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iiy 
 
 THE 
 
 CAPTURE OF MOUNT WASHINGTON, 
 
 NOVEMBER i6th, i7;6, 
 
 THE RESULT OF TREASON. 
 
 BY 
 
 fiDWARD F. DE LANCEY. 
 
 New York. 
 18;;. 
 
Bead before the New York Historical Society, at its Regular 
 Meeting on December 5th, 1876, in commemoration of the one 
 hundredth anniversary of the capture of Mount Washington on 
 November i6th, 1776. 
 
 Reprinted from the ''Magazine of American History'^ for Feb- 
 ruary, 1877, with corrections of press errors, an additional Map, and 
 an Appendix. 1 
 
 EDITION 150 COPIES. 
 
 \%r) 
 
i 
 
 EXPLANATION OF MAP. 
 
 Pl.oto-li,l,ogra,,luc Tac-staik „t „ copy ,„Uo„ fr„,„ ,l,o original ■„ C»„l for P™fosor Joy 
 now in the possession of J. Corson lirevoort, Eiaj. 
 
 Translation OP the Legend on the MAP.-The attack which Hi, 
 Excdency the Hon. General Lieutenant von Knyphau.sen. with eight Batfa- 
 .ons of Hessians and or,. .tt.-.lion of Waldeckers, on the ,6 November ,7,6 
 inade on Fort Washington ,ing it and a .uantit^ of Ammunitirard P „: 
 visions, and 2,600 Americ: n Prisoners. 
 
 Brle'"'^'rf" "" '"'f ^ ^ "^^'"^ °f *= ''''^ R-'S™^"'^ for King's 
 Lridge. C Formation of the CoUimns of which one on the right and 
 
 Tg mTo^WV 1^ ^^^'*'«^"'-- ^ Enemy's Line of Blatter es 
 ^ G ^ Fort Wasiimgton, Fort Independence. Speak-Bevil Fort garrisoned 
 oyAe Enemy. / Our Batteries. X Hessian Field Artillery. Z Quarters 
 o H,s Excellency. M Do. of General Major Schmidt. JV L of Genem 
 Cleveland. O Do. of Col. Rail. ^ Landing of the English Br gade"n 
 he feint. Q Frigate that made a strong cannonade at the'beginning o the 
 
MOUNT WASHINGTON AND ITS CAPTURE ON THE i6th 
 
 OF NOVEMBER, 1776. 
 
 FOUR of the military events of the American Revolution occurred 
 upon the island'of New York: — ist The landing at Kips Bay, and 
 the occupation of the city, by the British army, on the 15th of 
 September, 1776; 2d The action of Harlem Plains on the succeeding 
 day ; 3d The capture of Mount Washington two montLs afterwards, 
 and 4th The evacuation of the island and the victorious entry of Wash- 
 ington, on the 25th of November, 1783. 
 
 A century ago, the i6th day of November 1776, took place the storm- 
 ing and capture of Mount Washington, with its fort, garrison, irmament 
 and stores, by the army of Sir William Howe, who had been just made 
 a Knight of the Bath for his victory, a few weeks before, at Brooklyn 
 Heights. It was the first and the last great battle ever fought on the 
 island of Manhattan since its settlement by Europeans. It was a terrible 
 disaster to the American arms, and a heavy blow to the cause of the 
 colonies. It gave to the British army and to England undisputed 
 possession of the city and harbor of New York, the leading city and 
 chief seaport of America ; a possession which it was never after in the 
 power of the colonies even to threaten successfully, much less regain. 
 
 It struck instantly from the then rapidly dissolving army of Wash- 
 ington nearly three thousand effective men. By the same blow, practi- 
 cally, Fort Lee, on the opposite side of the Hudson, with its guns and 
 most of its stores, was taken, and New Jersey thrown open to the strong, 
 well appointed, victorious troops of Howe, with nought to oppose them 
 but the broken, dispirited, deserting, half clad regiments of Washington, 
 dwindled down to less than three thousand men.' ** In ten days," wrote 
 Washington to his brother John Augustine, three days after ^.he capture, 
 ** there will not be above two thousand men, if that number, of the fixed 
 
 'Washington to Lee, 21 Nov. Force 5th series, vol. iiipp. 78-9. Letter of Matthew Tilghman. 
 Ibid. p. 1053. 
 
6 MOUNT WASIIINtiTON yVND ITS CAPTURE NOV. l6 I776 
 
 established re_<^iments on this side of Hudson's river to oppose Howe's 
 whole army, and very little more on the other to secure the Eastein 
 colonies and the important passes leadini^ throuj^h the Hijj^hlands to 
 Albany and the country about the lakes.'" No wonder he exclaims 
 in the same letter, in the full confidence of fraternal love, " I am wearied 
 almost to death with the retro<;ade 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 to lose my 
 character, as it is impossible under such a variety of distressing circum- 
 stances, to conduct matters agreeably to public expectation, or even to 
 the expectation of those who employ me, as they will not make proper 
 allowances for the difficulties their own errors have occasioned." 
 
 Whence and why this disaster? Who was responsible? Was it the 
 commandant of the post, the General in charge of F(jrt Lee with whom 
 that officer acted, or was it the Commander-in-Chief himself ? 
 
 Perhaps no questions growing out of any single event of the Revo- 
 lution were discussed with more vigor at the time, or have given rise to 
 more controversy since, than these. Each of the three officers, Wash- 
 ington, Greene, and Magaw have had their enemies and opposers, friends 
 and defenders. 
 
 Two facts, utterly foreign to the capture as acts of war, or rather of 
 military science and forecast, had much to do with this controversy ; — 
 the bitter antagonism to Washington in the Continental Congress, and 
 the intense antipathy between the officers and men from New England 
 and those from all the other colonies. These facts are only mentioned, 
 because tlvey should always be borne in mind in considering the 
 military affairs of the Revolution, and especially those of its first two 
 years. 
 
 The throwing of his army into Westchester county at Throg's Neck, 
 by Sir William Howe on the 12th of October, 1776, forced Washington 
 to evacuate New York Island, with the fortified camp at Kingsbridge, 
 and to retreat to the north along the line of the river Bronx, to avoid 
 being outflanked and surrounded. At the time Washington was at the 
 Roger Morris House — his well-known head-quarters — and the bulk of his 
 army lay in its neighborhood, while a strong force held Kingsbridge and 
 the adjoining hills in Westchester county. 
 
 The northern part of the island of Manhattan is a narrow, high, rocky, 
 wooded region of singular natural beauty ; unique as a feature in modern 
 cities, and precisely such a spot as in an ancient Greek city would have 
 
 'Force 5th series, vol. iii, p. 766. 
 
