Retreat to New Jersey. Fort Washington menaced. A Surrender refused. Re-enforced. and Harlem Rivers, and encamped upon the heights of Fordham, extending his left wing almost to King's Bridge.' a November An attack upon Fort Washington, now environed by a hostile force, though at a distance, was to be the next scene in the drama. Washington called a council of war, and it was unanimously resolved to retreat into New Jersey with the larger portion of the army, leaving all the New England troops on the east side of the Hudson to defend the Highlands. This movement was speedily executed. By the twelftha the main army were in New Jersey, some crossing from Tarrytown to Paramus (Sneeden's Landing), and others from Teller's (Croton) Point to the mouth of Tappan Creek (Piermont). The chief, after inspecting places at Peekskill and vicinity, crossed King's Ferry, and hastened to form his camp, with his head-quarters at Hackinsack, in 1776. the rear of Fort Lee. General Heath was left in command in the Highlands, and General Lee, with a dissolving force of more than eight thousand men, remained at North Castle, with orders to join the main army in New Jersey if the enemy should aim a blow in that quarter. Knyphachen b Nov. 14, c Nov. 2. On the day of the battle at White Plains, Knyphausen, with six German battalions, marched from New Rochelle, crossed the head of Harlem River, at Dyckman's Bridge, took possession of the abandoned works. in the vicinity of King's Bridge, and encamped upon the plaine between there and Fort Washington. The Americans in Fort Independence and redoubts near, fled, on his approach, to Fort Washington, and now the whole country beyond Harlem, between Dobbs's Ferry and Morrisania, west of the Bronx, was in the possession of the royal army. Fort Washington was completely environed by hostile forces. On the fifth, three British ships of war passed up the Hudson unharmed, and on the night of the fourteenth, a large number of flat-boats went up and were moored near King's Bridge. The commander-in-chief would now have ordered the evacuation of Fort Washington, had not Greene urged the necessity of holding it, in connection with Fort Lee, for the defense of the river. On the fifteenthd Howe was informed of the real condition of the garrison and d Nov., 1776. works at Fort Washington, by a deserter from Magaw's battalion, and he immediately sent a messenger with a summons for the commander to surrender, or peril his garrison with the doom of massacre. Magaw, in a brief note, promptly refused compliance, and sent a copy of his answer to Washington at Hackinsack. Confident of success, Howe ordered a cannonade to be opened upon the American outworks from two British redoubts, situated upon the east side of the Harlem River, a little above the High Bridge. The cannonade commenced early on the morning of the sixteenth, to cover the landing of troops which crossed the Harlem there, preparatory to a combined attack at four different points. Expecting this, Magaw made a judicious disposition of his little force." Colonel Rawling's 1 Gordon, ii., 116-121. Stedman, i., 210-216. Marshall, i., 110-114. This fortification was situated upon a sort of plateau, about three hundred feet above the river, at the present landing and village of Fort Lee, and opposite the present One hundred and Sixtieth Street, of New York. Some of the mounds are yet visible, covered with low trees. A little above was a redoubt, opposite Jeffery's Hook, to cover the chevaux-de-frise in the river. Few traces of this redoubt now remain. 3 The time of service of seven thousand five hundred of these men would expire within a week, and the remainder would be free on the first of December. When the time of dissolution came, some were induced to remain, but the largest portion went home dispirited. For this and other localities made memorable by military operations between Fort Washington and the Highlands, the reader may profitably consult the map on the preceding page. It has been carefully prepared from the best authorities. Those in Stedman's History of the War are generally quite correct, but the one showing these particular localities is very erroneous. For example, the Heights of Fordham are placed far northward of Valentine's Hill. The former is in the vicinity of Morrisania; the latter near Yonkers. The names of several places are also incorrectly spelled. The garrison consisted of only about twelve hundred men when Knyphausen first sat down at King's Bridge. Greene sent a re-enforcement from Mercer's Flying Camp, and when the fort was attacked there were about three thousand men within the lines. When Washington heard of the summons to surrender, he hastened from his camp to Fort Lee, and at nine in the evening, while crossing the Hudson, he met Disposition of the Garrison. Plan of Attack. Knyphausen's Assault with his Maryland riflemen, was posted in a redoubt (Fort Tryon) upon a hill north of Fort Washington, and a few men were stationed at the outpost called Cock-hill Fort. Militia of the Flying Camp, under Colonel Baxter, were placed on the rough wooded hills east of the fort, along the Har 776 lem River, and others, under der, of Pennsylvania, manned Авадшивателя the lines in the direction of New York. Magaw commanded in the fort. The plan of attack was well arranged. At Knyphausen, with five hundred Hes sians and Waldeckers, was to FLAG-STAFF, FORT WASHINGTON. VIEW AT FORT WASHINGTON.2 While Rawlings and Cadwalader were keeping the asGreene and Putnam returning from Fort Washington. They assured him that Magaw was confident of a successful defense, and the chief returned with them to Fort Lee. 1 Mathews landed in the cove or creek at about Two hundredth Street. 