among his own generals. For a while he intrenched himself on Harlem Heights, on the southern side of the Harlem; but when Howe moved to Throgg's Neck, to get in his rear, he abandoned these positions and withdrew to Fordham, at the same time sending a force to the landward end of Throgg's Neck, to remove the bridge. Howe went further east, and landed at Pelham. His objective point was now White Plains. Washington, while keeping the district round Fort Washington, marched parallel with Howe toward White Plains, skirmishing by the way; and getting there first, fortified himself and awaited an attack. The two armies faced each other on October 27th. On the same day, that part of the British force which was south of Fort Washington was worsted, in an attempt against it, by Greene and Magaw, who were in command there.

At White Plains, the American center was the weakest point; but Howe would not attack there, but sent four thousand men to dislodge an American force of fourteen hundred on Chatterton Hill, a mile to the southwest. The Americans under Macdougall resisted the Hessians until they were attacked by a flanking party, when they withdrew with a loss of a hundred, the enemy sustaining a loss two and a half times as great. On October 31st, Washington was strongly intrenched above White Plains, and Howe had accomplished practically nothing. Meanwhile, Greene had been strengthening the force at Fort Washington and its environs, against Washington's judgment, for he saw that Howe could surround it. In fact, on the 5th of November, Howe suddenly moved across to Dobb's Ferry, from which position he could both threaten the fort, and also invade New Jersey and march on Philadelphia.

The proper course, as Washington saw, was to abandon Fort Washington, and throw the entire army into New Jersey at once. But Greene, and Congress, thought Fort Wash ington should be held "to the last extremity." Washington therefore sent five thousand troops across the Hudson with

Putnam; Lee was to remain behind until it became certain what Howe intended to do, while Greene and Magaw, with three thousand men, remained within the Fort Washington lines. On November 15th, Howe, from his batteries on Fordham Heights, demanded the surrender of Fort Washington; Putnam and Greene assured Washington they could defend it. The region which they had to man had a circuit of six miles or more. A spy within their lines carried plans of the works to Howe before the attack, which was made on the 16th. The Hessian troops under Rall and Knyphausen advanced with great courage and pertinacity, pulling themselves up the steep hillsides by projecting roots and branches; Cornwallis climbed up on the north; Lord Percy, who was to have moved from the south, hid himself in the woods till the danger was over. The Americans were everywhere beaten; they lost a hundred and fifty men, most of them bayoneted by the Hessians while asking quarter; the enemy lost five hundred; but when Knyphausen, surrounding the fort itself, demanded its surrender, the fugitives crowded within it refused to man the ramparts, and Magaw was forced to surrender with all his material, and twenty-six hundred troops. The enemy greatly outnumbered them; but the affair reflects no credit, to say the least of it, upon our soldiers. Washington, instead of laying the blame on Greene, where it belonged, upbraided himself for not having insisted upon the abandonment of the position.

His energies were now directed to delaying the enemy in New Jersey until the snows rendered advance on Philadelphia impossible. He had but three thousand men; Lee, still on the east side of the Hudson, refused repeated offers to bring his force across. Re-enforcements were being sent down from Schuyler in the north, but meantime there was nothing for it but to retreat. Cornwallis and the Hessians were close on the trail, the latter exercising their usual brutality upon the inhabitants, and thereby unwittingly hardening the people against England. Greene, delaying too long