MOUNT WASHINGTON AND ITS CAPTURE NOV. l6 1 776 .7 
 
 been chosen for its Acropolis. Separated from tiic rest of the island bv the 
 plains of I larlem on the south, and extending thence to Kinj^sbridge on 
 the north, a distance of about four miles, its average width is only about 
 three-fourths of a mile. Bordered on the east by the narrow winding, 
 umbrageous Harlem, and on the west by the magnificent Hudson, the 
 two united by the historic inlet of Spuyten Duyvel, it rises from these 
 rivers in sudden, rocky, forest clad precipices, nearly a hundred feet in 
 height, which for well nigh three-fourths of its circumference are almost 
 inaccessible. These natural buttresses support an irregular plain, the 
 surface of which rises toward the centre to an eminence on the side 
 of the Hudson two hundred feet above its waters, and to another on the 
 side of the Harlem of almost equal height, between which lies the most 
 level part of the entire region. This towards its northern end sinks 
 into a narrow valley or gorge, through which runs the road to Kings- 
 bridge. Besides the Kingsbridge, which connected the island with the 
 mainland of Westchester, there was another bridge, a short distance 
 south east of it, called Dyckman's bridge. Opposite these bridges the 
 rocky bluffs recede to the west for nearly a mile, leaving between them 
 and the Harlem river a small plain, on which rise two or three low hills. 
 At the southern end of this plain was a little branch of the Harlem called 
 Sherman's creek, still in existence, directly above and south of which 
 rises the high eminence on the Harlem above-mentioned, then termed 
 "Laurel Hill," and since, and now, " Fort George." 
 
 The highest eminence on the Hudson, which was southwest from 
 Laurel Hill, was selected by Colonel Rufus Putnam, in the summer of 
 1776, as the site of a large earthwork fortification for the defence of and 
 to aid the obstructions intended to close the Hudson against the passage 
 of ships, which, after the Commander-in-Chief, was called " Fort Wash- 
 ington." 
 
 The term " Mount Washington " was given in 1776 to the entire 
 elevated region above described. It is so-called in the letters and docu- 
 ments of that period, though sometimes styled " Harlem Heights ; " and 
 in the same sense it is here used, although in our day the appellation 
 has become restricted to the small part of the region immediately 
 adjacent to the old fortification. That fortification — and that only — is 
 here called " Fort Washington." 
 
 Directly beneath the eminence on which Fort Washington stood, a 
 low cape, or rather promontory, called Jeffrey's Hook, throws itself out 
 into the waters of the Hudson, making the river narrower there than from 
 any other point on the Manhattan shore. Between this " Hook " and the 
 
8 
 
 MOUNT WASHINGTON AND ITS CAPTURE NOV. l6 1776 
 
 Jersey shore extended a line of sunken vessels and chcvaux-dc-frtse, 
 intended to obstruct the passage of the river. On the summit of the 
 Palisades, opposite Fort Washington, was erected about the same time 
 another fortification to defend the Jersey end of the obstructions, called 
 " Fort Constitution " and subsequently " Fort Lee," in honor of General 
 Charles Lee. This latter was therefore dependent on the former, and 
 was of no value without it. Both forts together commanded the river 
 and the communication between its two sides, or, in a larger sense, be- 
 tween New England and the colonies west and south of the Hudson. 
 
 Jutting out into and rising above the Harlem plains, at the extreme 
 south eastern extremity of Mount Washington, was a lofty and almost 
 perpendicular promontory, now blasted away, called " The Point of 
 Rocks." It was surmounted by a strong battery, and commanded " the 
 King's Highway," or " the Road to Kingsbridge," from the city of New 
 York, and was the American post nearest to the British lines. 
 
 The American lines ran from the Point of Rocks westwurdly to the 
 Hudson river, along the southern face of Mount Washington, lower and 
 less precipitous there than any where else, and northeastwardly along 
 its high southeastern face to the Harlem river. 
 
 A. slight depression in the latter face, as it approached the Harlem, 
 afforded a passage for the road to Kingsbridge as it ascended from the 
 Harlem plains, forming the well-known " Break Neck Hill," a short dis- 
 tance to the east of which road stood the house of Colonel Roger Morris, 
 occupied by Washington as his headquarters. A few weeks before, 
 Roger Morris and his fair wife had retired to the Highlands, little 
 dreaming that his old friend and companion of " the last war," and his 
 wife's old admirer, was to become the next master of their beautiful 
 
 home. 
 
 East and west of the Point of Rocks, in exposed places, the Americans 
 had thrown up light breast works and facing the Hudson some small 
 batteries, the largest being upon Jeffrey's Hook. But their main works 
 were at Mount Washington and south of the Fort — three distinct lines 
 of fortifications running across the island from river to river. 
 
 The middle line was located about a third of a mile south of the 
 Morris House; a thoroughly completed strong work, with redoubts, 
 bastions, and curtains, — a well made line of intrenchments. The ex- 
 treme southern line was placed about a third of a mile further to the 
 south, but it was not so well built, nor in as favorable a location ; while 
 the northernmost one, very near the Morris House, and about the same 
 distance to the north of the middle line, was vastly inferior, and in some 
 parts never wholly completed. 
 
MOUNT WASHINGTON AND ITS CAITURE NOV. l6 1 776 9 
 
 Upon its north side Mount Washinf^ton had no intrenched lines 
 whatever. On the summit of Laurel Hill was a small battery and re- 
 doubt, and at the northern brow of the long hill, on which Fort Wash- 
 ington stood — above what is now styled Inwood — was another redoubt 
 and battery of three guns, to aid in protecting the river obstructions by 
 an enfiladins: fire. The round wooded hill on the south side of the en- 
 trance to Spuyten Duy vcl was crowned by another small work of a simi- 
 lar character mounting two guns.' From this first mentioned battery and 
 hill, down and across the gorge occupied by the Kingsbridge road to 
 Laurel Hill, ran two or three lines of abatis, or felled trees, hastily made 
 by the Americans after they retired on the 2d of November from Kings- 
 bridge. 
 
 Fort Washington itself was a large earth work fortification of five 
 bastions, without supporting breastworks, except a ;,mgle one on its 
 north side. It was erected in July, 1776, by the Pennsylvania battalions 
 or regiments under Brig. Gen. Thomas Mifflin ; the fifth commanded 
 by Colonel Robert Magaw, and the third by Colonel John Shee : 
 The last named officer, in September, went home on furlough, and never 
 again rejoined his regiment, which thereafte was commanded by Lam- 
 bert Cadwallader, its Lieutenant Colonel." These regiments arrived in 
 New York at the end of June, 1776, full in numbers but deficient in 
 arms, the latter having only 300 guns, and the former but 125' — a want 
 subsequently remedied. The fort had been laid out by Colonel Rufus 
 Putnam, Engineer-in-Chief, built under his directions at Washington's 
 request, and was intended to cover the communication with New 
 Jersey in connection with Fort Lee, on the summit of the Palisades on 
 the opposite or Jersey side of the Hudson, which was erected at the. 
 same time by General Hugh Mercer and the troops under his command.. 
 
 It had no casemates, barracks nor well, and when invested, con- 
 j tained but small supplies of provisions, or fuel, or stores of any kind 
 requisite to stand a siege of any length. With the exception of a 
 wooden magazine and some offices, it had no interior construction and 
 was, in fact, simply a large, open earth work.* How many guns it 
 mounted is not now known. The British return of ordnance of all sizes 
 
 'Howe's Dispatch. Force 5th scries, vol. iii, p. 924. 
 
