THE TWO ARMIES.
Right here, before entering upon the details of the coming struggle,
we may delay a moment to glance at the two armies as they lay in their
opposite camps waiting to engage in the serious business before them.
What was their composition and organization, what their strength, who
their officers and leaders? In the case of the American troops
particularly may these questions be asked, because to them and their
services the country has long acknowledged its obligations, and so far
bound itself to perpetuate their memory. Who were the men who stood
with Washington in this first and critical year of our national
life--who came to this vicinity to fight on strange ground for a
common cause? We are called upon to remember them, not as soldiers
simply, but as public-spirited citizens arming to secure themselves in
their privileges, or perhaps as ancestors who had a thought for the
peace and happiness of present generations.
The original army of the Revolution was that ardent though disjointed
body of provincials which gathered around Boston immediately after the
Lexington alarm, and came nominally under the command of General
Artemas Ward, of Massachusetts. As a military corps it entirely lacked
cohesion, as the troops from New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and
Connecticut were under independent control, and yielded to General
Ward's authority only by patriotic consent. The appointment of
Washington as commander-in-chief of all the American forces relieved
this difficulty, and the adoption by Congress of the Boston troops as
a Continental army, under the orders and in the pay of Congress, gave
that army more of a military character. But the terms of enlistment
were short, and it became necessary to reorganize the entire body by
new enlistments for a year's service from the 1st of January, 1776.
This force thus recruited was the nucleus of the army which Washington
mustered at New York in the present campaign. It consisted of
twenty-seven battalions, or "regiments of foot," as they were styled,
each divided into eight companies, and having a maximum strength of
about six hundred and forty officers and men. With the exception of
the First Regiment, or Pennsylvania Riflemen, all were from the New
England States; and, as already stated, twenty-one of them, after the
evacuation of Boston, marched to New York under the command of
Generals Heath, Spencer, Sullivan, and Greene.
This force, diminished by the regiments sent to Canada, was quite
inadequate for the purposes of the campaign, and on the 1st of June
Congress issued a call for large reinforcements both for the New York
army and that on the Canada border. For the former thirteen thousand
eight hundred troops were voted necessary, and for the latter six
thousand, while in addition it was resolved to establish a "flying
camp" of ten thousand men, who could be sent wherever needed. The
quota Massachusetts was to furnish for New York was two thousand;
Connecticut, five thousand five hundred; New York, three thousand; and
New Jersey, three thousand three hundred. For the flying camp,
Pennsylvania was to recruit six thousand; Delaware, six hundred; and
Maryland, three thousand four hundred. All these men were to be
militia or State troops, but to serve under the orders of Congress and
in its pay until at least the 1st of December following.
The necessity of these calls was impressed upon the country by urgent
letters from the President and members of Congress and the leaders of
the day. "The militia of the United Colonies," wrote Hancock, "are a
body of troops that may be depended upon. To their virtue, their
delegates in Congress now make the most solemn appeal. They are called
upon to say whether they will live slaves or die freemen." To the
governors and State assemblies he added: "On your exertions at this
critical period, together with those of the other colonies in the
common cause, the salvation of America now evidently depends....
Exert, therefore, every nerve to distinguish yourselves. Quicken your
preparations, and stimulate the good people of your government, and
there is no danger, notwithstanding the mighty armament with which we
are threatened, but you will be able to lead them to victory, to
liberty, and to happiness." But the reinforcements came forward
slowly, and it was not until the enemy had actually arrived that the
peculiar dangers of the situation were appreciated and the militiamen
hurried to Washington's assistance at his own pressing call for them.
By the 27th of August, his army, which on July 13th numbered a little
over ten thousand men fit for duty, had been increased in the
aggregate to twenty-eight thousand; but so many were on the sick list
during this month, that he could muster not quite twenty thousand
effectives, officers and men, at the opening of active operations.
To this force the State of New York contributed thirteen regiments. Of
her Continental battalions then in the service, three were in the
Northern department under Schuyler, part of another in the Highlands,
and two, commanded by Colonels Alexander McDougall and Rudolph
Ritzema, here with Washington, both of which were largely recruited
from New York City. McDougall, colonel of the first battalion, had
identified himself early with the liberty party in the city, became a
member of the Provincial Congress, and by his zealous and energetic
efforts in both his civil and military capacity contributed much
towards preserving the honor and interests of the colony in the
present crisis. In August he was promoted to the rank of
brigadier-general in the Continental army, and rose to the grade of
major-general before the close of the war. Nine of the other regiments
from this State, chiefly militia, formed two brigades under
Brigadier-Generals John Morin Scott and George Clinton. In Scott's
command were two battalions which were credited to and represented the
city distinctively. The oldest and largest was the "First Independent
Battalion," commanded by Colonel John Lasher, remembered as one of the
substantial citizens of the place. A man of property and influence,
with a taste for military affairs and evidently popular, he had been
elected colonel of the Independent Companies during the colonial
régime, and now, with most of his officers and men, had taken up the
Continental cause.[79] The battalion was a favorite corps, composed of
young men of respectability and wealth, and when on parade was
doubtless the attraction of the city. Its companies bore separate
names, and the uniform of each had some distinguishing feature. There
were the "Prussian Blues," under Captain James Alner; the "Oswego
Rangers," under Captain John J. Roosevelt; the "Rangers," under
Captain James Abeel; the "Fusileers," under Captain Henry G.
Livingston; the "Hearts of Oak," under Captain John Berrian; the
"Grenadiers," under Captain Abraham Van Dyck; the "Light Infantry,"
under Captain William W. Gilbert; the "Sportsmen," under Captain
Abraham A. Van Wyck; the "German Fusileers," under Captain William
Leonard; the "Light Horse," under Captain Abraham P. Lott; and the
"Artillery," under Captain Samuel Tudor. As reorganized in the summer
of 1776, the regiment had for its field officers Colonel John Lasher,
Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew Stockholm, and Major James Abeel. The Second
New York City Battalion was originally commanded by Colonel William
Heyer, and among its companies were the "Brown Buffs," "Rifles,"
"Grenadiers," "Hussars," and "Scotsmen," the latter of whom were
commanded by Captain Robert Smith, of New York, who, after doing good
service at various times during the war, settled in Philadelphia,
where for nearly half a century after he filled offices of public and
private trust.[80] In 1776, in the reappointment of field officers,
William Malcom, formerly first major, became colonel; Isaac
Stoutenburgh, lieutenant-colonel; and James Alner, major.[81] The two
remaining regiments of Scott's brigade were commanded by Colonel
Samuel Drake, of Westchester, and Colonel Cornelius Humphrey, of
Dutchess County. Scott himself was a man of the highest public spirit.
