pleases. He instructs him in the mode of placing his guards, and appointing the duty of his brigadiers and field officers. He complains of the men burning and plundering houses. He directs that the wood next to Red Hook should be well attended to.

On the 26th Washington was at the lines on Long Island, and returned to the city in the evening.

In the meantime, on the 25th of August, or soon after landing, Woodhull, acting as general of militia, approaching the southwest end of the island to drive off the horses and cattle, fell into the hands of the enemy. He was so barbarously treated, after surrender, that he died of his wounds shortly afterward.

Nathaniel Woodhull was born at Mistic, Long Island, December 30th, 1722. He was, in early life, a colonel in the provincial army under both Abercrombie, and Amherst. He was the coadjutor of Schuyler and Clinton, in the New York Provincial Congress. He was early in the revolutionary war appointed a General, and ordered by the convention of New York to secure all the cattle on the west end of the island, and drive to the north and the With the aid of his brigade of militia he remained near Jamaica with from seventy to one hundred militia; and not being joined by more, nor receiving orders from the convention, he remained at his post until the 28th August, when he ordered the few men who were with him to retreat. He slowly followed, until he was made prisoner by a party of the enemy. He immediately sur

east.

rendered his sword to the officer in command.

"The ruffian who first approached him,* (said to be a Major Baird, of the 71st) ordered him to say God save the King; the General replied, "God save us all;" on which he most cowardly and cruelly assailed the defenceless General with his broad sword, and would have killed him upon the spot if he had not been prevented by the interference of an officer of more honour and humanity. The General was badly wounded in the head, and one of his arms was mangled from the shoulder to the wrist. He was taken to Jamaica, where his wounds were dressed, and, with other prisoners, was confined there till the next day. He was then conveyed to Gravesend, and with about eighty other prisoners, (of which number Colonel Robert Troup, of New York, was one,) was confined on board a vessel which had been employed to transport live stock for the use of the army, and was without accommodations for health or comfort. The General was released from the vessel on the remonstrance of an officer who had more humanity than his superiours, and removed to a house near the church in

I quote the words of Mr. Thompson, in his History of Long Island, Appendix, pp. 509, 510.

New Utrecht, where he was permitted to receive some attendance and medical assistance. A cut in the joint of the elbow rendered an amputation of the arm necessary. As soon as this was resolved on, the General sent for his wife, with a request that she should bring with her all the money she had in her possession, and all she could procure; which being complied with, he had it distributed among the American prisoners, to alleviate their sufferings-thus furnishing a lesson of humanity to his enemies, and closing a useful life by an act of charity. He then suffered the amputation, which soon issued in a mortification, which terminated his life September 20th, 1776, in the fifty-fourth year of his age.

"It is proper here to state, that the late Chief Justice Marshall, in the Biography of Washington, while narrating the disposition of the American forces immediately prior to the battle of Long Island, fought on the morning of the 27th of August, 1776, makes the following remark: The convention of New York had ordered General Woodhull, with the militia of Long Island, to take post on the high ground as near the enemy as possible; but he remained at Jamaica, and seemed scarcely to suppose himself under the control of the regular officer commanding on the island."

A letter from Chief Justice Marshall, dated February 21st, 1834, addressed to John L. Lawrence, Esq., shows the origin of his mistake and mis-statement. It is as follows:

"Judge Edwards did me the favour to deliver yesterday evening your letter of the 13th, with the documents to which it refers. It is to me matter for deep concern and self-reproach that the Biographer of Washington should, from whatever cause, have mis-stated the part performed by any individual in the war of our revolution. Accuracy of detail ought to have been, and was, among my primary objects. If in any instance I have failed to attain this object, the failure is the more lamented, if its consequence be the imputation of blame where praise was merited.

"The evidence with which you have furnished me, demonstrate that the small body of militia assembled near Jamaica, Long Island, in August, 1776, was not called out for the purpose of direct cooperation with the troops in Brooklyn, and was not placed by the convention under the officer commanding at that post. It is apparent that their particular object, after the British had landed on Long Island, was, to intercept the supplies they might draw from the country. It is apparent, also, that General Woodhull joined them only a day or two before the battle; and there is every reason to believe that he executed with intelligence and vigour the duty confided to him. I had supposed that the order to march to the western part of Queen's County directed an approach to the enemy, and that the heights alluded to, were between Jamaica and Brook

lyn. But I have not the papers which I read at the time from the publications then in my possession. I only recollect the impression they made, that General Woodhull was called into the field for the purpose of aiding the operations from Brooklyn; and that General Washington, knowing the existence of this corps, had a right to count upon it in some slight degree, as guarding the road leading from Jamaica. In this I was mistaken; and in this the mistake of which you complain originated.

"I think, however, you misconstrue it ; no allusion is made to the number of the militia under his command, nor to any jealousy of the military officer commanding at Brooklyn; nor is it hinted that the convention had placed him under that officer. I rather infer that it appeared to me to be an additional example of the many inconveniences arising, in the early part of the war, from the disposition of the civil authorities to manage affairs belonging to the military department.

"I wish much that I had possessed the information you have now given me. The whole statement would most probably have been omitted, the fact not being connected with the battle; or, if introduced, have been essentially varied."

The army of General Howe spread over the flat country. The Germans, with De Heister, advanced to beyond Flatbush, and an English column was pushed on the Bedford road. General Grant advanced by the lower road along the bay. The main army, under Clinton, Percy and Howe, marched back, or south-west of Jamaica, and unopposed gained the interval between the hills and the American lines.