 *Graydon's Memoir, Littell's ed., p. i3i. Cadwallader was commissioned C'jlonel "f this 
 regiment by the Continental Congress on the 25th of October, 1776. See Commission Peniv 
 Archives, vol. v., p. 53. 
 
 ^Mifllin's letter to W.i .lington 5lh July 1776. Force 5tli scries, vol. i, p. 27. 
 
 *G ray don, 1S6, 
 
:i! 
 
 lO 
 
 MOUNT WASHINGTON AND ITS CAPTURE NOV. l6 1 776 
 
 III 
 
 captured at Mount Washington was forty-seven/ of which probably much 
 less than one-half were mounted m the fort. 
 
 The summer of 1776 was of gieat heat, and these Pennsylvania 
 troops were drilled hard, as well as worked hard. About a fourth were 
 always on the sick list. Excepting two days service on Long Island, im- 
 mediately following the battle of the 27th of August, and some short 
 marches into Westchester, just after their return from Brooklyn, they 
 saw no service in the field except upon Mount Washington." 
 
 The American army lay encamped on Mount Washington from the 
 beginning of September 'till the 13th of October, 1776, a period of about 
 five weeks. 
 
 At the latter end of September, Mr. James Allen,"* of Philadelphia, 
 second son of Chief Justice A.llen, and Dr Smith, the Provost of the 
 College in that city, paid a visit of curiosity, merely, to the seat of war. 
 In the manuscript diary of the former there is an account of his visit to 
 Mount Washington at this time. From Amboy, where he saw his old 
 friends Generals Dickenson and Mercer, he went to Bergen, and lodged 
 with another friend. General Roberdeau, who commanded that post. 
 "Thence," says the diary, "to Fort Constitution, now Fort Lee, com- 
 manded by my old acquaintance, General Ewing, with whom I dined, 
 and same day crossed the river to Head-quarters. General Washington 
 received me with the utmost politeness. I lodged with him ; and found 
 there Messrs. Jos. Reed, Tilghman, Grayson, Moyland, L. Cadwallader, 
 and many others of my acquaintance, and was very happy with them. 
 Nothing happened while I was there except an attempt of our army to 
 bring off grain from Harlem, in which they did not succeed, and which 
 had well nigh brought on an engagement. Next day I re-crossed the 
 river to Fort Lee, and came through Hackensack in company with 
 Captain Charles Craig, and ilience through Morristown to Union, where 
 I found my wife and child, 'and Mrs. Lawrence,'" the lattci lady being 
 his wife's mother. 
 
 Ten days before this visit, on the i8th of August, says General Heath, 
 not a single cannon was mounted beyond Mount Washington." On the 
 
 'Force 5th series, vol. iii, p. 1058. 
 
 '■'They were recruited in the early part of 1776, and so well drilled in Philadelphia, prior to 
 being sent to New York at the end of June, as to receive mention from Washington himself. 
 
 "James Allen, the second son of Chief Justice William Allen, of Pennsylvania, was a prominent 
 lawyer of Piiiladclphia and a mcmhcr of Assembly for Northampton county. He was a brother-in- 
 law to Governor Jolin I'cini ami to James de T^ancey, of New York, the head of that family, eldest 
 son of James de Lancey who died Governor of New York in 176c. 
 
 ■•MS. Diary of James Allen. 
 , 'Force 5lh series, vol. i, p. 1030. 
 
MOUNT WASHING! ON AND ITS CAPTURE NOV. l6 1 776 
 
 II 
 
 to 
 
 19th William Duer was ordered by the New York Convention to consult 
 with Washington on the subject of aiding him to obstruct the river op- 
 posite Mount Washington/ 
 
 On the third of September Washington ordered Mercer to lay out 
 and build additional works at Fort Lee/ The very same day Colonel 
 Rufus Putnam stated in his report to the Commander-inChief of that 
 date, that with both sides of the river fortified as he recommended,, and 
 the forts and batteries well filled with guns and ammunition, and the 
 river obstructed by sunken vessels, if the enemy " attempted to force 
 this post, 1 think they must be beaten.'" 
 
 On this same third of September also, it strangely happened Geneial 
 Nathaniel Greene wrote Washington that remarkable private letter urging 
 in the strongest terms the burning of New York and its suburbs, and 
 the evacuation of the island, closing it with this request — " should your 
 excellency agree with me in the first two points, that a speedy and gen- 
 eral retreat is necessary, and also, that the city and suburbs should be 
 burned, I would advise to call a general council on that question, and 
 take every general officer's opinion upon it."^ 
 
 Washington, singularly enough, had already submitted the question 
 of destroying New York to Congress the very day before ;" and Han- 
 cock, also on this same 3d day of September, replied to him, that Con- 
 gress, on considering his letter of the 2d, " came to a resolution in a com- 
 mittee of the whole house that no damage should be done to thex:ity of 
 New York."" 
 
 The Commander-in-Chief agreeing to Greene's suggestions, did call 
 a council of general (officers on the 7th, and they decided to defend and 
 not to destroy and evacuate the city, by a majority vote. The minority 
 were for a total and immediate removal from the city, " nor were some 
 of the majority," says Washington to Hancock, " a little influenced in 
 
 'Journals N. Y. Prov. Cong., vol. i, p. 579. 
 
 "Force 5th scries, vol. ii, p. 140. 
 
 *Ibiil. 139. The obstructions proved futile. On Hepicmhcr 12 ?'Ome of the cAevaux de /rise 
 having been floating with the tide some days before, the N. V. Committee of Safety wrote George 
 Clinton on the subject, and on the 17th ordered Capt. Thomas Grecnhill to make a-survey of the 
 landings, etc. of Mount Washington and report, and on the 2ist ordered six vessels purchased by 
 Greenhill and delivered to Capt. Cook at Mount- Washington to be sunk. On October 3d, Cook 
 was cutting timber for the chevaux tie fi'isc up the river, and was written for to sink the vessels, 2 
 sloops, 2 brigs, and 2 large ships, which got there about the 25th of September. Journals Prov. 
 Cong., pp. 624, 628, 639, 663. 
 
 ■•Force 5th series, vol. ii, pp. 182-3. 
 
 •''Force 5lh scries, vol. ii, pp. 182-3. 
 
 "Ibid. p. 135. 
 
-L J A 
 
 12 
 
 MOUNT WASHINGTON AND ITS CAPTURE NOV. 1 6 1 776 
 
 II U il 
 
 if 
 
 their opinions, to whom the determination of Congress was known, 
 against an evacuation totally, as they were led to suspect Congress 
 wished it to be maintained at every hazard.'" 
 