A history of the progress of the revolutionary sentiment in the Colony
of New York would be incomplete without a record of his career. An
able lawyer and speaker, he early resisted the pretentions and
arbitrary policy of the home government, and when war became
inevitable, he spared no energy to provide for the crisis. In 1775 and
1776 he was one of the most active and useful members of the
Provincial Congress and the Committee of Safety. "Nothing from the
other side of the water," he wrote to a friend in November, 1775, "but
a fearful looking for of wrath. But let us be prepared for the worst.
Who can prize life without liberty? It is a bauble only fit to be
thrown away." He served through the present campaign, and then
continued in the public service as Secretary of the State of New York
and afterwards member of the Continental Congress.
[Footnote 79: In a letter to Peter Van Schaack, dated New York,
February 23d, 1776, Fred. Rhinelander says: "We are going to raise a
new battalion; Colonel Lasher and Gouverneur Morris are candidates for
the command. As both the gentlemen have great merit, it is hard to
tell which will succeed." The reference here is probably to a plan
formed by private citizens in New York to raise a battalion of fifteen
hundred men for nine months, on condition that the projectors could
appoint the officers. This being refused by the Provincial Congress
the plan was abandoned.--_Life of G. Morris_, vol. i. p. 89, n.]
[Footnote 80: See Biographical Sketches, Part II.]
[Footnote 81: The New York Congress voted that the City and County of
New York should furnish twelve hundred men as their quota of the three
thousand recently called for, and these were to consist of "the two
independent battalions." They were composed of ten companies each,
which, however, never reached their maximum strength. In September
Lasher's total was 510; Malcom's, 297.]
Two other acquisitions to the army in this campaign were the brothers
James and George Clinton, of Ulster County, N.Y., both destined to be
prominent characters in the Revolution. James Clinton, as colonel of
one of the Continental regiments, superintended the construction of
fortifications in the Highlands, and in August was promoted to the
rank of brigadier-general in the Continental service. George was
member of Congress, and after voting for the Declaration of
Independence returned to command a militia brigade which the State
called out during the summer, and which joined Washington's army just
before the battle of Long Island. These troops were commanded by
Colonel Levi Paulding, of Ulster County; Colonels Morris Graham and
James Swartwout, of Dutchess; Colonel Isaac Nichol, of Orange; and
Colonel Thomas Thomas, of Westchester. Before this, in November, 1775,
an attempt was made to raise three regiments of militia in New York
City to be commanded respectively by Henry Remsen, John Jay, and
Abraham P. Lott; but the enlistment of men into other corps made it
impossible to organize them.[82] In this campaign, too, we first meet
with young officers from this State who subsequently rose to
distinction in the service. Here Alexander Hamilton appears; and we
read that upon the certificate of Captain Stephen Badlam, that he had
examined Hamilton and found him qualified for a command, the New York
Convention appointed him, March 14th, Captain of the "Provincial
Company of Artillery of the Colony." Among others were Lieutenant-Colonel
Henry B. Livingston, Majors Nicholas Fish and Richard Platt, and Hugh
Hughes, teacher of a classical school, who, as assistant
Quartermaster-General, rendered, at least on one occasion, a most
important service to the army.
[Footnote 82: Lewis Morris, one of the Signers of the Declaration, was
appointed brigadier-general of the Westchester County militia, but he
remained in Congress until later in the fall, when he took the field
for a short time with New York militia in the Highlands.]
Long Island was represented in the New York quota by two regiments of
militia and two small companies of "troop." The Suffolk County
regiment, at the eastern end, was commanded by Colonel Josiah Smith,
of South Haven parish, and that from King's County by Colonel Rutgert
Van Brunt. But the militia, especially in disaffected Kings and Queens
counties, could be mustered, as volunteers, with difficulty; and early
in August the New York Provincial Congress ordered a draft to be made
from these counties, and the troops so raised to be commanded by
Colonel Jeronimus Remsen, of Queens, with Nicholas Cowenhoven, of
Kings, for lieutenant-colonel, and Richard Thorne, of Queens, for
major. Colonel Smith's lieutenant-colonel at this time was John Sands,
and his major, Abraham Remsen. The two regiments--Smith's and
Remsen's--did not report to Greene until August 15th and after, and
mustered together probably less than five hundred men. The troopers,
not over fifty in all, were a few horsemen from Brooklyn under Captain
Adolph Waldron and Lieutenant William Boerum; and others, representing
King's County, under Captain Lambert Suydam. About the middle of
August, Nathaniel Woodhull, of Mastic, brigadier-general of the Long
Island militia, and now President of the State Convention, dropping
his civil functions, repaired to the Island to render whatever aid the
situation might demand. A man of the purest motives and capable of
doing good service, an unhappy, although a soldier's fate, awaited
him.
New Jersey at the outbreak of the war met an obstacle to hearty
co-operation with the other colonies in the conduct of William
Franklin, her royal governor. Little sympathy had he with the
revolutionary movement, and his influence was powerful in keeping men
out of it, until the aroused State legislature ordered his arrest. In
William Livingston, her new governor, New Jersey found a patriot and
civil leader of the right stamp for the emergency. Part of the year he
acted in a military capacity, and directed the movements of the
militia in the vicinity of Amboy and Elizabeth. As the Tory element
was very considerable here, the State found the same difficulty
experienced by New York in raising troops for the army; but she
furnished a good proportion. Her three Continental regiments under
Colonels Dayton, Maxwell, and Winds, were in the Canada army during
the present campaign. In the spring and summer the State sent several
detachments of militia, under Lieutenant-Colonels Ward and Cadmus and
other officers, to assist in fortifying New York. In answer to the
last call of Congress, the legislature voted to raise a brigade of
five battalions, to be known as "new levies," to serve until December
1st, and to each man that would enlist a bounty of three pounds was
offered. The command of the brigade was given to Colonel Nathaniel
Heard, of Woodbridge, now promoted to a State brigadier. The colonels
were Philip Van Cortland, whose regiment was recruited in Bergen,
Essex, and Burlington counties; David Forman, with four companies from
Middlesex and four from Monmouth; Ephraim Martin, with four from
Morris and four from Sussex; Philip Johnston, with three from Somerset
and five from Hunterdon; and Silas Newcomb, with men from Salem,
Gloucester, Burlington, and Cumberland. In September the command
numbered seventeen hundred and sixty-two enlisted men, and one hundred
and sixty officers.[83] We shall find these troops figuring in the
movements on Long Island.
[Footnote 83: _List of the Officers and Men from New Jersey who served
in the Revolution._ By Adjutant-General W.S. Stryker.]
