medium-twelves, two long-twelves, and two threes-all brass. They have also one howitzer and two mortars, and six iron sixes, not mounted. General Clinton has not yet returned from New York; General Vaughan commands in chief. Colonel Johnston, of the seventeenth, commands at Stony Point. It is reported in their camp that Lord Cornwallis has arrived at the Hook with a re-enforcement under convoy of Admiral Arbuthnot. They do not credit the news from the southward. I begin to apprehend that General Clinton has designs on the East River. He certainly means to draw off all the troops but a sufficient garrison to possess the ferry. This he keeps to distress us in the conveyance of support to our troops, should your Excellency follow him to the eastward, as expected. Your Excellency will pardon me for the intrusion of my opinion; it proceeds only from a desire to exhibit every probable object that may engage the enemy's attention. Many deserters get in from your Excellency's army. The manner of sending scouts by detail from divisions affords them good opportunity—a detachment seldom comes down without losing several of its men before they return. There can be no object in reach of these parties adequate to their certain loss. Good intelligence cannot be obtained by flying parties. The enemy continue so close within their lines that there can be no hope of meeting with marauders, and protecting the people from their depredations. Pickets of armies, stationary and under cover of works, cannot be easily carried. Officers in command, anxious to perform some service, are apt to engage in improbable attempts. Accidents happen, and soldiers are lost without venture of service. I lay these observations before your Excellency, because they originate from what I see and know. "I am, &c., &c., "H. LEE, Jr." * In a letter, dated Stony Point, 11 o'clock at night, July 18, 1779, he thus writes to Governor Reed: MAJOR H. LEE TO GOVERNOR REED. "DEAR SIR,-I wrote your Excellency by Mr. Gordon, since which the object which has engaged our attention from the commencement of the campaign is no more. Previous to this an official account of the enterprise on the night of the 15th must *Observations on Jefferson's Writings, by H. Lee. have reached Congress. For your satisfaction I furnish the partic ulars. Early on the morning of the 15th I received orders from General Wayne to join the light infantry with my corps. The general was so polite as to show me his disposition of attack, and as my station was the post of intelligence, he also consulted with me on the lines of approach. The right column, under the command of General Wayne, took the route along the beach, crossed the morass up to their knees in mud and water, and moved on to the enemy's left. Colonel Butler commanded our left column, and made his way through the marsh over the relics of the bridge, although the passage was very difficult and defended by a work in twenty steps of it. A fence was made in the centre. My corps of infantry, annexed pro tem. only, followed in the rear of the two columns as a reserve. "The troops rushed forward with a vigor hardly to be paralleled, and with a silence which would do honor to the first veterans on earth. A spirit of death or victory animated all ranks. General Wayne has gained immortal honor; he received a slight wound, one proof that Providence decreed him every laurel in her gift. Every other officer acquired fame proportionate to his opportunity. The storm was more rapid than can be conceived, and in fifteen minutes the works were carried, with the loss only of eleven killed on the spot, which every officer engaged reckoned would be purchased by the sacrifice of nothing less than every third man. LieutenantColonel Fleury led on the right, Major Stewart the left. Captain Lawson and Lieutenant Gibbons, who conducted the vans of the columns, distinguished themselves by their valor and coolness. We captured the whole garrison, excepting a few who got off in boats. One hundred of them were killed and wounded; 444, inclusive of 18 officers, have marched on toward Lancaster. The humanity of the Americans, perhaps, never was more conspicuous than on this occasion. Although the repeated cruelties of the enemy exercised on our countrymen were known by all and felt by many, as the nature of assaults by storm, particularly in the dead of night, also, yet I can venture to affirm, the moment a surrender was announced the bayonet was laid aside. The British officers are candid enough to declare their gratitude for the lenity of their treatment. May this fresh proof of the magnanimity of our soldiers tend to civilize our foe; if it does not, it must and will be the last. Fifteen cannons, mortars, cohorns, howitzers, &c., were found in the fort, an abundance of military stores and a quantity of baggage. The most valuable of these are safe, the rest are now burning. Some unfortunate accidents prevented, till too late, the intended attack on Verplank's Point. General Clinton is at hand, and we have evacuated Stony Point. I fear the consequences of this signal success will not be adequate to moderate expectations. Our not possessing both sides has compelled us to relinquish the one. It is probable it will be repossessed by the British; and, of course, our old position will be reassumed, a position which both policy and comfort conspire to reproach. To-morrow, perhaps, Mr. Clinton's intentions will begin to show themselves; should any thing turn up, and I should be among the fortunate, you may expect to hear from me, provided you assure me that my hasty, incorrect epistles are not disagreeable. I have long wished my corps was legionary. The event of the 15th makes me more anxious on this head. His Excellency has been pleased to flatter me with McLane's incorporation; it is now before Congress. I shall be very unhappy if it does not succeed, as the mode