 This decision did not suit Greene, nor apparently Washington, a? d 
 on the nth of September the former, with six Brigadiers, presented a 
 written petition signed by them ail, to the latter, requesting him to call 
 another council of war to rc-considcr the question. Washington assented, and 
 called it fur the next day, the 12th, at McDougall's quarters ; when ten 
 generals, Beall, Scott, Fellows, Wadsworth, Nixon, McDougall, Parsons, 
 Mifflin, Greene, and Putnam, voted to re-consider and evacuate ; and 
 three, Spencer, George Clinton, and Heath, to adhere and defend. The 
 record of this council thus closes : *' It was considered what number of 
 men are necessary to be left for the defence of Moimt Washington and its 
 dependencies — agreed, that it be eight thousand."^ 
 
 This is the first official mention that Mount Washington was to be 
 defended, and it is noteworthy that so large a number of men was then 
 deemed necessary for that object. From this summary of the official 
 action of Congress, Washington and the Council of War, we learn why 
 Mount Washington was occupied and held. 
 
 Pursuant to the decision of the Council of War just mentioned, the 
 evacuation of the island began on the 13th, continued on the 14th, 
 and was interrupted on the 15th of September, 1776, by the landing 
 at Kip's Bay and the taking of the city by the British. After 
 the action of Harlem Plains the succeeding day, the two armies lay 
 encamped opposite each other, separated by those plains. The British 
 lines extended from Horen's Hook, on the East river at 90th street, along 
 the heights at McGowan's Pass (the north end of the Central Park) to 
 the end of the high ground on the south side of the western end of the 
 Harlem plains at 125th street, while the American lines occupied the whole 
 of the southern and eastern side of Mount Washington, facing the 
 northern side of those plains, from the Harlem to the Hudson. 
 
 Such were the positions of the two armies when Howe suddenly, on 
 the 1 2th of October, in a dense fog, threw all his army upon Throg's Neck, 
 nine miles up Long Island Sound, with the exception of a force under 
 Lord Percy sufficient to hold the Briti-sh lines just mentioned, and the city 
 of New York. 
 
 Washington, as before stated, was at the Morris House. Late in the 
 day an express from General Heath advised him of the landing, the news 
 
 'Force 5th series, vol. ii, p. 237. 
 *Ibid. 325. 328, and 330. 
 
MOUNT WASHINGTON AND ITS CAPTURE NOV. l6 1 776 
 
 13 
 
 of which had reached the post of that officer at Kingsbridge. He in- 
 stantly ordered a detachment, made up of his best troops, to Westchester 
 to oppose them.' Among these was the regiment of Prescott of Pep- 
 perell, the hero of Bunker Hill, to whose lot it fell singularly enough, for 
 the second time, to aid mainly in forcing Howe from a peninsula, by de- 
 fending with success the road and Mill Dam leading from Throg's Neck 
 to Westchester village. 
 
 So unexpected was this movement of Howe, that the very day before 
 it took place — the nth — General Greene, from Fort Lee, wrote Gover- 
 ner Cooke, of Rhode Island, " our army are so strongly fortified and so 
 much out of the command of the shipping, we have little more to fear 
 this campaign."" General Greene however, the same day, as soon as he 
 heard of it, at 5 o'clock P. M. of the 12th, wrote Washington of the fact, 
 and offered if he desired them three brigades and his own services."^ 
 
 The 13th Washington spent chiefly in a personal reconnoissance of 
 southern Westchester. The next day, the 14th, he formed his army into 
 four divisions, under Major Generals Lee, Heath, Sullivan, and Lincoln, 
 which the following day, the 15th, moved into Westchester county. The 
 same day, the 14th, he formed two other divisions to remain on the island 
 under Major Generals Spencer and Putnam ; the former to take charge 
 of all Mount Washington south of the northernmost of the fortified lines 
 from river to river, near head-quarters, and the latter the rest of it on the 
 north of that line. General Putnam, says the order, " will also attend 
 particularly to the works about Mount Washington and to the obstruc- 
 tions in the river, which should be increased as fast as possible."* 
 
 General Lee had arrived from the south the day of his appointment, 
 and after making a brief stop at the fort which bears his name, crossed 
 the river to Mount Washmgton, stopping long enough, however, to write 
 this short note to General Gates, with his views ot things as he found 
 them : ** I write this scroll in a hurry. Colonel Ward will describe the 
 position of our army, ^ hich in my own breast I do not approve — inter nos 
 the Congress seem to stumble at every step. I do not mean one or ivvo 
 of the cattle, but the whole stable. I have been very free in delivering 
 my opinion to 'em. In my opinion, General Washington is much to 
 blame for not menancing 'em with resignation unless they refrain from 
 unhinging the army by their absurd interference.'" 
 
 'Force 5th series, vol. ii, pp. 1014 and 1025. 
 *Force 5th series, vol. ii, p. 997. 
 *Ibid. p. 1015. 
 ••General orders Oct. 14. 
 *Lee papers, vol. ii, p. 261. 
 
14 
 
 MOUNT WASHINGTON AND ITS CAPTURE NOV. 1 6 1 776 
 
 Lee was outspoken in condemnation of the policy of leaving and 
 holding a garrison, in Fort Washington, but he and those who thought 
 with him were overruled in the council of war, held on the i6th at his 
 own head-quarters in Westchester. Washington and all his Major Gen- 
 erals and Brigadiers were present to the number of sixteen, except 
 Greene. The command of the latter being in New Jersey was the prob- 
 able cause of his absence. At all events he was not there. 
 
 This council agreed that '■'■Fort Washington be retained as long as possi- 
 ble." The record gives no votes but simply the result. It is, therefore, 
 not officially known who was on one side and who on the other.' And 
 here a most important point requires attention, and that is the limited 
 extent, at this time, of Washington's powers as Commander-in-Chief, 
 He did not have, nor exercise, the independent " one man power," 
 which by all military rules belongs to that command. 
 
 He could not overrule the council of war if he saw fit, and act on his 
 own independent judgment, as Commanders-in-Chief usually do. Re- 
 ceiving his appointment from Congress the year previous, in virtue, as 
 he himself has told us, of " a political necessity," that body was un- 
 willing to vest in him the power referred to, and he was thus compelled 
 to carry out the decisions of his council of war, no matter whether he 
 individually did, or did not, approve them. Not until Congress at the 
 very end of December, 1776, when Cornwallis was overrunning New 
 Jersey, on the eve of their flight to Baltimore, and in fear of their own 
 existence, vested in him the powers of a dictator, did he possess the 
 full perogatives of a Commander-in-Chief. From the hour when he 
 drew his sword under the great elm at Cambridge as leader of the armies 
 of America, till that action of Congress he was, in all important steps, 
 subject to the will and the decision of a majority of his own general 
 officers. This fact must especially be borne in mind in the matter of 
 Mount Washington. 
 
 By the 20th of October all the troops left on the island of New York 
 under Spencer and Putnam had been withdrawn, except the regiments 
 intended to garrison Mount Washington.* These were Magaw's fifth 
 and Cadwallader's third Pennsylvania battalions before mentioned. 
 
 Putnam, before leaving, had requested of Greene a re-inforcement 
 from Fort Lee. The latter sent him, as he tells Washington in a letter 
 of the 24th, between 200 and 300 of Durkie's regiment, and also sufficient 
 
 'Force 5th series, vol. ii, p. 11 17. 
 