Pennsylvania was well represented in this campaign. Her troops
participated in nearly every engagement, and had the opportunity in
more than one instance of acquitting themselves with honor. Besides
her large body of "associators," or home guards, many of whom marched
into New Jersey, the State sent four Continental regiments under
Colonels Wayne, St. Clair, Irvine, and De Haas, to Canada, and eight
other battalions, three of them Continental, to the army at New York.
Of these, the oldest was commanded by Colonel Edward Hand, of
Lancaster. It was the first of the Continental establishment, where it
was known as the "rifle" corps. Enlisting in 1775, under Colonel
Thompson, it joined the army at the siege of Boston, re-enlisted for
the war under Colonel Hand in 1776, and fought all along the Continent
from Massachusetts to South Carolina, not disbanding until the peace
was signed in 1783. Hand himself, a native of Ireland, and, like many
others in the service, a physician by profession, had served in the
British army, was recognized as a superior officer, and we find him
closing his career as Washington's adjutant-general and personal
friend. The two other regiments, raised on the Continental basis, were
commanded by Colonels Robert Magaw, formerly major of Thompson's
regiment, and John Shee, of Philadelphia. The remaining battalions
were distinctively State troops, and formed part of the State's quota
for the Flying Camp. Colonel Samuel Miles, subsequently mayor of
Philadelphia, commanded what was known as the First Regiment of
Riflemen. Unlike any other corps, it was divided into two battalions,
which on their enlistment in March aggregated five hundred men each.
The lieutenant-colonel of the first was Piper; of the second, John
Brodhead. The majors were Paton and Williams. Another corps was known
as the First Regiment of Pennsylvania Musketry, under Colonel Samuel
John Atlee, of Lancaster County, originally five hundred strong, and
recruited in Chester and the Piquea Valley. Atlee had been a soldier
in his youth in the frontier service, afterwards studied law, and in
1775 was active in drilling companies for the war. Mercer, who knew a
good soldier when he met him, wrote to Washington that Atlee was
worthy his regard as an officer of "experience and attention," and his
fine conduct on Long Island proved his title to this word of
commendation from his superior. How much of a man and soldier he had
in his lieutenant-colonel, Caleb Parry, the events of August 27th will
bear witness. The three other battalions were incomplete. Two were
composed of Berks County militia, under Lieutenant-Colonels Nicholas
Lutz and Peter Kachlein. Lutz's major was Edward Burd, and their
colonel was Henry Haller, of Reading, who did not join the army until
after the opening of the campaign. Another detachment consisted of
part of Colonel James Cunningham's Lancaster County militiamen, under
Major William Hay.
[Illustration: [signature: Edw. Hand]
COLONEL FIRST REGIMENT OF FOOT (PENN RIFLEMEN). BRIGADIER GENERAL 1777
Steel Engr. F. von Egloffstein N.Y.]
Delaware furnished more than her proportion to the flying camp. The
"Lower Counties," as this little State had been known in colonial
times, had shown no haste to break with the mother country. Her people
were chiefly farmers of a peaceable disposition, who used herbs for
tea and felt no weight of oppression. But Delaware had her
public-spirited men, who, when the crisis came, felt that the
"counties" must take their place by the side of the colonies in the
pending conflict. Among these were Thomas MacKean and Cæsar Rodney.
Rodney's right-hand man in his patriotic efforts was John Haslet, born
in Ireland, once a Presbyterian minister, now a physician in Dover,
"tall, athletic, of generous and ardent feelings." The news of the
adoption of the Declaration of Independence Haslet celebrated with "a
turtle feast;" and he did more. Already he had begun to raise a
regiment for the field, and five weeks before the opening battle it
left Dover eight hundred strong, composed of some of the best blood
and sinew Delaware had to offer.[84]
[Footnote 84: _Delaware's Revolutionary Soldiers._ By William G.
Whiteley, Esq., 1875.]
Maryland raised as her contingent for this campaign four regiments and
seven independent companies; but of these, Smallwood's battalion
and four of the companies alone had joined the army when hostilities
commenced. Though forming part of the State's quota for the flying
camp, this was far from being a hastily-collected force. It stands
upon record that while Massachusetts was preparing for the contest in
the earlier days, there were men along the Chesapeake and the Potomac
who took the alarm with their northern brethren. Mordecai Gist, Esq.,
of "Baltimore town," was among the first to snuff the coming storm,
and the first to act, for he tells us that as early as December, 1774,
at the expense of his time and hazard of his business, he organized "a
company composed of men of honor, family, and fortune," to be ready
for any emergency. The Lexington news, four months later, found the
best part of Maryland ready to arm. In Baltimore, William Buchanan,
lieutenant of the county, collected a body of the older citizens for
home defence, while their unmarried sons and others organized
themselves into two more companies, donned "an excellent scarlet
uniform," and chose Gist for their leader. When the State called for
troops at large many of these young men responded, and in the spring
of 1776 made up three companies, which, with six other companies that
gathered at Annapolis from the surrounding country, formed the first
Maryland battalion of "State regulars." William Smallwood, living on
the banks of the Potomac, in Charles County, was chosen colonel;
Francis Ware, lieutenant-colonel; and Mordecai Gist, first major. On
the day it left for the field, July 10th, it numbered, inclusive of
Captain Edward Veazey's large independent company from the Eastern
Shore, seven hundred and fifty men. The State sent no better material
into the service. Without cares, patriotic, well drilled, well led,
priding themselves in their soldierly appearance, both officers and
men were a notable and much needed acquisition to Washington's army.
Men from Virginia, too, were to take an active part in this campaign,
but not until after it had opened. The State had nine regiments
organized for service, five of which, under Colonels Weedon, Reed,
Scott, Elliott and Buckner, joined the army during the fall. There
were several Virginia officers on the ground, however, as early as
July and August, one of whom was a host in himself. This was General
Hugh Mercer, who had been a surgeon in the Pretender's army on the
field of Culloden; who afterward coming to America figured as a
volunteer in Braddock's defeat, and then settled down to practice as a
physician in Fredericksburg. Appointed a Continental Brigadier,
Washington intrusted him with the important command of the New Jersey
front, where he kept a constant watch along the shore opposite Staten
Island. He had at various times from three to six thousand troops
under him, composed of Pennsylvania and New Jersey home guards and
militia, but which were never enrolled as a part of Washington's
army.[85]
[Footnote 85: Durkee's Continentals garrisoned Powle's Hook, and
Bradley's Connecticut regiment was at Bergen, both being returned on
Washington's rolls, but otherwise under Mercer's orders.]