at Fort Lee, on the west side of the Hudson, was surprised, and only escaped by a headlong flight, leaving all his camp equipage, while Washington covered his retreat. To avoid being caught between the Hackensack and Passaic rivers, Washington crossed the latter, and on the 22d of November reached Newark, whence he again sent summonses to Lee. He resumed his retreat on the 28th, just as Cornwallis came up. The war might have ended here, had not Howe sent a large force under Lord Percy, Clinton and Prescott, to occupy Rhode Island, where they remained uselessly three years. Washington continued his march through Brunswick to Princeton; leaving twelve hundred men there to watch the enemy, he went on to Trenton, got his baggage across the Delaware, and returning, met Stirling in full retreat before a much larger force; he accompanied him to Trenton, and they crossed the river; Howe, delaying, was too late to intercept them. But Philadelphia was in danger, unless Lee would come to Washington's assistance. The former was spending his time railing against his superior and Congress, and declaring that with such incompetents at the head of affairs, the only proper thing to do was to save the country at the cost of an act of "brave, virtuous treason." He finally crossed the Hudson on the 2d and 3d of December, and marched to Morristown, where he announced that he would not join Washington, but intended to reconquer the Jerseys on a plan of his own. At this time he was actually plotting to betray the Americans to the British. On the night of the 12th he slept at an inn in Baskingridge, a few miles in advance of his main force; while delaying over his breakfast the next morning, he was captured by Lieutenant Harcourt, with a squad of cavalry. "Come out," was the order, "or the house will be fired"; and out he came, pallid with terror, in dressing-gown and slippers, with a shirt "very much soiled," and bareheaded. He was promptly put astride a horse and carried off to be tried as a deserter; while Sullivan, his second in command, U.S.-22

VOL. I.

brought his army safely to Washington. He was, however, exchanged by Washington's efforts the next year, and his further adventures will be recounted in their place.

The approach of the British, which nothing seemed able to arrest, frightened Congress, and, after ordering a day of fasting and prayer, they fled to Baltimore, amid the jeers of tories and the curses of patriots, and in spite of the passionate protests of stout John Adams, who was certain America would finally be victorious, whether or not Philadelphia fell. Putnam held the city after Congress had gone. Washington, after being re-enforced from New England and by Lee's division, had forty-eight hundred effective men. The Hessian Rall, who had proved his courage at Fort Washington, occupied Trenton on the east side of the Delaware; and he so little dreaded an attack from the barefooted, half-starved and defeated Americans on the other side, that he would not protect his flanks by intrenchments. He and his men had loaded themselves with plunder, and abandoned themselves to enjoyment. Rall was fond of martial music, and the town, from morning till night, and from night till the small hours, roared with the strains of the first German bands domiciled in America, with the jolly choruses of the soldiers, their laughter and drunken shouts; and for twelve days, the happiest of Rall's life, he imitated as nearly as he knew how the state of an Oriental despot. Why should he not? The Hessians, as an English officer observed, in excusing himself for not restraining their robbery and worse outrages, had come to America on the understanding that their propensities were to be given free rein. They had beaten the wretched colonists; now let them have their reward. The war was over. So Rall and his men thought; so Cornwallis believed, as he packed up his traps and started for England. So Howe imagined, as he returned to New York in triumphal progress, hailed as a new Cæsar, courted and flattered, and not a little pleased with himself. The spirit of the country was broken; there was nothing more

to be done except to receive the submission of the misguided colonies, hang the ringleaders, and allow the rest such terms. as they deserved. Lord Germain, Lord North, and their royal master in London, were happy also, and the latter prepared to honor his general by the order of the Knight of the Bath. It bade fair to be a merry Christmas for everybody -except Washington and his meager regiments of tatterdemalions.

Between the camp of the American leader on the west bank of the Delaware, and the headquarters of the English general in New York, there was a dramatic contrast. the latter part of December, western New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania were subjected to the worse rigors of an inclement climate. There were ice and snow, sleet and keen winds; there were no roads fit to be so called, and the country was still largely covered with ragged and inhospitable forests. The inhabitants were terrorized; thousands of them had given up their hopes of freedom and had submitted to the doubtful mercy of the conquerors; others had abandoned their homes and fled; there was no food or shelter to be had. The majority of the men saw the end of their term of enlistment but a week or two distant, and rejoiced at the prospect of leaving the intolerable hardships they were confronting for the only less gloomy environment of their own homes; and many sought opportunities to hasten the date of their liberation. They were partly naked, and the trail of their marches was marked by blood upon the snow. They lacked tents to lie under at night, and blankets to cover them. With a gloomy sky above them, a frozen and barren earth below, the memory of defeat in their minds, and no hope in their hearts; they huddled about their forlorn fires in spiritless dejection. At night their outposts along the iceburdened river might have heard the music and yelling of the mercenaries, making merry with the substance which the industry of their robbed and slaughtered fellow countrymen had earned.