 •Harrison to Congress, Force 5th scries, vol. ii, p. 1137. 
 

 MOUNT WASHINGTON AND ITS CAPTURE NOV. l6 '.776 
 
 15 
 
 ■*, 
 
 provisions for the garrison.' Harrison, however, writing for Washington 
 the same day, from White Plains, tells Hancock that there " are about 
 1400 men at Mount Washington and 600 at Kingsbridge."" But Colonel 
 Lasher, the officer in command at the ^acter post, wrote General Heath 
 on the 26th that he only had 400 men and 6 artillery men." On the 27th 
 Lasher had order:, from Heath to quit the post, burn the barracks, and 
 join the army at White Plains, and either do this himself, or communi- 
 cate with Magaw, as he pleased. He obeyed ar,d executed the orders 
 himself.'' 
 
 The same day, which was Sunday, an attack was made by Lord 
 Percy on Mount Washington by land, at the same time that two men-of- 
 war attempted to pass it and go up the river. The latter were severely 
 cut up by Magaw's artillery, and one of them, badly crippled, had to re- 
 tire.* The British troops moved down from their lines at McGowan's 
 Pass to Harlem Plains and began a fire with field pieces, which the 
 Americans returned from their fortified lines and batteries. It was a 
 mere artillery duel, had no effect, and was apparently intended as a feint." 
 The cannonade was heard at White Plains." This affair was probably 
 one great cause of Greene's confidence in Fort Washington, and of his 
 desire a fortnight later to hold it. He was present in the fort, and with 
 Magaw, during the firing on the ships. The whole contest was over by three 
 o'clock in the afternoon, when he returned to Fort Lee and wrote an ac- 
 count of it to General Mifflin, " and the next day sent another to the 
 President of Congress. " From the .Sunday affair," he wrote Washing- 
 ton on the 29th, " 1 am more fully convinced that we can prevent any 
 ships from stopping the communication."" 
 
 Two days afterwards, Greene asked Washington's opinion as to hold- 
 ing, not the fort only, but all Mount Washington, in these words : " I 
 rhould be glad to know your excellency's mind about holding all the 
 ground from the Kingsbridge to the lower lines. If we attempt to hold 
 the ground, the garrison must still be re-inforced, but if the garrison 
 is to draw into Mount (Fort) Washington, and only keep that, the num- 
 
 *Force 5th series vol. ii, pp. 1202, 1203, 1221. • 
 
 *Ihid. 1239? 
 
 ^Ibid. 1263. 
 
 *Ibid. vol. ii, p. 1264. 
 
 'Ibid. vol. ii, pp. 1263, 1265. 
 
 "Ibid. 1266. 
 
 'MS. Letter of General Silliman to his wife. 
 
 ^Force 5th series, 1263, 1269. 
 
 «Ibid. 1 28 1. 
 
mm 
 
 i6 
 
 MOUNT WASHINGTON AND ITS CAPTURE NOV. l6 1776 
 
 ber of the troops on the island is too large. * * * I shall re-inforce 
 Colonel Magaw with Colonel Rawling's regiment, until I hear from 
 your excellency respecting the matter. The motions of the grand army 
 will best determine the propriety of endeavoring to hold all the ground 
 from Kingsbridge to the lower lines. I shall be as much on the island 
 of York as possible, so as not to neglect the duties of my own depart- 
 ment."" What Washington's answer was we shall hereafter see. He 
 was then at White Plains, expecting an immediate attack by Howe's whole 
 army. 
 
 That high and beautiful region of south eastern Westchester, from 
 Pell's Hill on the west to Heathcote Hill on the east, never glowed 
 with more brilliant autumnal hues than on the 28th of October 1776. 
 The white tents of the Hessians gleamed brightly in the morning sun, 
 amid the glades and slopes of those fair hills which, rising from'the shores 
 of Long Island Sound, form the coast line of the old Manors of Pelham 
 and of Scarsdale. Martial music woke the echoes of the woods, and its 
 sounds were borne on the soft autumn breeze over the blue waters of 
 the Sound, far toward the distant hills of Long Island. The stirring 
 scenes of camp life, companies drilling, groups of officers, prancing 
 horses, busy adjutants passing to and fro, and a few brilliant young aids 
 gathered under the over-hanging porch of a quaint old stone house with 
 low walls and a high roof, the fiag above which marked it as head- 
 quarters, formed a picture that had never before been seen by the de- 
 scendants of the Huguenot exiles who then dwelt on those lovely shores. 
 They beheld with singular interest the marked features, dark, striking 
 uniforms and strange arms of the Germans. Some of the older, 
 perhaps, as they heard the guttural tones of the strangers, so different 
 from their own musical tongue, recalled the days, a century before, when 
 their own grandfathers, under the golden lilies of Louis Quartorze, had 
 aided in the conquest of Alsace and Lothringen from the very people 
 whose grandchildren stood before them. 
 
 Arriving in New York harbor a week before, this second Hessian 
 contingent had been transferred to boats and sloops, and landed directly 
 at New Rochclle, where they had since been recovering from the effects 
 of their long sea voyage. They were six regiments from Hesse Cassel, 
 and one from Waldeck, all soldiers trained in the tactics of the great 
 Frederick. 
 
 The obloquy which American historians have naturally, perhaps, 
 cast upon " the Hessians," as these Germans auxiliaries were, and still 
 
 •Force 5th Series, 1294. 
 
MOUNT WASHINGTON AND ITS CAPTURE NOV. l6 1 776 
 
 17 
 
 )ple 
 
 >sel, 
 reat 
 
 are, gencrically styled, has deceived us much as to their real character. 
 The men were the same people precisely as the 150,000 Germans whom 
 we now find in this city of New York — such orderly, thrivin<; citizens, 
 and who have made New York the third or fourth German city, for 
 population, in the world. They were drawn, as is our German p()j)ula- 
 tion now, to use an Americanism, from the " masses " of the fatherland. 
 
 Their officers, however, were of an entirely different class, and one 
 of which we have few, or none, here now. They were aU noblemen. 
 None but nobles could hold commissions under any German sovereign 
 then, any more than they can now. The military services of Germany 
 and Austria are the most aristocratic in Europe in 1876, as they were in 
 1776. As far as birth was concerned, the Hessian officers as a whole in 
 Howe's army were superior to the English officers as a whole. A rich 
 middle class Englishman could buy a commission for a son, and it was 
 often done, by favor of the Horse Guards, for the express purpose of 
 making the youth "a gentleman." But in the German services such a 
 proceeding was not tolerated. The youth must possess the aristocratic 
 prefix of " von," or " de," or he could not aspire to a commission under 
 the sign manual of his sovereign, and those sovereigns exceeded twenty 
 in number. The Hessian officers in America were polite, courteous, 
 well-bred gentlemen, educated soldiers, and in the social circles of the 
 time great favorites. As military men they were the best in Europe at 
 that period. And of this we can have no stronger proof than the fact 
 that to one of these very " Hessian," or " German" soldiers did the 
 continental army owe all the tactics and discipline it ever possessed — 
 Baron de Steuben. 
 