From New England, as we have seen, came the troops sent on from Boston
by Washington, which formed the nucleus or basis of the force gathered
at New York. These were all Continental or established regiments, and
were reinforced from this section during the summer by militia and
State troops.
Massachusetts furnished the Continental battalions commanded by
Colonels William Prescott, of Pepperell; John Glover, of Marblehead;
Moses Little, of Newburyport; John Nixon, of Framingham; Jonathan
Ward, of Southboro; Israel Hutchinson, of Salem; Ebenezer Learned, of
Oxford; Loammi Baldwin, of Woburn; John Bailey, of Hanover; Paul
Dudley Sargent, of Gloucester, and Joseph Read. In August,
Brigadier-General John Fellows, of Sheffield, brought down three
regiments of militia under Colonels Jonathan Holman, of Worcester
County, Jonathan Smith, of Berkshire, and Simeon Cary, with men from
Plymouth and Bristol counties. The State also sent the only artillery
regiment[86] then in the service, under Colonel Henry Knox, of Boston.
[Footnote 86: At New York, the artillery was increased by Captain
Alexander Hamilton's company, and soldiers were detached from the
several regiments to act as gunners in consequence of Knox's inability
to furnish enough from his own regiment to man all the points.]
Many of these officers named had already made something of a record
for themselves. Prescott will be forever associated with Bunker Hill.
With him there were Nixon, who was severely wounded, Ward, Little,
Sargent, and not a few of the officers and men who were here in the
present campaign. Many of them were representative citizens. Little,
of Newburyport, whose name we have seen associated with the defences
of Long Island, had been surveyor of the king's lands, owned large
tracts in his own right, and was widely known as a man of character
and influence. As an officer he was distinguished for his judgment and
great self-possession in the field. His lieutenant-colonel, William
Henshaw, of Leicester, belonged to the line of Henshaws whose ancestor
had fallen in the English Revolution in defence of popular rights and
privileges. A man of the old type, with cocked hat and provincial
dress, modest and brave, he writes home to his wife one day that he
finds it difficult to stop profanity among the troops; another day he
hopes his children are improving in all the graces; and then he is
heard of in the heat of some engagement. He was the first
adjutant-general of the provincial army around Boston in 1775, and
served in that capacity with the rank of colonel until relieved by
General Gates. The services rendered by Colonel and afterwards General
Glover in this as well as in other campaigns is a well-known record.
Learned and Nixon became Continental brigadiers. Shepherd, Brooks,
Jackson, Winthrop Sargent, and many other officers from this State,
distinguished themselves in the later years of the Revolution. But
perhaps no man proved his worth more in this campaign than Colonel
Rufus Putnam, of Brookfield, Washington's chief engineer. He succeeded
Colonel Gridley at Boston; and at New York, where engineering skill of
a high order was demanded in the planning and construction of the
works, he showed himself equal to the occasion. That Washington put a
high estimate on his services, appears from more than one of his
letters.[87]
[Footnote 87: Document 43, Part II., contains interesting and
important extracts from Colonel Putnam's Journal, now published for
the first time.]
Rhode Island at this time had two regiments in the field. In 1775 they
were around Boston; in 1776 they were here again with the
army--Varnum's Ninth and Hitchcock's Eleventh Continentals. A third
regiment from this State, under Colonel Lippett, did not join the army
until September. Varnum and Hitchcock were rising young lawyers of
Providence, the former a graduate of Brown University, the latter of
Yale. Hitchcock's lieutenant-colonel was Ezekiel Cornell, of Scituate,
who subsequently served in Congress and became commissary-general of
the army. Greene, Varnum, Hitchcock, and Cornell were among those
Rhode Islanders who early resisted the pretensions of the British
Ministry. In the discipline and soldierly bearing of these two
regiments Greene took special pride, and not a few of their officers
subsequently earned an honorable reputation. Varnum was created a
brigadier; Hitchcock, as will be seen, closed his career as a
sacrifice to the cause; Colonels Crary and Angell and the Olneys
served with the highest credit; and the men of the regiments, many of
them, fought through the war to the Yorktown surrender.
In proportion to her population, no State contributed more men to the
army in 1776 than Connecticut, nor were all ranks of society more
fully represented. Fortunately the State had in Trumbull, its
governor, just the executive officer which the times demanded. A man
of character and ability, greatly respected, prompt, zealous, ardent
in the cause, his words and calls upon the people were seldom
unheeded; and the people were generally as patriotic as their
governor. In the present crisis Connecticut sent to New York six
Continental battalions, seven of "new levies," and twelve of militia.
Her Continentals were commanded by Colonels Samuel Holden Parsons,[88]
of Lyme; Jedediah Huntington, of Lebanon; Samuel Wyllys, of Hartford;
Charles Webb, of Stamford; John Durkee, of Bean Hill, near Norwich;
and Andrew Ward,[89] of Guilford. The "levies" were the troops raised
in answer to the last call of Congress, and were commanded by Colonels
Gold Selleck Silliman, of Fairfield; Phillip Burr Bradley, of
Ridgefield; William Douglas, of Northford; Fisher Gay, of Farmington;
Samuel Selden, of Hadlyme; John Chester, of Wethersfield; and Comfort
Sage, of Middletown. Among these names will be recognized many which
represented some of the oldest and best families in the State. Wyllys
was a descendant of one of the founders of Hartford. His father held
the office of Secretary of State for sixty-one years; his grandfather
had held it before that, and after the Revolution the honor fell to
the colonel himself. The three held the office in succession for
ninety-eight years. Three members of this family, which is now
extinct, were in the army during this campaign, and two served with
honor through the war. From Lebanon came Colonel Jedediah Huntington
and his two brothers, Captains Joshua and Ebenezer. They were sons of
Jabez Huntington, who like Trumbull was a type of the patriotic
citizen of the Revolution. Although his business and property, as a
West India merchant, would be greatly endangered if not ruined by the
war, he and his family cheerfully ignored their personal interests in
their devotion to the common cause. The three brothers and their
brother-in-law, Colonel John Chester, served through the present
campaign as they had in the previous one, and two of them, Jedediah
and Ebenezer, fought to the end of the struggle. Parsons, who
subsequently rose to the rank of a Continental major-general, Wyllys
and Webb, were among those who pledged their individual credit to
carry out the successful enterprise against Ticonderoga in 1775. In
his section of the State few men were more influential than Colonel
Silliman, of Fairfield, where, before the war, he had held the office
of king's attorney. After the present campaign, in the course of which
he was more than once engaged with the enemy, he was appointed a State
brigadier, rendered further service during the British forays into
Connecticut, and marched with troops to the Hudson Highlands upon
Burgoyne's approach from Canada. Colonel Douglas, of Northford,
engaged heart and hand in the struggle. Joining Montgomery's command
in 1775, he served in the flotilla on Lake Champlain, and was
subsequently appointed commodore by Congress; but accepting a
colonelcy of Connecticut levies he marched to New York in 1776, after
first advancing the funds to equip his regiment. With Silliman he
enjoyed the confidence and good opinion of the commander-in-chief, and
both were appointed to command regiments to be raised for the
Connecticut Continental Line. Another of those citizen-soldiers who
came from the substantial element in the population was Colonel
Selden. A descendant of the Seldens who were among the first settlers
in the Connecticut Valley, fifty years of age, possessing a large
estate, incapacitated for severe military duty, the father of twelve
children, he nevertheless answered the governor's call for troops, and
joined the army at New York, from which he was destined not to return.
