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1776.]

WASHINGTON'S PERPLEXITIES.

427

gress having been received, strongly expressive of their desire that the channel of the river, which we had been laboring to stop for a long time at that place, might be obstructed, if possible; and knowing that this could not be done, unless there were batteries to protect the obstructions, I did not care to give an absolute order for withdrawing the garrison, till I could get round and see the situation of things; and then it became too late, as the place was invested. Upon the passing of the last ships, I had given it as my opinion to General Greene, under whose care it was, that it would be best to evacuate the place; but, as the order was discretionary, and his opinion differed from mine, it was unhappily delayed too long, to my great grief."

The correspondence of Washington with his brother, is full of gloomy anticipations. "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 of Hudson River, to oppose Howe's whole army; and very little more on the other, to secure the eastern colonies, and the important passes leading through the Highlands to Albany, and the country about the lakes. In short, it is impossible for me, in the compass of a letter, to give you any idea of our situation, of my difficulties, and of the constant perplexities I meet with, derived from the unhappy policy of short enlistments, and delaying them too long. Last fall, or winter, before the army, which was then to be raised, was set about, I represented in clear and explicit terms the evils which would arise from short enlistments, the expense which must attend the raising an army every year, and the futility of such an army when raised; and if I had

spoken with a prophetic spirit, I could not have foretold the evils with more accuracy than I did. All the year since, I have been pressing Congress to delay no time in engaging men upon such terms as would insure success, telling them that the longer it was delayed, the more difficult it would prove. But the measure was not commenced until it was too late to be effected. *

I am wearied almost to death with the retrograde motion of things; and I solemnly protest, that a pecuniary reward of twenty thousand pounds a year would not induce me to undergo what I do, and, after all, perhaps to lose my character; as it is impossible, under such a variety of distressing circumstances, to conduct matters agreeably to public expectation."

CHAPTER XLI.

THE ENEMY CROSS THE HUDSON-RETREAT OF THE GARRISON FROM FORT LEE-THE CROSSING OF THE HACKENSACK-LEE ORDERED TO MOVE TO THE WEST SIDE OF THE RIVER-REED'S LETTER TO HIM-SECOND MOVE OF THE ARMY BEYOND THE PASSAIC-ASSISTANCE SOUGHT FROM VARIOUS QUARTERS-CORRESPONDENCES AND SCHEMES OF LEE-HEATH STANCH TO HIS INSTRUCTIONS-ANXIETY OF GEORGE CLINTON FOR THE SAFETY OF THE HUDSON-CRITICAL SITUATION OF THE ARMYDISPARAGING CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN LEE AND REED-WASHINGTON RETREATS ACROSS THE RARITAN-ARRIVES AT TRENTON-REMOVES HIS BAGGAGE ACROSS THE DELAWARE-DISMAY AND DESPONDENCY OF THE COUNTRY-PROCLAMATION OF LORD HOWE EXULTATION OF THE ENEMY-WASHINGTON'S RESOLVE IN CASE OF EXTREMITY.

WITH the capture of Fort Washington, the project of obstructing the navigation of the Hudson, at that point, was at an end. Fort Lee, consequently, became useless, and Washington ordered all the ammunition and stores to be removed, preparatory to its abandonment. This was effected with the whole of the ammunition, and a part of the stores, and every exertion was making to hurry off the remainder, when, early in the morning of the 20th, intelligence was brought that the enemy, with two hundred boats, had crossed the river and landed a few miles above. General Greene immediately ordered the garrison under arms, sent out troops to hold the enemy in check, and sent off an express to Washington, at Hackensack.

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The enemy had crossed the Hudson, on a very rainy night, in two divisions; one diagonally upward from King's Bridge, landing on the west side, about eight o'clock; the other marched up the east bank, three or four miles, and then crossed to the opposite shore. The whole corps, six thousand strong, and under the command of Lord Cornwallis, were landed, with their cannon, by ten o'clock, at a place called Closter Dock, five or six miles above Fort Lee, and under that line of lofty and perpendicular cliffs known as the Palisades. "The seamen," says Sir William Howe, "distinguished themselves remarkably on this occasion, by their readiness to drag the cannon up a very narrow road, for nearly half a mile, to the top of a precipice, which bounds the shore for some miles on the west side."*

Washington arrived at the fort in three quarters of an hour. Being told that the enemy were extending themselves across the country, he at once saw that they intended to form a line from the Hudson to the Hackensack, and hem the whole garrison in between the two rivers. Nothing would save it but a prompt retreat to secure the bridge over the Hackensack. No time was to be lost. The troops sent out to check the enemy were recalled. The retreat commenced in all haste. There was a want of horses and waggons; a great quantity of baggage, stores and provisions, therefore, was abandoned. So was all the artillery excepting two twelve-pounders. Even the tents were left standing,

* Some writers have stated that Cornwallis crossed on the 18th. They have been misled by a letter of Sir William Howe, which gives that date. Lord Howe, in a letter to the Secretary of the Admiralty, gives the date we have stated (the 20th), which is the true one.

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From the Original Mss Map by R. Erskine,ER.S.
used in the US Army 1778-80 now in the N. Y. Hist. Soc. Library)

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