of carrying on the war now renders infantry absolutely necessary for the accomplishment of any thing clever. I wish you would think of me on this occasion. Two companies of infantry, besides McLane's, are now under my command; but as it is but a temporary annexation, I conceive it useless to establish the police most advantageous to partisan officers, and do not, therefore, receive their full use. Please make my most respectful compliments to your lady, and believe me to be, with great sincerity, "Your affectionate humble servant, "HENRY LEE, Jr." * In the course of this severe campaign, when desertions from the American army became so frequent as to threaten its dissolution, Major Lee was authorized by General Washington to inflict summary punishment on such deserters as he should take flagrante delicto. Being in command of the outposts, and always close to the enemy, these offenders often fell into his hands, and he commenced by hanging one of the party, which produced a most salutary effect. "The orders he received and the reports he transmitted during the campaigns of 1779 and 1780, were daily, and showed that *I am indebted to the Honorable William B. Reed for the original of this and the other letters addressed to his distinguished ancestors. General Washington relied on him peculiarly for intelligence respecting the enemy's force and movements. It appears, in short, that at this early period he had so completely engaged the confidence of that great commander, that in an official letter of the 9th October, 1779, he was directed in future to mark his communication, 'private,' so that they should not be examined even by the officers of the general's family. "When compassion for the impending fate of Major André" (and consideration for the public interest) "induced General Washington to make extraordinary exertions to capture Arnold, he consulted Lee, who planned the scheme and selected the agent for that purpose, which are both described in his Memoirs. He projected and executed the surprise of Paulus Hook, a service for which the thanks of Congress, with an emblematical medal of gold, were voted him, a distinction which no other officer below the rank of general received during the war."* "Paulus Hook is a long, low point of the Jersey shore, stretching into the Hudson, and connected to the mainland by a sandy isthmus. A fort had been erected on it, and garrisoned with four or five hundred men, under the command of Major Sutherland. It was a strong position; a creek, fordable only in two places, rendered the Hook difficult of access-within this, a deep trench had been cut across the isthmus, traversed by a drawbridge with a barred gate; and still within this a double row of abatis, extending into the water. The whole position, with the country immediately adjacent, was separated from the rest of Jersey by the Hackensack river, running parallel to the Hudson, at the distance of a very few miles, and only traversable in boats, excepting at the new bridge about fourteen miles from Paulus Hook."+ The order of attack on Paulus Hook contains the following address: "Major Lee is so assured of the gallantry of the officers and men under his command, that he feels exhortation useless; he therefore only requires the most profound secrecy. He pronounces death as the immediate fate of any soldier who may violate in the slightest degree the silence he has ordered to be observed. He recommends to his officers to add to the vigor of their attacks the advantage of surprise; therefore to continue occult till the moment of action. * Observations on Jefferson's Writings. Success is not at the will of mortals; all they can do is to deserve it. Be this our determination and this our conduct, and we shall have cause to triumph, even in adversity. Watchword ‘Be firm.’ HENRY LEE, Jr.” Strung to the achievement of their enterprise by this address, with Major Lee at their head, the forces, consisting of 300 men of Lord Stirling's division, and one troop of dismounted dragoons under Captain McLane, set out the 25th August upon their dangerous expedition. The chief impediment to success was not the long and secret march, but to gain an entrance when they reached the fort. Irving represents that this difficulty was overcome in consequence of their having been mistaken for a foraging party sent out the day before, which was supposed to be returning. This may have facilitated their approach, but could not have been foreseen by the planners of the expedition. The stratagem relied on was to have eight or ten soldiers disguised as countrymen carrying provisions for sale, who procured the gate to be opened by the sentinel, and held it, until the rest of their party, concealed near, rushed in. They were thus enabled to capture all the garrison, except Major Sutherland and about sixty Hessians, who threw themselves into a small block-house on the left of the fort, and opened an irregular fire. Time could not be spared to dislodge them. Alarm guns from the forts in New York and from the ships in the river were firing, and relief might be momentarily expected. "Having made one hundred and fifty prisoners, among whom were three officers, Lee commenced his retreat without tarrying to destroy either barracks or artillery. He had achieved his object, a coup de main of signal audacity. Few of the enemy were slain, for there was but little fighting and no massacre. His own loss was two men killed and three wounded."* "Congress passed resolves highly complimentary to Major Lee, thanking him for the remarkable prudence, address, and bravery displayed by him in the attack on the enemy's fort and works at Paulus Hook. Much praise was likewise bestowed on the officers and soldiers of his party. A medal of gold, emblematical of the affair, was ordered to be struck and presented to Major Lee. The brevet rank and pay of a captain * Washington Irving. |