Durkee, Knowlton, Hull, Sherman, Grosvenor, Bradley, afterwards a
Continental colonel, and many others, were men from Connecticut, who
gave the country their best services. The militia regiments from this
State turned out at the governor's call upon the arrival of the enemy.
Of the fourteen he designated to march, twelve reported at New York
before August 27th, each averaging three hundred and fifty men, with
Oliver Wolcott as their brigadier-general,[90] than whom no man in
Connecticut had done more to further the public interests of both the
State and the nation. Signing the Declaration in 1776, he was to be
found in the following year fighting Burgoyne in the field, and
afterwards constantly active in a military or civil capacity until the
success of the cause was assured.
[Footnote 88: On his promotion to a brigadier-generalship in August,
Parsons was succeeded by his lieutenant-colonel, John Tyler.]
[Footnote 89: This was the same officer who came down with Lee in the
spring. When his regiment returned home he was put in command of
another raised on the continental basis. He joined the army in August,
but did not cross to Long Island.]
[Footnote 90: The original letter from Trumbull to Wolcott, among the
latter's papers, informing him of his appointment, states that the
fourteen regiments had been called out upon "the most pressing
application of General Washington." The governor adds: "Having formed
raised expectations of your disposition and ability to serve your
country in this most important crisis, on which the fate of America
seems so much to depend, I trust you will cheerfully undertake the
service," etc. General Wolcott proceeded at once to New York, and was
with the militia in the city during the fighting on Long Island, and
for some time after. As to the number of the regiments that came down,
see Colonel Douglas' letter of August 23d (Document 22), where he says
twelve were on the parade the day before.]
* * * * *
Pass these men in review, and we have before us not a small proportion
of those "fathers" of the Revolution, to whose exertions and
sacrifices America owes her independence. It was a crude, unmilitary
host, strong only as a body of volunteers determined to resist an
invasion of their soil. Here and there was an officer or soldier who
had served in previous wars, but the great mass knew nothing of war.
The Continental or established regiments formed much less than half
the army, and some of these were without experience or discipline;
very few had been tested under fire. As to arms, they carried all
sorts--old flint-locks, fowling-pieces, rifles, and occasionally good
English muskets captured by privateers from the enemy's transports.
Not all had bayonets or equipments. Uniforms were the exception; even
many of the Continentals were dressed in citizens' clothes.[91] The
militiamen, hurriedly leaving their farms and affairs, came down in
homespun, while some of the State troops raised earlier in the spring
appeared in marked contrast to them, both in dress and discipline.
Smallwood's Marylanders attracted attention with their showy scarlet
and buff coats. The Delawares, with their blue uniform, were so nearly
like the Hessians as to be mistaken for them in the field. Miles'
Pennsylvanians wore black hunting shirts; and Lasher's New York
battalion perhaps appeared, in the various uniforms of gray, blue and
green worn by the independent companies. The general and regimental
officers in the army were distinguished by different-colored cockades
and sashes. For regimental colors, each battalion appears to have
carried those of its own design. One of the flags captured by the
Hessians on Long Island was reported by a Hessian officer to have been
a red damask standard, bearing the word "Liberty" in its centre.
Colonel Joseph Read's Massachusetts Continentals carried a flag with a
light buff ground, on which there was the device of a pine-tree and
Indian-corn, emblematical of New-England fields. Two officers were
represented in the uniform of the regiment, one of whom, with blood
streaming from a wound in his breast, pointed to children under the
pine, with the words, "For posterity I bleed."[92]
[Footnote 91: When it was proposed to put the Boston army on the new
Continental basis on January 1st, 1776, Washington evidently hoped to
have it all uniformed. Thus his orders of December 11th, 1775, read:
"As uniformity and decency in dress are essentially necessary in the
appearance and regularity of an army, his Excellency recommends it
earnestly to the officers to put themselves in a proper uniform....
The general by no means recommends or desires officers to run into
costly or expensive regimentals; no matter how plain or coarse, so
that they are but uniform in their color, cut, and fashion. The
officers belonging to those regiments whose uniforms are not yet fixed
upon had better delay making their regimentals until they are." The
orders of January 5th, 1776, say: "The regimentals, which have been
made up, and drawn for, may be delivered to the respective Colonels,
by the Quartermaster-General, to the order of those Colonels, who drew
them at such prices as they have cost the continent, which is much
cheaper than could otherwise be obtained. As nothing adds more to the
appearance of a man than dress, and a proper degree of cleanliness in
his person, the General hopes and expects that each regiment will
contend for the most soldierlike appearance." These "regimentals" were
of a brown color. That Little's and Hitchcock's men, or most of them,
were in uniform when they came to New York, appears from General
Greene's Providence order of April 4th (_ante_, p. 62). A description
of the colors of Colonel Joseph Read's Massachusetts Continental
regiment refers to the "uniform of the regiment;" so doubtless most of
the Boston army was in uniform. But whether they were kept supplied
with uniforms may be doubted. The men wore out their clothes fast
while throwing up the works, and Washington speaks of the "difficulty
and expense" of providing new ones. (Orders, July 24th, 1776.) At this
date he does not insist on uniforms, but recommends the adoption of
the hunting shirt and breeches as a cheap and convenient dress, and as
one which might have its terrors for the enemy, who imagined that
every rebel so dressed was "a complete marksman." A valuable article
on "The Uniforms of the American Army" may be found in the _Magazine
of American History_, for August, 1877, by Professor Asa Bird Gardner,
of the West Point Military Academy.]
[Footnote 92: _Force_, 5th Series, vol. ii., p. 244.]