2 This is a view from the site of the interior works at Fort Washington from the foot of the flag-staff, looking southwest. In the foreground are seen the remains of the embankments. The tall mast seen near the river below is the support for telegraph wires which cross the Hudson there, from the rocky point of Jeffery's Hook. In the distance across the river are the Palisades, and the mast upon their summit denotes the site of the redoubt north of Fort Lee. This little sketch exhibits the relative position of Forts Washington and Lee. 3 Preparatory to this attack, a cannonade was opened upon the American works by two pieces on the high ground north of Motthaven, on the Harlem River. This flag-staff, indicating the center of the fort, is a prominent object to passengers upon the Hudson Attack of Stirling and Percy. Surrender of the Fort. The Loss. Mr. Battin sailants at bay, Mathews and Stirling landed. The former pushed up the wooded heights, drove Baxter's troops from their redoubt (Fort George) and rocky defense, and stood victor upon the hills overlooking the open fields around Fort Washington. Stirling, after making a feigned landing, dropped down to an estuary of the river, landed within the American lines, and, rushing up the acclivity by a sinuous road, attacked a redoubt on the summit, and made about two hundred prisoners. Informed of this, and perceiving the peril of being placed between two fires, Cadwalader retreated along the road nearest the Hudson, closely pursued by Percy, and battling all the way. When near the upper border of Trinity Cemetery (One hundred and Fifty-fifth Street), he was attacked on the flank by Colonel Stirling, who was pressing across the island to intercept him. He continued the retreat, and reached the fort, after losing a few killed, and about thirty made prisoners. On the border of the cemetery, and near the fort, severe skirmishes took place, and many of the Hessian pursuers were slain. The defense was gallant; but pike, ball, and bayonet, used by five thousand men, overpowered the weakened patriots, and at meridian they were nearly all gathered within the ramparts of the fort. General Howe now sent another summons to surrender. Perceiving fur ther resistance to be vain, Magaw complied,' and at half past one o'clocka the British flag was waving a Nov. 16, where, the Union banner was unfurled defiantly 1776. in the morning. The garrison, amounting to more than two thousand men, were made prisoners of war, and with these the jails of New York were speedily gorged. It was a terrible disaster for the little Republican army. Of all the gallant men who battled there on that day, not one is known among the living. Probably the last survivor of them all, and the last living relic of the British army in America, was the venerable JOHN BATTIN, who died at his residence in Greenwich Street, in the city of New York, on the twenty-ninth of June, 1852, at the age of one hundred years and four months. His body is entombed in Trinity Cemetery, upon the very ground where he fought for his king seventy-six years before." 'Stirling's landing-place was at about the foot of One hundred and Fifty-second Street, at the head of the Eighth Avenue, three fourths of a mile below the High Bridge, "within the third line of defense which crossed the island."-Marshall, i., 117. The road up which he passed is still there, and, as mentioned in the note on page 610 the lines of the redoubt on the "wooded promontory" (Stedman, i., 218) are quite visible. * It was at this stage of affairs that Washington, with Putnam, Greene, and Mercer, crossed the Hudson, ascended the heights, and from Morris's house surveyed the scene of operations. Within fifteen minutes after they had left that mansion, Stirling and his victorious troops approached and took possession of it. It was a narrow escape for the chief commanders. 3 At this moment Captain Gooch came over from Fort Lee with a note from Washington, assuring Magaw that if he could hold out till night the garrison should be brought off. It was too late. The number of regulars was about two thousand. There were six or seven hundred militia, volunteers, and stragglers, all of whom were probably included in Howe's report of "two thousand six hundred prisoners." The loss of the Americans, in killed and wounded, did not exceed one hundred; that of the royal army was almost one thousand. The Hessians as usual, suffered most severely. Washington was blamed for yielding to the opinions of Greene in endeavoring to hold this fort. Lee, who was opposed to it from the beginning, wrote to Washington, "O! general, why would you be over persuaded by men of inferior judgment to your own? It was a cursed affair." Mr. Battin came to America with the British army in 1776, and was engaged in the battles near Brooklyn, at White Plains, and Fort Washington. After the British went into winter quarters in New York, Washington's Disappointment. Wayne's Expedition near Bull's Ferry. Lee's Attack on Paulus's Hook. with streaming eyes he beheld the meteor flag of England flashing above its ramparts in the bright November sun. The fort was lost forever, and its name was changed to Knyphausen. The chief now turned his thoughts toward the defense of the federal city of Philadelphia, for he penetrated the design of Howe to push thitherward. Fort Lee was abandoned, but before its stores could be removed, Cornwallis had crossed the Hudson with six thousand men, and was rapidly approaching it.' The garrison fled to the camp at Hack and Cornwallis's division (to which he was attached), returned from Trenton and Princeton, he took lessons in horsemanship in the Middle Dutch church (now the city post-office), then converted into a circus for a riding-school. He then joined the cavalry regiment of Colonel Birch, in which he held the offices of orderly sergeant and cornet. He was in New York during the "hard winter" of 1779-80, and assisted in dragging British cannons over the frozen bay from Fort George to Staten Island. He was always averse to fighting the Americans, yet, as