It was a good new building, and we were ushered into it among the rest, the whole body consisting of from a hundred and fifty, to two hundred, composing a motley group to be sure. Here were men and officers of all descriptions, regulars and militia, troops continental and state, some in uniforms, some without them, and some in hunting shirts, the mortal aversion to a red coat. Some of the officers had been plundered of their hats, and some of their coats; and upon the new society into which we were introduced, with whom a showy exteriour was all in all, we were certainly not calculated to make a very favourable impression.

"The officer who commanded the guard in whose custody we now were, was an ill-looking, low-bred fellow of this dashing corps of light infantry. As I stood as near as possible to the door for the sake of air, the enclosure in which we were being extremely crowded and unpleasant, I was particularly exposed to his brutality; and repelling with some severity one of his attacks, for I was becoming desperate and careless of safety, the ruffian exclaimed, Not a word, sir, or I'll give you my butt, at the same time clubbing his fusee and drawing it back as if to give a blow. I fully expected it, but he contented himself with the threat. I observed to him that I was in his power, and disposed to submit to it, though not proof against every provocation.

"As to see the prisoners was a matter of some curiosity, we were complimented with a continual succession of visitants, consisting of officers of the British army. There were several of these present, when the sergeant-major came to take an account of us; and particularly, a list of such of us as were officers. This sergeant, though not uncivil, had all that animated, degagee impudence of air, which belongs to a self-complacent non-commissioned officer of the most arrogant army in the world; and with his pen in his hand and his paper on his knee, applied to each of us, in turn, for his rank. He had just set mine down, when he came to a little squat, militia officer from York county, who, somewhat to the deterioration of his appearance, had substituted the dirty crown of an old hat, for a plunder-worthy beaver that had been taken from him by a Hessian. He was known to be an officer from having been assembled among us, for the purpose of enumeration. You are an officer, sir! said the sergeant; Yes, was the answer. Your rank, sir! with a significant smile. I am a keppun, replied the little man in a chuff, firm tone. Upon this, there was an immoderate roar of laughter among the officers about the door, who were attending to the process; and I am not sure, I did not laugh myself.

"Although the day was seasonably cool, yet from the number crowded in the barn, the air within was oppressive and suffocating, which, in addition to the agitations of the day, had produced an excessive thirst; and there was a continual cry for water. I can

not say that this want was unattended to. the soldiers were continually administering to it by bringing water in a bucket. But though we, who were about the door, did well enough, the supply was very inadequate to such a number of mouths; and many must have suffered much. Our situation brought to my recollection that of Captain Holwell and his party, in the black hole at Calcutta ; and had the weather been equally hot, we should not have been much better off."

These prisoners, added to the men taken on Long Island, filled the prison, the hospital, the churches, and sugar houses of New York with suffering and dying Americans. The British immediately crossed the Hudson, and Washington was obliged to abandon Fort Lee with loss of artillery and stores, and precipitately retreat west of Hackinsack River, with the shadow of an army, every day becoming thinner. General Lee, who commanded what was now the principal body of the forces, was ordered to join the commander-in-chief as soon as possible, as the enemy evidently were pushing for Philadelphia.

One of the evils attending the fall of these brave men, was the loss of confidence in General Washington, which it occasioned. His enemies rejoiced, and boldly declared that he was unfit for his station; and none so loudly as Major-general Charles Lee. General Washington had been determined by a council of officers, and by the opinion of one in whom he ever justly placed great confidence, General Greene. Yet I believe he sorely lamented the not withdrawing these men from a post, which, if even more strongly garrisoned, could only have been held for a few days. In the commander-in-chief's letter to congress, dated from Gen. Greene's head-quarters, the 16th of November, 1776, he says, that when the army was removed in consequence of Howe's landing at Frog's Point, Colonel Magaw was left with 1200 men at Fort Washington with orders to defend it to the last. Afterward "reflecting upon the smallness of the garrison," he wrote to Greene, who commanded on the opposite side of the Hudson, to be governed by circumstances, and revoked the absolute order to Magaw. Hearing of the summons to surrender, the general hastened from Hackinsack, and was prevented crossing to Fort Washington by meeting Greene and Putnam, coming from thence, who assured him that the men were "in high spirits, and would make a good defence." Next morning the attack commenced; and when the column of Colonel Rahl had gained the ground on the hill within one hundred yards of the fort, and all the advanced troops had been driven in or taken prisoners, a flag with a second demand of surrender was sent in to Magaw, at the same time that Washington, who viewed the contest from the palisades, (the rocks opposite,) sent a billet to the colonel, directing him to hold out, and he

would endeavour in the evening to bring him off. It was too late : the treaty of surrender had been entered into, and could not be retracted. Magaw and his brave men became prisoners of warthe soldiers retaining their baggage and the officers their swords.

CHAPTER VII.

Retreat to the Delaware-Lee's misconduct-Affairs in the north -Colonel Meigs-Vermont-Starke.