Had this force acquired the discipline and been hardened by the
service which made Washington's troops later in the war a most trusty
and effective body, the campaign of 1776 would have shown another
record. But not the less are we to respect it, with all its failings
and defeats. If not all the men were "patriots;" if some lost faith in
the cause; if others deserted it entirely and joined the enemy; if
some entered the army from mercenary motives and proved cravens in the
field; if still others who were honest enough in their intentions were
found to be wretched material for the making of good soldiers--this
was only the common experience of all popular struggles. As a body, it
fairly represented the colonists in arms; and as an army, it did its
share in bringing about the final grand result.
* * * * *
To recapitulate: Washington's army, at the opening of the campaign on
August 27th, consisted of seventy-one regiments or parts of regiments,
twenty-five of which were Continental, aggregating in round numbers
twenty-eight thousand five hundred officers and men. Of these,
Massachusetts furnished seven thousand three hundred; Rhode Island,
eight hundred; Connecticut, nine thousand seven hundred; New York,
four thousand five hundred; New Jersey, one thousand five hundred;
Pennsylvania, three thousand one hundred; Delaware, eight hundred; and
Maryland, nine hundred. Between eight and nine thousand were on the
sick-list or not available for duty, leaving on the rolls not far from
nineteen thousand effectives, most of them levies and militia, on the
day of the battle of Long Island.[93] As officered and brigaded at
this date the army stood as follows:
[Footnote 93: The last official return of the army before the battle,
published in _Force's Archives_, bears date of August 3d; the next
about September 12th. The latter is the proper basis for making an
estimate of the numbers for August 27th, as it includes all the
regiments except Haslet's known to be then present, and no more. On
September 12th the total of rank and file on the rolls, not including
the absent sick, was 24,100. To these add 1800 commissioned officers
and 2500 sergeants, drums and fifes, and the total strength is 28,400.
On the same date, rank and file, _fit for duty_, numbered 14,700. Add
to these 1000 lost on Long Island and 3500 officers, sergeants, drums
and fifes fit for duty, and we have, all told, between 19,000 and
20,000 effectives on August 27th; and these figures correspond with
Washington's statement of September 2d: "Our number of men at present
fit for duty is under 20,000." The army suffered greatly from sickness
during August and September. General Heath writes in his _Memoirs_,
under date of August 8th: "The number of sick amounted to near 10,000;
nor was it possible to find proper hospitals or proper necessaries for
them. In almost every farm, stable, shed, and even under the fences
and bushes, were the sick to be seen, whose countenances were but an
index of the dejection of spirit and the distress they endured." On
the 4th of August, Colonel Parsons wrote to Colonel Little: "My Doctor
and Mate are sick. I have near Two Hundred men sick in Camp; my
neighbours are in very little better state." And he asks Little to
consent to his surgeon's mate remaining with him until his own
surgeons were better. [MS. letter in possession of Charles J. Little,
Esq.]]
GEORGE WASHINGTON,
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.
AIDES-DE-CAMP.
_Colonel_ William Grayson, of Virginia; _Lieutenant-Colonel_ Richard
Cary, Jr., of Massachusetts; _Lieutenant-Colonel_ Samuel B. Webb, of
Connecticut; _Lieutenant_ Tench Tilghman, of Pennsylvania.
SECRETARY.
_Lieutenant-Colonel_ Robert Hanson Harrison, of Virginia.
ADJUTANT-GENERAL.
_Colonel_ Joseph Reed, of Philadelphia.
QUARTERMASTER-GENERAL.
_Colonel_ Stephen Moylan, of Pennsylvania.
COMMISSARY-GENERAL.
_Colonel_ Joseph Trumbull, of Connecticut.
PAYMASTER-GENERAL.
_Colonel_ William Palfrey, of Massachusetts.
MUSTER-MASTER-GENERAL.
_Colonel_ Gunning Bedford, of Pennsylvania.
DIRECTOR OF THE GENERAL HOSPITAL.
_Doctor_ John Morgan, of Pennsylvania.
CHIEF ENGINEER.
_Colonel_ Rufus Putnam, of Massachusetts.
PUTNAM'S DIVISION.
MAJOR-GENERAL ISRAEL PUTNAM.
AIDES-DE-CAMP.
Major Aaron Burr, Major ----.
CLINTON'S BRIGADE.
BRIGADIER-GENERAL JAMES CLINTON.[94]
Brigade-Major, David Henly.
Colonel Joseph Read, Massachusetts 505[95]
" Ebenezer Learned, " 521
" John Bailey, " 503
" Loammi Baldwin, " 468
[Footnote 94: General Clinton being absent all summer in the
Highlands, the brigade was commanded first by Colonel Read, and
afterwards by Colonel Glover.]
[Footnote 95: The figures given here represent the total number of
enlisted men on the rolls on September 12, absent sick included. In
the case of some of the regiments, especially from the flying camp,
under Lutz, Kachlein, and others, only an estimate can be formed. The
strength of these is noted in connection with the losses on Long
Island in the next chapter. The Connecticut militia regiments are
credited with 350 men each, as Washington gives the figures.]
SCOTT'S BRIGADE.
BRIGADIER-GENERAL JOHN MORIN SCOTT.
Brigade-Major, Nicholas Fish.
Colonel John Lasher, New York 510
" William Malcom, " 297
" Samuel Drake, " 459
" Cornelius Humphrey, " 261
FELLOWS' BRIGADE.
BRIGADIER-GENERAL JOHN FELLOWS.
Brigade-Major, Mark Hopkins.
Colonel Jonathan Holman, Massachusetts 606
" Simeon Cary, " 569
" Jonathan Smith, " 551
" John Glover,[96] " 365
[Footnote 96: Glover's regiment did not join the army at New York
until August. It was assigned on the 12th to Stirling's brigade, and
on the 15th to Fellows'.]
HEATH'S DIVISION.
MAJOR-GENERAL WILLIAM HEATH.
AIDES-DE-CAMP.
Major Thomas Henly, Major Israel Keith.
MIFFLIN'S BRIGADE.
BRIGADIER-GENERAL THOMAS MIFFLIN.
Brigade-Major, Jonathan Mifflin.
Colonel Robert Magaw, Pennsylvania 480
" John Shee, " 496
" Israel Hutchinson, Massachusetts 513
" Paul Dudley Sargent,[97] " 527
" Andrew Ward, Connecticut 437
[Footnote 97: Sargent's and Ward's reported on the ground in August.
They were _probably_ in Mifflin's brigade.]
CLINTON'S BRIGADE.
BRIGADIER-GENERAL GEORGE CLINTON.
Brigade-Major, Albert Pawling.
Colonel Isaac Nichol, New York 289
" Thomas Thomas, " 354
" James Swartwout, " 364
" Levi Paulding, " 368
" Morris Graham, " 437
SPENCER'S DIVISION.