in duty bound, he was faithful to his king. While Prince William Henry, afterward William the Fourth, was here, he was one of his body-guard. Twice he was sent to England by Sir Henry Clinton with dispatches, and being one of the most active men in the corps, he was frequently employed by the commander-in-chief in important services. With hundreds more, he remained in New York when the British army departed in 1783, resolved to make America his future home. He married soon after the war, and at the time of his death had lived with his wife (now aged eighty-three) sixty-five years. For more than fifty years, he walked every morning upon first the old, and then the new, or present Battery, unmindful of inclement weather. He always enjoyed remarkable health. He continued exercise in the street near his dwelling until within a few days of his death, though with increasing feebleness of step. The gay young men of half a century ago (now gray-haired old men) remember his well-conducted house of refreshment, corner of John and Nassau Streets, where they enjoyed oyster suppers and good liquors. The preceding sketch of his person is from a daguerreotype by Insley, made a few months before his departure. The Americans lost at Fort Lee the whole of the mounted cannons, except two twelve-pounders, a large quantity of baggage, almost three hundred tents, and about a thousand barrels of flour and other stores. The ammunition was saved.* * Three or four miles below Fort Lee, at the base of the Palisades, is a little village called Bull's Ferry. Just below the village, on Block-house Point, was a block-house, occupied in the summer of 1780 by a British picket, for the protection of some wood cutters, and the neighboring Tories. On Bergen Neck below was a large number of cattle and horses, within reach of the British foragers who might go out from the fort at Paulus's Hook. Washington, then at Hopper's, near Sufferns, sent General Wayne, with some Pennsylvania and Maryland troops, horse and foot, to storm the work on block-house Point, and to drive the cattle within the American lines. Wayne sent the cavalry, under Major Lee, to perform the latter duty, while he and three Pennsylvania regiments marched against the block-house with four pieces of artillery. They made a spirited attack, but their cannons were too light to be effective, and after a skirmish, the Americans were repulsed, with a loss, in killed and wounded, of sixty-four men. After burning some woodboats near, and capturing the men in charge of them, Wayne returned to camp, with a large number of cattle, driven by the dragoons. This expedition was made the subject of a satirical poem by Major Andrè, called The Cow-chase (p. 766, vol. i.), published in Rivington's paper. A copy of this celebrated production may be found in the Supplement. Major Lee made a more successful attack upon the British post at Paulus's Hook (now Jersey City) toward the close of the summer of 1779. The Hook is a sandy peninsula, and at that time was connected with the main by a narrow marshy neck. Upon this pen. insula the British erected quite strong military works, and used it as an outpost, while they were in possession of the city of New York. The main works were upon rising ground in the vicinity of the intersection of Grand and Greene Streets. One (A) redoubt was of circular form, and mounted six heavy guns. It had a ditch and abatis. The other (B), a little southeast of it, was of oblong form, and had three twelve-pounders and one eighteen. a a, were block houses; b b b b b, breast-works fronting the bay; c, part of the 57th regiment of five hundred men, under Major Sutherland; d, pioneers; e, carpenters; fff, barracks; g, new bridge built by the British. A deep ditch was dug across the isthmus with a barred gate Thirty feet within this ditch were abatis. This ditch, with the surrounding marshes, made the peninsula an island. After the recapture of Stony Point toward the close of the summer of 1779, while Sir Henry Clinton was encamped upon Harlem Heights, a plan was formed for surprising the garrison at Paulus's Hook. The enterprise was intrusted to Major Henry Lee, then on the west side of the Hudson, back of Hoboken. A feeling of security made the garrison careless, and they were unprepared for a sudden attack when it was made. Preparatory to the attack, troops were stationed near the Hudson to watch the distant enemy, who might cross the river and intercept retreat, for it was not designed to hold the post when captured. Lee marched with three hundred picked men, followed by a strong detachment from Lord Stirling's division, as a reserve. Lee's march toward Bergen excited no surprise, for foraging parties of Americans as large as this were often out in that direction. The reserve halted at the new bridge over the Hackinsack, fourteen miles from the Hook, from which point Lee had taken the road among the hills, nearest the Hudson. At three o'clock on the morning of the nineteenth of August (1779), Lee reached the Harsimus Creek, at the point where the rail-way now crosses it, and within half an hour he crossed the ditch through the loosely barred gate, and entered the main work undiscovered. The sentinels were either absent or asleep, and the surprise was complete. He captured one hundred and fifty-nine of the garrison, including officers, and then attacked the circular redoubt, into which a large portion of the remainder retreated, with the commander. It was too strong to be effected by small arins, and Lee retreated with his prisoners, with the loss of only two killed and three wounded, and arrived at camp in triumph at about ten o'clock in the morning. This gallant act was greatly applauded in the camp, in Congress, and throughout the country, and made the enemy more cautious. On the twenty second of September following, Congress honored Lee with a vote of thanks, HUDSON R. |