1776

WASHINGTON wrote to his brother Augustine, November 19th, 1776, and mentioned the loss of Fort Washington:"We have lost not only two thousand men that were there, but a good deal of artillery, and some of the best arms we had." He laments that the different states are so slow in levying their quotas of men : "In ten days from this date, there will not be above two thousand men, if that number, of the fixed established regiments, on this side Hudson's River, to oppose Howe's whole army." Two days after, he

informed congress, that the British had followed up the blow of the 16th, by crossing the Hudson and pushing for the bridge over the Hackinsack, obliging him to retreat so as to secure that pass; that the cannon of Fort Lee were lost, with a great deal of baggage, two or three hundred tents, a thousand barrels of flour, and other stores. He was then retreating to put the river Passaic between him and the enemy. He orders Lee to leave his present position and cross the Hudson with the continental troops. On the 27th of November, Lee had not moved. The enemy not only advanced on the track of the retreating Americans, but pushed detachments from Staten Island and passed by Amboy, Woodbridge, and the villages along the Raritan.

Lord Stirling, with two brigades, was, on the third of December, at Princeton, and the general at Trenton. Two brigades of his remaining troops, having served their time of enlistment, abandoned him, when now most wanted. General Lee's movements were unknown, both to the commander-in-chief and to congress. An express was despatched "to know where, and in what situation, he and his army were." It was known that some of the regiments from the north had joined him. These were under St. Clair, who,

on the 27th November, had written to Gates that he would do all that he could to inspirit the troops, and get them on to Washington's army, but feared that he could not keep them together.

A disjointed, disobedient mass: but that the head and the heart were sound, what would have been the fate of America! This winter showed to the great commander those on whom he might depend; and developed, in part, the false-heartedness of others. On the 9th of December, General Washington received a letter from Lee by the hand of an officer, who had been sent to seek him and his army, and the general found, that, instead of obeying his orders to join him as soon as possible, the major-general was pursuing schemes of his own, and “ hanging on the rear of the enemy," when wanted to oppose their front. The commander writes to him, on the 10th: "Do come on; your arrival may be fortunate; if it can be effected without delay, it may be the means of preserving a city, whose loss must prove fatal to the cause of America." And again, the next day: Nothing less than our utmost exertions will be sufficient to prevent General Howe from possessing Philadelphia. The force I have is weak, and entirely incompetent to that end. I must, therefore, entreat you to push on with every possible succour you can bring." Generals Mifflin and Putnam were sent to Philadelphia, and they persuaded Congress to fly to Baltimore.

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On the 11th of December, Lee wrote from Morristown, and gave notice that, instead of intending to follow the directions he had received, he was about to make his way to the ferry below Burlington, in case the enemy's column should cross the Delaware-an event which Washington, by securing the boats, and guarding the passes, was endeavouring to prevent; and farther, Lee hints that the Jersey militia would turn out "if they could be sure of an army remaining among them." I have copied the following from an unpublished letter, in Lee's hand writing, dated Baskinridge, December 13th, 1776, and addressed to Gates:

"The ingenious manoeuvre of Fort Washington has unhinged the goodly fabric we had been building: there never was so damned a stroke. Entre nous, a certain great man is damnably deficient. He has thrown me into a situation where I have my choice of difficulties. If I stay in this province, I risk myself and army; and if I do not stay, the province is lost forever. I have neither guides, cavalry, medicines, money, shoes, or stockings. I must act with the greatest circumspection. Tories are in my front, rear, and on my flanks; the mass of the people is strangely contaminated; in short, unless something which I do not expect turns up, we are lost."

The comment upon this epistle is the fact, that something which

he did not expect turned up very quickly. On the morning this letter is dated, (which was probably written the evening before,) this circumspect major-general was surprised and carried off to Perth Amboy by a party of British dragoons.

The command of his army falling on Sullivan, it was safely conducted. by the route designated in the commander-in-chief's letters -thus reinforcing the main body. And in ten or twelve days after the date of this letter, Washington recrossed the Delaware with his troops, without the necessary comforts of "shoes or stockings," and captured or drove in the advance of the British army.

General Schuyler having dismissed the militia under his command, on the 12th of November, from Albany, ordered Gates to send on the Jersey and Pennsylvania troops, to embark upon the Hudson. "I shall have sloops in readiness to convey them down."

"General Sinclair or General Maxwell to march with the regiments destined for the southward." At the same time Gates received a letter in a very different style :

"The enclosed, I received from our mutual good friend, Mr. Gerry. The tory interest is (with?) General Schuyler. Walter Livingston is to be nominal contractor, and Philip Schuyler, majorgeneral, real contractor. That Livingston will take the contract, is now ascertained by his letter to me of the 8th instant, (November.") This is signed Joseph Trumbull.*

Schuyler informed congress that he had supplied the post at Ticonderoga with provisions, and pointed out measures to anticipate any attempt of the enemy. He calls on Governour Trumbull to send on the troops, raised in his state, to "Ti" and Fort George. At the same time, we find him directing Gates to proceed with troops. to aid General Washington, and calling upon influential men to establish the government of the State of New York, that the unprincipled and licentious might be controlled. To his old friend and fellow-labourer, General George Clinton, then commanding at New Windsor, he forwards timber for obstructing the navigation. of the Hudson; and instructs him in the manner of constructing and sinking casoons. Such were the cares of this great man; while those who were undermining him were occupied with schemes of selfish ambition, or modes of obtaining lucrative contracts.

With great difficulty and reluctance, Gates reinforced the commander-in-chief's army with the regiments which were opposed to Carleton, before he returned to Canada to avoid the freezing of Lake Champlain. Gates then went to Congress, and his adjutant-general was sent with Arnold to arrange the militia of Rhode Island. After this, on the 25th December, did Washington, with

* See Gates' Papers, in N. Y. His. Soc. Lib.