MAJOR-GENERAL JOSEPH SPENCER.
AIDES-DE-CAMP.
Major William Peck, Major Charles Whiting.
PARSONS' BRIGADE.
BRIGADIER-GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS.
Brigade-Major, Thomas Dyer.
Colonel Jedediah Huntington, Connecticut 348
" Samuel Wyllys, " 530
" John Durkee, " 520
" John Tyler, " 569
" Jonathan Ward, Massachusetts 502
WADSWORTH'S BRIGADE.
BRIGADIER-GENERAL JAMES WADSWORTH.
Brigade-Major, John Palsgrave Wyllys.
Colonel Gold Selleck Silliman, Connecticut 415
" Fisher Gay, " 449
" Comfort Sage, " 482
" Samuel Selden, " 464
" William Douglas, " 506
" John Chester, " 535
" Phillip Burr Bradley, " 569
SULLIVAN'S DIVISION.
MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN SULLIVAN.
AIDES-DE-CAMP.
Major Alexander Scammell, Major Lewis Morris, Jr.
STIRLING'S BRIGADE.
BRIGADIER-GENERAL LORD STIRLING.
Brigade-Major, W.S. Livingston.
Colonel William Smallwood, Maryland 600
" John Haslet, Delaware 750
" Samuel Miles, Pennsylvania 650
" Samuel John Atlee, " 300
Lieutenant-Colonel Nicholas Lutz, " 200
" " Peter Kachlein, " 200
Major Hay, " 200
McDOUGALL'S BRIGADE.
BRIGADIER-GENERAL ALEXANDER McDOUGALL.
Brigade-Major, Richard Platt.
Late McDougall's, New York 428
Colonel Rudolph Ritzema, New York 434
" Charles Webb, Connecticut 542
" Jonathan Brewer (Artificers) 584
GREENE'S DIVISION.
MAJOR-GENERAL NATHANIEL GREENE.
AIDES-DE-CAMP.
Major William Blodgett, Major William S. Livingston.
NIXON'S BRIGADE.
BRIGADIER-GENERAL JOHN NIXON.
Brigade-Major, Daniel Box.
Colonel Edward Hand, Pennsylvania 288
" James Mitchell Varnum, Rhode Island 391
" Daniel Hitchcock, " 368
" Late Nixon's, Massachusetts 419
" William Prescott, " 399
" Moses Little, " 453
HEARD'S BRIGADE.
BRIGADIER-GENERAL NATHANIEL HEARD.
Brigade-Major, Peter Gordon.
Colonel David Forman, New Jersey 372
" Phillip Johnston, " 235
" Ephraim Martin, " 382
" Silas Newcomb, " 336
" Phillip Van Cortlandt, " 269
CONNECTICUT MILITIA.
BRIGADIER-GENERAL OLIVER WOLCOTT.
Colonel Thompson, Connecticut 350
" Hinman, " "
" Pettibone, " "
" Cooke, " "
" Talcott, " "
" Chapman, " "
" Baldwin, " "
Lieutenant-Colonel Mead, " "
" " Lewis, " "
" " Pitkin, " "
Major Strong, " "
" Newberry, " "
LONG ISLAND MILITIA.
BRIGADIER-GENERAL NATHANIEL WOODHULL.[98]
Brigade-Major, Jonathan Lawrence.
Colonel Josiah Smith, Long Island 250
" Jeronimus Remsen, " 200
[Footnote 98: These regiments were nominally under General Woodhull,
but actually under Greene and Sullivan. At the time of the battle of
the 27th both were doing duty with Nixon's brigade. (Sullivan's
orders, August 25th. _Document_ 2.) Their strength can only be
estimated, but it is probably correct to say that together they were
less than five hundred strong.]
ARTILLERY.
Colonel Henry Knox, Massachusetts 406
As appears from a document among the papers of General Knox, the
encampments and posts of these brigades, before the advance of the
enemy, were fixed as follows: Scott's, in the city; Wadsworth's, along
the East River, in the city; Parsons', from the ship-yards on the
East River to Jones' Hill, and including one of the redoubts to the
west of it; Stirling's and McDougall's, still further west as a
reserve near Bayard's Hill; Fellows', on the Hudson, from Greenwich
down to the "Glass House," about half-way to Canal Street; and James
Clinton's, from that point down to the "Furnace," opposite the
Grenadier Battery. These brigades, forming Putnam's, Spencer's, and
Sullivan's divisions, with the Connecticut militia, were retained
within the city and its immediate vicinity. Of Heath's division,
Mifflin's brigade was posted at Fort Washington, at the upper end of
the island, and George Clinton's at King's Bridge. Greene's
division--Nixon's and Heard's brigades--with the exception of
Prescott's regiment and Nixon's, now under his brother,
Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Nixon, which were on Governor's Island,
occupied the Long Island front.[99]
[Footnote 99: See Appendix to Drake's _Life of General Knox_.]
* * * * *
A far more perfect and formidable army was that which lay encamped on
Staten Island, seven miles down the bay. It was the best officered,
disciplined, and equipped that Great Britain could then have mustered
for any service. The fact that she found it difficult to raise new
troops to conquer America only made it necessary to send forward all
her available old soldiers. The greater part of Howe's army,
accordingly, consisted of experienced regulars. He had with him
twenty-seven regiments of the line, four battalions of light infantry
and four of grenadiers, two battalions of the king's guards, three
brigades of artillery, and a regiment of light dragoons, numbering in
the aggregate about twenty-three thousand officers and men. The six
thousand or more that came from Halifax were the Boston "veterans."
These had been joined by regiments from the West Indies; and among the
reinforcements from Britain were troops that had garrisoned Gibraltar
and posts in Ireland and England, with men from Scotland who had won a
name in the Seven Years' War.[100] Howe's generals were men who showed
their fitness to command by their subsequent conduct during the war.
Next to the commander-in-chief ranked Lieutenant-Generals Clinton,
Percy, and Cornwallis; Major-Generals Mathews, Robertson, Pigot,
Grant, Jones, Vaughan, and Agnew; and Brigadier-Generals Leslie,
Cleveland, Smith, and Erskine.
[Footnote 100: The "Highlander" regiments were the Forty-second and
Seventy-first. In _Stewart's Highlanders_, vol. i., p. 354, as quoted
in the _Memoir of General Graham_, the following passage appears: "On
the 10th April, 1776, the Forty-second Regiment being reviewed by Sir
Adolphus Oughton, was reported complete, and so unexceptionable that
none were rejected. Hostilities having commenced in America, every
exertion was made to teach the recruits the use of the firelock, for
which purpose they were drilled even by candle-light. New arms and
accoutrements were supplied to the men; and the colonel of the
regiment, at his own expense, supplied _broadswords and pistols_....