 The victorious guns of Howe had hardly ceased on Chatterton Hill, 
 ere he dispatched an order to Lieutenant-General Baron von Knyphau- 
 sen, the commander of the Hessians, to move from New Rochelle toward 
 Kingsbridge. Leaving the Waldeck regiment as a guard, von Knyp- 
 hausen marched with the rest of his command the next day, took post at 
 Mile square, and on the 2d of November encamped upon New York 
 island at Kingsbridge — the Americans retiring to Fort Washington at 
 his approach.' 
 
 Why Howe did not attack Washington at White Plains after the 
 brigades from Percy joined him, neither he, nor any one else, has ever 
 satisfactorily explained. After his return tq England, he told the com- 
 mittee of Parliament which investigated his conduct that he had in- 
 tended an attack on Washington's right, which was opposite to the 
 
 'Howe's Dispj^tch, 30th Nov. Force 5th series, voV iii, p. 923. 
 
m 
 
 i8 
 
 MOUNT WASHINGTON AND ITS CAPTURE NOV. 1 6 1 776 
 
 Hessians under de Heister, but that he had " political reasons, and no 
 other, for declining to explain why that assault was not made.'" 
 
 He retired from White Plains very suddenly in the night of the 5th 
 of November, 1776, and his army had been moving some time on the 
 road toward Dobb's Ferry before the fact was discovered by the Ameri- 
 cans. " The design of this manoeuvre is a matter of much conjecture 
 and speculation, and cannot be accounted for with any degree of cer- 
 tainty," wrote Washington to Hancock on the 6th, and he called the same 
 day a council of war, which unanimously agreed immediatel}'^ to throw a 
 body of troops into Jersey, and station 3,000 men at Peekskill to guard 
 the Highlands. This was a perfectly natural conclusion. " Howe has but 
 two moves more, in which we shall checkmate him," wrote Charles Lee, 
 but without saying what they were." 
 
 One was evidently to New Jersey, and the other to Mount Washing- 
 ton. Why did Howe choose the latter? That he intended originally 
 to throw his army into Jersey from Dobb's Ferry and march for Phila- 
 delphia, leaving Washington to follow him as best he might — first, how- 
 ever, detaching and leaving behind a sufficient force to hold Westchester, 
 and to keep in check, or invest. Mount Washington — is most probable. 
 This would explain his order to von Knyphausen on the 28th, and the 
 subsequent order of the 3d to Grant, to march the next day, the 4th, with 
 the sixth brigade to de Lancey's Mill on the Bronx at West Farms, send 
 the fourth brigade to Mile square in the same town, and the Waldeck 
 regiment from New Rochelle to a bridge, three miles above de Lancey's 
 Mills, on the same stream.' 
 
 Washington and his council of war evidentl}'^ thought he would do so, 
 hence their unanimous vote to throw an army into Jersey and to secure 
 Peekskill. The record of that council shows that neither " Mount Wash- 
 ington" nor " Fort Washington" were even mentioned." A striking 
 fact, when we know from a letter of the Commander-in-Chief himself, 
 written the day the council met, that all *' communication with Mount 
 Washington has now been cut off for two weeks."* Reed, on the same 6th 
 of November, says : " Opinions here are various ; some think they are fall- 
 ing down on Mount Washington ; others that they mean to take shipping 
 up North river and fall upon our rear; others, and a great majority, think 
 that finding our army too strongly posted they have changed their whole 
 
 'Howe's Narrative, p. 7. 
 
 'Letter of Wm. Whipple to John Langdon. Force 5th series, vol. iii, p. 555. 
 
 "Howe's Dispatch. 
 
 *Force 5th series, vol. iii, p. 543. 
 
 *To Pennsylvania Commissioners, Nov, 6, 1 776. Force 5th series, vol. iii, p. 546. 
 
MOUNT WASIIINUTON AND ITS CAPTURE NOV. l6 1 776 
 
 19 
 
 hink 
 hole 
 
 plan, and are bending southward, intending to penetrate the Jerseys, 
 and so move on to Philadelphia." 
 
 Howe suddenly and certainly did " change his whole plan." He 
 himself said his reason for not attacking Washington at White Plains 
 was a political one, but refused to divulge it. His successes in the cam- 
 paign so far had not been decided ones. He had not been able to crush 
 the rebellion in a single great battle as he hoped, and he found he must 
 ask the Ministry in England for more men and materials. Though they 
 were not his political friends, still, they had given him his command, and 
 must be placed in a position to do so with ease and honor. And an 
 occurrence utterly unexpected had just transpired by which he could 
 not only do this, but at the same time win great applause for himself, and 
 strike a blow deadly, if not fatal, to the rebellion, and that too with no risk 
 of failure and little of loss. 
 
 He had good cause " to change his whole plan," as Reed expressed it. 
 And that cause was the treason of a coinviissioncd officer of the A jncrica?i army. 
 Four years before Arnold's attempt to betray West Point, a similar but 
 more successful traitor betrayed Mount Washington. On the 2d of 
 November, 1776, the Adjutant of Magaiv, the commandant of the fortress, 
 passed, undiscovered, into the British camp of Lord Percy, carrying the 
 plans of Fort Washington, and full information as to its zvorks and garrison, 
 and placed them in the hands of that officer. 
 
 It was Percy's duty, of course, instantly to send the plans and the 
 Adjutant to Sir William Howe, then at White Plains. As he could only 
 do this by way of the East river, or the North river, it probably was the 
 evening of the 3d of November before Howe received them, and they 
 may possibly not have reached him till the 4th. The British commander 
 now saw not only how he could certainly capture Mount Washington, 
 but how he could do it without much loss, send the ministry in England 
 a glowing account of forts, guns, and men taken, deprive Washington of 
 a large force of his best troops, seize the communication between New 
 York and Westchester, and destroy that between the eastern and southern 
 colonies across the Hudson, on which both had so long relied ; he 
 acted accordingly. 
 
 Alexander Graydon, a captain in Cadwallader's regiment, who was 
 taken at Mount Washington, says, in his striking "Memoirs of 
 his own Times," given to the world in 181 1, "Howe must have had a 
 perfect knowledge of the ground we occupied. This he might have 
 acquired from hundreds in New York, but he might have been more 
 thoroughly informed of everything desirable to be known from an officer 
 
20 
 
 MOUNT WASIIINtlTON AND ITS CAPTURE NOV. l6 1776 
 
 of Magaw's Battalion, who was intelligent in points of duty, and deserted 
 to the enemy about a week before the assault." The same thing is inti- 
 mated in one or two of the German accounts of the capture of Mount 
 Washington. 
 