The letter of Lord Stirling to General Washington, on the 29th of August, tells the event until he surrendered. This gentleman claimed to inherit the dignity of an earl, from the circumstance that his father's cousin, who was Earl of Stirling, died without male issue. General Lord Stirling was in early life known as Mr. William Alexander, and served as an officer in the war of 1756. In 1775, he was appointed to the command of the first continental regiment that was raised in New Jersey, and had the distinction of receiving one of the first votes of thanks granted by congress. It was for the successful results of a daring enterprise projected by him, and accomplished by his embarking with a detachment of his regiment from Elizabethtown, and proceeding in three small unarmed vessels to the outside of Sandy Hook, (while the Asia man-of-war, with her tender, lay in the bay of New York,) and capturing a transport ship of three hundred tons, armed with six guns, and freighted with stores for the British army. We shall hereafter see what share he had in the subsequent events of the war. He was ever the firm friend of Washington. The following is

Lord Stirling's account, addressed to Washington, of the unfortunate battle of Long Island:

"I have now an opportunity of informing you of what has happened to me since I had last the pleasure of seeing you. About three o'clock in the morning of the 27th, I was called up and informed by General Putnam, that the enemy were advancing by the road from Flatbush to the Red Lion, and he ordered me to march with the two regiments nearest at hand to meet them. These happened to be Haslet's and Smallwood's, with which I accordingly marched, and was on the road to the Narrows just as the daylight began to appear. We proceeded to within about half a mile of the Red Lion, and there met Colonel Atlee, with his regiment, who informed me that the enemy were in sight; indeed I then saw their front between us and the Red Lion. I desired Colonel Atlee to place his regiment on the left of the road, and to wait their coming up, while I went to form the two regiments I had brought with me along a ridge from the road up to a piece of wood on the top of the hill. This was done instantly, on very advantageous ground.

"Our opponents advanced, and were fired upon by Atlee's regiment, who, after two or three rounds retreated to the wood on my left, and there formed. By this time, Kichline's riflemen arrived; part of them I placed along a hedge under the front of the hill, and the rest in the front of the wood. The troops opposed to me were two brigades of four regiments each, under the command of General Grant; who advanced their light troops to within one hundred and fifty yards of our right front, and took possession of an orchard there, and some hedges, which extended towards our left. This brought on an exchange of fire between those troops and our riflemen, which continued for about two hours, and then ceased by those light troops retiring to their main body. In the mean time, Captain Carpenter brought up two field-pieces, which were placed on the side of the hill, so as to command the road and the only approach for some hundred yards. On the part of General Grant there were two field-pieces. One howitzer advanced to within three hundred yards of the front of our right, and a like detachment of artillery to the front of our left. On a rising ground, at about six hundred yard's distance, one of their brigades formed in two lines opposite to our right, and the other extended in one line to the top of the hills, in the front of our left.

"In this position we stood cannonading each other till near eleven o'clock, when I found that General Howe, with the main body of the army was between me and our lines, and I saw that the only chance of escaping being all made prisoners, was to pass the creek near the Yellow Mills; and, in order to render this the more practicable, I found it absolutely necessary to attack a body of

VOL. II.

9

troops, commanded by Lord Cornwallis, posted at the house near the Upper Mills. This I instantly did, with about half of Smallwood's regiment, first ordering all the other troops to make the best of their way through the creek. We continued the attack a considerable time, the men having been rallied, and the attack renewed five or six several times, and we were on the point of driving Lord Cornwallis from his station; but large reinforcements arriving rendered it impossible to do more than to provide for safety. I endeavoured to get in between that house and Fort Box, but, on attempting it, I found a considerable body of troops in my front, and several in pursuit of me on the right and left, and a constant firing on me. I immediately turned the point of a hill, which covered me from their fire, and I was soon out of the reach of my pursuers. I soon found that it would be in vain to attempt to make my escape, and therefore went to surrender myself to General de Heister, commander-in-chief of the Hessians."

From the letters of R. H. Harrison, the evening of the 27th, we learn that General Washington was then on Long Island, and expected a general attack; but Howe had witnessed the affair of Bunker Hill, and gave time for the subsequent manœuvres.

General Sullivan says, in his letters: "I was uneasy about a road, through which I had often foretold that the enemy would come, but could not persuade others to be of my opinion. I went to the hill near Flatbush to reconnoitre, and with a picket of four hundred men was surrounded by the enemy, who had advanced by the very road I had foretold, and which I had paid horsemen fifty dollars for patrolling by night, while I had the command, as I had no foot for the purpose.

"What resistance I made with these four hundred men against the British army, I leave to the officers who were with me to declare. Let it suffice for me to say, that the opposition of the small party lasted from half past nine to twelve o'clock."

From these several accounts it would appear, that no individual officer had the command in the engagement. Lord Stirling commanded the detachment on the right, which was opposed by the British General Grant. The regiment under Colonel Hand, stationed on the heights near Flatbush, was commanded by General Sullivan, rather by accident than in consequence of any direct order. Williams's and Miles's regiments at the left, posted on the road leading from Flatbush to Bedford, had no other commander than their respective colonels.

The number of American troops, who took part in the action, is estimated by Colonel Haslet at five thousand. This estimate is probably very near the truth. When the detachments retreated from Long Island, there were nine thousand in the whole. Thirteen hundred of these had gone over to Brooklyn after the engage