CHAP. IX. 1776. power, orders of nobility, and the fplendor of courts, had been by them viewed only at a dif tance. The discipline of armies was entirely new; the difficulty of connecting many distinct states to act as it were by one will, the expenfes of government in new exigencies, and the wafte of war had not yet been accurately calculated by their politicians and ftatefmen. But their fenators, their representatives, and their magiftrates, were generally fagacious and vigilant, upright and firm; their officers were brave, their troops in fpirits, and with a full confidence in their commander in chief: hope was exhilarated by the retreat from Boston, and the repeated fucceffes of their arms at the southward; while new dignity was added to office, and ftronger motives for illustrious action, by the rank America had now taken among the nations. Thus, by the declaration of independence they had new ground to tread; the fcene of action was changed, genius was called forth from every quarter of the continent, and the public expectation enhanced by the general favorable appearance in all their military operations. In this fituation ftood affairs, both in the cabinet and the field, when lord Howe arrived at Staten Island, with a formidable squadron under his command, on the twelfth of July, one thousand feven hundred and feventy-fix. At the head of this hoftile arrangement, his 320 CHAP. IX. 1776. THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF from Maryland, many of them of family and fortune, commanded by the gallant colonel Smallwood, were almoft to a man cut off. The misfortune of the day was feverely felt by them, but without checking the ardor of the American army, the people, or the continental congrefs. The fame uniform dignity, and unruffled fuperiority of mind, appeared in the judicious de terminations of the united delegates, in the conduct of the state departments, and in the subse quent firmness of moft of the military officers, as before this defeat. But the fuccefs of their arms, and the acquifition of Long Island, exhil arated the spirits of the British, and gave hopes of more compliant difpofitions, and a more ready acquiefcence in the requifitions of ministers, or the veto of kings: and that the business of the commiffioners might now be brought forward without farther impediment. Not many days after the retreat from Long Island, congrefs was called upon to exhibit a new proof of their firmness. General Sullivan, one of the captured officers, was dispatched on parole with a meffage to that affembly, in the joint names of lord and general Howe. The purport of the meffage was, that they had full powers, and that they were difpofed to treat on terms of accommodation and peace. At the fame time they intimated, that as congrefs was not confidered in the eye of majefty, as a legal affembly, they only defired a private conference THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 319 1776. In the midst of the general anxiety for the CHAP. IX. danger and distress of the little army on Long Island, general Washington, undoubtedly anxious to retrieve his mistake in thus expofing them, paffed over from New York to endeav our to fecure the retreat of the furviving troops. This was executed in the night of the twentyninth, without noife or tumult. The remainder of the broken regiments that had outlived the fatal action, abandoned the island with a con fiderable part of their baggage, fome artillery, and military ftores, and without moleftation reached the city of New York. They had made a bold and refolute stand, against far superior numbers and discipline; and it may be deemed fortunate that any of them escaped, as on an island they might easily have been hemmed in by a small number of British fhips. Perhaps the commanders on both fides were afterwards fenfible of their error, the one in hazarding his troops in fuch an expofed fituation, the other in fuffering a fingle American to ef cape either captivity or death. The lofs of men in this action was not incon fiderable on either fide, but it fell most heavily on the Americans. Many brave men perished by the fword, others, as was observed, were loft in the moraffes and fwamps to which they had fled on the defeat. Three general officers, and a large number of inferior rank, were made prisoners. A regiment of valiant young men 318 CHAP. IX. 1776. THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF of his troops, as might have insured fuccefs, even had the Americans been better prepared for the attack, which at that time was rather unexpected. The affault was begun by the Heffian general de Heister. He opened the cannonade in front of the American lines, early on the morning of the twenty-eighth. A general engagement speedily ensued. Nearly the whole of the British forces were called into action, under the command of fir Henry Clinton, earl Percy, and lord Cornwallis. By fome fatal neglect, a very important poft was left unguarded by the American, which was feized by the British troops, who fought on this occafion with a spirit and bravery becoming the experienced commander and the hardy veteran. The American troops were early deranged. Apprized of their danger, they with great refolution endeavoured to recover their camp; but nearly furrounded by the British, and pushed in the centre by the Heffians, they were fo far from effecting their defign, that their retreat was nearly cut off: yet many of them defperately fought their way through fome of the British lines, and again bravely stood on their defence; others enangled in the woods and marthes through which they endeavoured to efcape, were either captured, or perifhed in the attempt. THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. the city of New York. This island contained many fettlements, through an extent of one hundred and twenty miles in length. It was in habited principally by loyalists, and perfons generally difaffected to the American cause. Many were at a lofs for a reason, nor indeed could any conjecture, why the tommander of the American army should hazard his troops on an island, liable at any moment to be furrounded by the British navy. However it was, feveral thousand Americans were there pofted, under the command of the generals Putnam, Sullivan, and William Alexander, lord Stirling. Sir William Howe very wifely judged, that it was a lefs arduous and a more promifing undertaking to diflodge the Americans from their encampment on the island, than a direct attempt to reduce New York. The royal army at that time consisted of about thirty thousand men: these he found no difficulty in landing from Staten Island, and in detachments posted them from one end of Long Island to the other, separated from the Americans by a ridge of hills covered with woods. Very fortunately for the enterprise of the British, one of the American out-guards early fell into the hands of general Clinton. In confequence of fome intelligence gained by this accident, he, before day-light on the morning of the twenty-feventh of August, poffeffed himself of fome very advantageous heights, and made fuch a judicious arrangement 317 CHAP. IX. 1776. |