated to a manly defence of their independence. Beneath this cloud of adversity, too, General Washington shone with a brighter lustre than in the day of his highest prosperity. Undis- of the British army, and contemplated the mayed by the difficulties which encompassed him, he accommodated his measures to his situation, and still made the good of his country the object of his unwearied pursuit. He ever wore the countenance of composure and confidence, and, by his own example, inspired his little band with firmness to struggle with adverse fortune. While Washington was retreating over the Delaware, the British, under Sir Peter Parker and General Clinton, took possession of Rhode Island, and blocked up Commodore Hopkins' squadron, and a number of privateers at Providence; but this measure was disadvantageous to the British, as it required the presence of troops which might have been much more profitably employed. The army, with these reinforcemera amounted to 7,000 men, and General Wast ington determined to commence a series c bold operations. He had noticed the loose and uncovered state of the winter quark preservation of Philadelphia, and the recovery of New Jersey, by sweeping, at cre stroke, all the British cantonments upc the Delaware; and the present position of his forces favoured the execution of the pla The troops under his immediate command. at this time, consisted of about 2,400 met who were ordered to cross the river at M Konkey's ferry, nine miles above Tr ton, and attack that post. General Irvine was directed to cross with his division a Trenton ferry, to secure the bridge be the town, and prevent the retreat of the enemy that way. General Cadwallader received orders to pass the river at Brist ferry, and assault the post at Burlington; and the night of the 25th was assigned The neighbourhood of Philadelphia now for the execution of the daring scheme. I becoming the seat of war, congress adjourned proved to be severely cold; and so much ice to Baltimore; resolving, at the same time, had formed in the river, that both Irvice "that General Washington should be pos- and Cadwallader, in spite of the most sessed of full powers to order and direct all strenuous exertions, found it impracticable things relative to the department and the to pass their divisions across, and the operations of the war." The extraordinary part of the plan totally failed. The com powers delegated to the general were an- mander-in-chief was, however, more for nounced by circular from the president of tunate; and, though with much difficulty congress to the provincial assemblies; in and considerable loss of time, succeeded in which he stated, that, "ever attentive to the crossing the river, and reaching Trenton by security of civil liberty, congress would not eight o'clock in the morning. The brave have consented to the vesting such powers Colonel Rawle, the commanding offer in the military department, as those which assembled his forces for the defence of his the enclosed resolves convey to the conti-post; but was mortally wounded by the |