 What these writers thought a possibility, is now an absolute certainty. 
 The evidence too, ir of the most conclusive character — that of the traitor 
 himself — iu a letter of his own, over his own signature, stating the treason 
 in plain, undeniable terms. ^ 
 
 Sixteen years after the fall of Fort Washington, in order to obtain a 
 small amount due him by the British government, he wrote the following 
 letter, the contents of which were to be used in obtaing payment of his 
 claim from certain British officials in Canada. It is addressed to the 
 Rev. Dr Peters, a clergyman of the Church of England, originally of 
 Hebron, and the author of the History of Connecticut. In Dr Peters' 
 possession, and that of two gentlemen of this city, father and son, the 
 elder of whom married a ward of Dr Peters, who resided with him, and 
 died in his house, both well-known members of the bar, this letter has 
 remained until recently placed in the hands of the author of this article. 
 Its authenticity is therefore beyond a cavil. 
 
 It is given, with its errors of grammar and style, precisely as written. 
 
 Rev. Sir : 
 
 Permit me to Trouble you with a Short recital of my Services in America which I Presume 
 may be deem'd among the most Singular of any that will go to Upper Canada. On the 2d of Nov'r 
 1776 I Sacrificed all I was Worth in the WorM to the Service of my King & Country and joined 
 the then Lord Percy, brought in with [me] the Plans of Fort Washington, by which Plans that 
 Fortress was taken by his Majesty's Troops the 16 instant, Together with 2700 Prisoners and Stores 
 & Ammunition to the amount of 1800 Pound. At the same time, I may with Justice affirm, from 
 my Knowledge of the Works, I saved the Lives of many of His Majestys Subjects, — these Sir are 
 facts well-known to every General Officer which was there — and I may with Truth Declare from 
 that time I Studied the Interest of my Countr)' and neglected my own — or in the Language of 
 Cardinal Woolsey had I have Served my God as I have done my King he would not Thus have 
 Forsaken me. 
 
 The following is a Just Account due me from Government which I have never been able to 
 bring forward for want of Sr. William Erskine who once when in Town assured me he'd Look into 
 it but have never done it otherways I should not have been in Debt. 
 
 This Sir though it may not be in your Power to Get me may Justifymy being so much in Debt, 
 & in Expectation of this Acct being Paid, together with another Dividend, from the Express words 
 of the Act where it Says all under Ten Thousand pound Should be Paid without Deduction, I 
 having received only £\(ii^ which I Justified before the Commissioners : 
 Due for Baw, Batt, & Forrage - - - - - - - - ^^i 10. 7.0 
 
 For Engaging Guides Getting Intelligence, &c. - - - - - - 45- 9-7 
 
 For doing duty 0^ Commissary of Prisoners at Philadelphia Paying Clerks Stationery, &c. 16.13.8 
 
 ;^l82.I0.3 
 
MOUNT WASHINGTON AND ITS CAPTURE NOV. l6 1 776 
 
 21 
 
 The last Two Articles was Cash Paid out of my Pocket which was Promised to be Refunded 
 by Sirs Wm Howe and Erskine. 
 
 I most Humbly I5cg Pardon for the Length of this Letter & Shall Conclude witliout making 
 Some Masonac Remarks as at first Intended, and Remain 
 
 . Rev'd Sir with Dutiful Respect 
 
 Tanv i6th > Your most obedient and Most Ilum'l Serv't. 
 
 1792, ( WILLIAM DEMONT. 
 
 P.S. the Inclosed is a true account of my Debts taken from the Different Bills received. 
 
 Such was tlic treason of William Demont. Originally entering Ma- 
 gaw's battalion in Philadelphia as an ensign by the appointment of the 
 Pennsylvania Council of Safety, he was by the same body appointed its 
 Adjutant on the 29th of February, 1776, and went with it to New York 
 At the end of June in that year. This position gave him Magaw's confi- 
 dence, and when, on Putnam's departure to join Washington's army, 
 that officer was left in command of Mount Washington, it also gave him 
 the fullest information of the post, and of every thing that was done or 
 intended to be done in relation to it. What the two words Baiv, Batty 
 evidently abbreviations in the first line of the account mean is not known ; 
 they are given as written. 
 
 Graydon mistakes both the time of his desertion and his name. He 
 left a fortnigl/t before the capture, and not a week. He gives the name 
 as " Dement,'' and so it also appears in the printed proceedings of 
 the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety, and in the Army Returns. But, 
 if this is not a printer's error, he subsequently changed the last vowel, 
 for he writes it himself, unmistakably, " Demont." Of his subsequent 
 career little is known, except that during the British occupation of Phil- 
 adelphia he acted as a Commissary of prisoners. From that time until 
 he appears in London in 1792, writing the above letter, nothing has been 
 learned of him, nor has it been possible as yet to trace him after that 
 date. Nor yet whether he obtained his claim. Probably he could 
 say : — 
 
 " It is the curse of treachery like mine 
 To be most hated where it most has serv'd." 
 
 Sir William Howe's course shows that he acted on Demont's plans 
 and information ; for, reaching Dobb's Ferry on the 6th of September 
 with his army, he the next day dispatched his park of artillery to Kings- 
 bridge, with a strong escort, to join von Knyphausen. And the first 
 step after its arrival was to place batteries in position on the Westchester 
 side of the Harlem river, to cover selected points of attack on the New 
 York side. The next three days were occupied by the necessary prepa- 
 rations for an assault, and in sending a brigade of Hessians to von 
 
22 
 
 MOUNT WASHINGTON AND ITS CAPTURE NOV. 1 6 1 776 
 
 Knyphausen, whose own headquarters were also on the Westchester 
 side of Harlem river. About the 9th or loth of November a deserter 
 named Broderick came one cold rainy night over to Captain Graydon 
 while he was on guard at the Point of Rocks, who told him " that wij 
 might expect to be attacked in six or eight days at furthest, as some time 
 had been employed in transporting heavy artillery to the other side of 
 the Haerlem, and as the preparations for the assault were nearly com- 
 pleted." On the 1 2th Howe's whole army marched to Kingsbridge, and 
 encamped the next day on the high ground on the same side of that 
 river, with its right on the Bronx and its left on the Hudson. On the 
 night of the 14th, undiscovered by either Magaw or Greene, thirty 
 boats, chiefly from the transport fleet under Captains Wilkinson and 
 Malloy, passed up the North river, and through Spuyten Duyvel to the 
 Harlem river. 
 
 Howe had determined on four separate assaults upon Mount Wash- 
 ington ; the first and main one by von Knyphausen and the Hessians 
 from Kingsbridge, aided by the man-of-war Pearl lying in the North 
 river ; the second by boats across the Harlem river with English troops 
 upon Laurel Hill ; the third by Scotch troops nnder Colonel Sterling, 
 also oy boats acros.-^ the Harlem river, upon the hill inside the American 
 lines of fortificat'.on near the Morris House ; and the fourth by Earl 
 Percy, with English and a few German troops to march from the lines at 
 McGowan's pass r.pon the American lines to the southward of Mount 
 Washington. Batteries on the Harlem river opposite the chosen points 
 of attack covered them completely.' 
 
 Such was the British plan of attack. 
 
 What were Greene at Fort Lee, and Magaw at Mount Washington, 
 doing all this time ? And what was the action of the Commander-in- 
 Chief ? 
 