The pistols were of the old Highland fashion, with iron stocks. These
being considered unnecessary except in the field, were not intended,
like the swords, to be worn by the men in quarters. When the regiment
took the field on Staten and Long Island, it was said that the
broadswords retarded the men by getting entangled in the brushwood and
they were therefore taken from them and sent on board the
transports."]
The Hessians or "foreigners" formed more than one fourth of the
enemy's strength. They numbered eight thousand officers and men,
which, added to the distinctively British force, raised Howe's total
to over thirty-one thousand. His total of effectives on the 27th of
August was something more than twenty-four thousand.[101]
[Footnote 101: General Clinton, quoting from Howe's returns on this
date, says he had "24,464 effectives fit for duty; a total of 26,980,
officers not included, who, when added, amount to 31,625 men." See
General Carrington's _Battles of the Revolution_, p. 199. To the
British force should be added two or three companies of New York
loyalists.]
Drawn up in complete array upon the field this army would have
confronted Washington's in the following order:[102]
[Footnote 102: The list that follows is copied from what appears to
have been the roster-book of Adjutant Gilfillan of the Fifty-fifth
Regiment. The book was captured by Captain Nathaniel Fitz Randolph, of
New Jersey (see _Document_ 56), and is now in the possession of
Captain John C. Kinney, of Hartford, a great-grandson of the latter.
There is no date attached to the "Order of Battle," but from the few
dates that follow it was probably made out in the first part of
August, 1776. The list gives the full British strength, and is
interesting as naming the majors of brigade, represented by the
abbreviation M.B.]
ORDER OF BATTLE FOR THE BRITISH.
[SIR WILLIAM HOWE.]
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.
LIEUT GENLL CLINTON.
BRIGADIER GENLL LESSLIE.
2d Batn Lt. Infty. 3d Brigade[103] Lt. Infty. 1st Batn Lt. Infty.
[Footnote 103: An error, evidently, for Battalion.]
Major of Brigade Lewis.
BRIGADIER GENLL CLEVELAND.
2nd Brig. of Art'lly. 3d Brigade of Art. 1st Brigade of Art.
Major of Brigade Farrington.
FIRST LINE.
[Transcriber's Note: The following table has been split into two parts
for readability.]
M.G. Pigot. M.G. Agnew.
Cavalry. 5th, 35th, 49th, 28th. 23d, 57th, 64th, 44th.
2d Brigade. 6th Brigade.
M.B. Disney. M.B. Leslie.
B.G. Smith. M.G. Robertson. M.G. Mathews.
Cavalry. 43d, 63d, 54th, 23d. 15th, 45th, 27th, 4th. Guards.
5th Brigade. 1 Brigade. 2 Battalions.
M.B. McKenzie. M.B. Smith.
SECOND LINE.
LIEUT GENLL. EARL PERCY.
M.G. Grant. B.G. Erskine. M.G. Jones.
17th, 46th, 55th, 40th. 71st Regiment. 37th, 52d, 38th, 10th.
4th Brigade. 3 Battalions. 3d Brigade.
M.B. Brown. M.B. Erskine. M.B. Baker.
CORPS DE RESERVE.
LIEUT GENLL EARL CORNWALLIS.
Major Genll Vaughan.
2 B. Grendrs 4th B. Grendrs 3 Batt. Grendrs 1st Battln Grendrs
42 Regmt. 33d Regt.
HESSIAN DIVISION.[104]
[Footnote 104: The arrangement of the Hessian troops, as here given,
is compiled from Von Elking's work, Baurmeister's Narrative, and the
Hessian map in vol. ii. of the Long Island Historical Society's
_Memoirs_.]
LIEUT-GENERAL DE HEISTER.
MIRBACH'S BRIGADE.
MAJOR GENERAL VON MIRBACH.
REGIMENTS.
Kniphausen. Rall. Lossberg.
STIRN'S BRIGADE.
MAJOR-GENERAL VON STIRN.
REGIMENTS.
Donop. Mirbach. Hereditary Prince.
DONOP'S BRIGADE.
COLONEL VON DONOP.
GRENADIERS.
Block. Minegerode. Lisingen.
YAGERS.
LOSSBERG'S BRIGADE.
COLONEL VON LOSSBERG.
REGIMENTS.
Von Ditfurth. Von Trumbach.
* * * * *
When and where, now, will these two armies meet? Or rather, the
question was narrowed down to this: When and where will the British
attack? With Washington there was no choice left but to maintain a
strictly defensive attitude. The command which the enemy had of the
waters was alone sufficient to make their encampment on Staten Island
perfectly secure. As to assuming the offensive, Washington wrote to
his brother, John Augustine, on July 22d: "Our situation at present,
both in regard to men and other matters, is such as not to make it
advisable to attempt any thing against them, surrounded as they are by
water and covered with ships, lest a miscarriage should be productive
of unhappy and fatal consequences. It is provoking, nevertheless, to
have them so near, without being able to give them any disturbance."
Earlier in the season an expedition had been organized under Mercer,
in which Knowlton was to take an active part, to attack the enemy's
outposts on Staten Island from the Jersey shore, but the weather twice
interfered with the plan. All that the Americans hoped to do was to
hold their own at and around New York. Washington tells us that he
fully expected to be able to defend the city.[105] Even the passage of
the Rose and Phoenix did not shake his faith. None of his letters
written during the summer disclose any such misgivings as Lee
expressed, respecting the possibility of maintaining this base, and in
attempting to hold it he followed out his own best military judgment.
[Footnote 105: "Till of late I had no doubt in my own mind of
defending this place."--_Washington to Congress_, September 2d, 1776.]
What occasioned the principal anxiety in the mind of the
commander-in-chief was the number of points at which the British could
make an attack and their distance from one another. They could advance
into New Jersey from Staten Island; they could make a direct attack
upon the city with their fleet, while the transports sailed up the
Hudson and the troops effected a landing in his rear; they could cross
to Long Island and fall upon Greene in force; or they could make
landings at different points as feints, and then concentrate more
rapidly than Washington, as their water carriage would enable them to
do, and strike where he was weakest.[106]
[Footnote 106: "Before the landing of the enemy in Long Island, the
point of attack could not be known, nor any satisfactory judgment
formed of their intentions. It might be on Long Island, on Bergen, or
directly on the city."--_Washington to Congress_, September 9th,
1776.]
The summer and the campaign season were passing, and still the
uncertainty was protracted--when and where will the enemy attack?