 Washington on the 5th of November replied through his Secretary, 
 Harrison, to Greene's request of the 30th of October above mentioned, 
 for his " mind " as to holding all Eort Washington, " that the holding or 
 not holding the grounds between Kingsbridge and the lower lines de- 
 pends upon so many circumstances that it is impossible for him to deter- 
 mine the point. He submits it entirely to your discretion and such 
 judgment as you shall be able to form from the enemy's movements, and 
 the whole complexion of things. He says, you know the original design 
 was to garrison the works and preserve the lower lines as long as they 
 could be kept, that the communication across the river might be open 
 
 'Howe's first Dispatch, Nov. 30. Force 5th series, vol. iii, pp. 921, 925. 
 
MOUNT WASHINGTON AND ITS CAPTURE NOV. l6 1 776 
 
 ary, 
 ned, 
 gov 
 de- 
 fcter- 
 uch 
 and 
 sign 
 hey 
 ipen 
 
 to us, and the enemy at the same time should be prevented from having 
 a passage up and down the river for their ships." 
 
 On the 7th Washington writes personally to Greene : " We conceive 
 that Fort Washington will be an object for part of his (Howe's) force, while 
 New Jersey may claim the attention of the other part. To guaT-d against 
 the evils arising from the first, I must recommend you to pay every at- 
 tention in your power, and give every assistance you can, to the garri- 
 son opposite. * ^fr * If you have not sent my boxes, with camp 
 tables, and chairs, be so good as to let them remain with you, as I do 
 not know but I shall move with the troops designed for the Jerseys, per- 
 suaded as I am of their having turned their views that way."" 
 
 Surely this was full authority to Greene to reinforce Mount Washing- 
 ton if he saw fit, and as surely Washington did not expect it to be the object 
 of Howe's " views." The next day (the 8th) he heard of the passage of 
 three British vessels up the North river, and thereby convinced of the 
 inefficiency of the obstructions therein, wrote Greene : " What valu- 
 able purpose can it answer to attempt to hold a post from which the ex- 
 pected benefit cannot be had ? I am, therefore, inclined to think it will 
 not be prudent to hazard the men and stores at Mount Washington, but 
 as you are on the spot leave it to you to give such orders as to evacu- 
 ating Mount Washington as you judge best, and so far revoking the 
 order given to Colonel Magaw to defend it to the last.*" 
 
 This, though a strong opinion, still left it to Greene's judgment, and 
 the latter replies on the 9th, after visiting the post the evening before : 
 " Upon the whole I cannot help thinking the garrison is an advantage ; 
 and I cannot conceive the garrison to be in any great danger. The men 
 can be brought off at any time, but the stores may not so easily be re- 
 moved, yet I think they can be got off in spite of them, if matters grow 
 desperate. This post is of no consequence only in conjunction with 
 Mount Washington. I was over there last evening ; the enemy seem to 
 be disposing matters to besiege the place ; but Colonel Magaw thinks it 
 will take them till December expires before they can carry it."* 
 
 Two lette s passed from Greene to Washington — the one on the loth 
 and the other on the nth, and the only reference to Mount Washington 
 in either is the closing line of the latter, " the enemy remains quiet there 
 this afternoon."* 
 
 'Harrison's Letter. Force 5th series, vol. iii. p. 519. 
 'Force 5th series, vol. iii, p. 557, 
 'Ibid. p. 602. 
 *Ibid. p. 619. 
 »Ibid. p. 633. 
 
mimt 
 
 MOUNT WASHINGTON AND ITS CAPTURE NOV. l6 1 776 
 
 Washington wrote no other letter to Greene after that of the 8th. On 
 the loth he left White Plains, where he had been all the time, at 11 A. M., 
 and rode to Peekskill. The nth Pie spent in a reconnoissance of the 
 Highlands, and on the 12th, after writing two letters,' crossed the North 
 river to the ferry landing below Stoney Point on his way to the army in 
 Jersey. The same day Greene wrote President Hancock ; " I expect 
 General Howe will attempt to possess himself of Mount Washington, 
 but very much doubt whether he will succeed in the attempt. Our 
 troops are much fatigued with the amazing duty, but are generally in 
 good spirits."" 
 
 As Washington crossed the Hudson he saw the three British men of 
 war, which had come up on the 7th, quietly riding at anchor in the 
 Tappan Sea. The obstructions and chevaux-dc-frisc from which so 
 much had been expected had been passed witn ease. They were absolute 
 failures. The British ships neither went over them nor through them, 
 but around them, close in, on either the eastern or western shore, one 
 of the largest vessels, which it was proposed to sink, in consequence of a 
 blunder bilged and went down far from her destined position, and part 
 of the ckevaux-dc-frisc found after the capture, having apparently never 
 been used.' 
 
 On the 14th November Washington wrote a long letter to the 
 President of Congress, dated at " General Greene's Head-quarters," 
 beginning, " I have the honor to inform you of my arrival here yester- 
 day," in which he discussed at length various subjects of public concorn, 
 but remarked casually on the movements of the enemy that. " it seems to 
 be generally believed on all hands that the investing of Fort Washington 
 is one object they have in view." and closed with the words, *' I propose 
 to stay in this neighborhood a few days, in which time I expect the 
 designs of the enemy will become disclosed, and their incursions be 
 made in this quarter, or their investiture of Fort Washington, if they are 
 intended." 
 
 This shows clearly that both Washington and Greene were in doubt 
 on the 14th, the day before Mount Washington was summoned to surren- 
 der, whether it was to be attacked or not. 
 
 On the 1 5th, the day of the summons, Washington wrote two letters 
 to the Board of War, one dated, " General Greene's Quarters," on an 
 
 of instructions to General llcith. 
 
 -a very full one- 
 y'>icl. 656, 657. 
 
 'One to General Lee, and the other 
 Mount Washington is mentioned in neither. 
 
 "Force 5th series, vol. iii, p. 653. 
 
 ^British return of ordnance and stores taken from I2th of October to 2olh of November, 1776. 
 Force 5th series, vol. iii, p. 1058-9. 
 
MOUNT WASHINGTON AND ITS CAPTURE NOV. l6 1 776 
 
 25 
 
 exchange of ladies, and the other dated " Ilackensack/* on an ex'change 
 of prisoners with the enemy, but alludes in neither to Mount Washing- 
 ton.' 
 
 The arrival undiscovered, of his boats after midnight of the 14th, 
 completed Howe's preparations, but the next day proving imfavorable, he 
 postponed the attack to the i6th. A short time after noon on the 15th, 
 a mounted officer, with two or three companions under a white flag, 
 crossed Kingsbridge, and slowly ascended the heights towards Fort 
 Washington. The American commander sent down to meet him Colonel 
 Swoope of Pennsylvania. The officer proved to be Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Patterson, the Adjutant-General of the British Army, who bore a sum- 
 mons to Colonel Magaw to surrender at discretion or suffer the conse- 
 quences of a storm, which by military law is liability to be put to the 
 sword if taken, and he required an answer in two hours. 
 
 Magaw at once dispatched a note with the intelligence to Greene at 
 Fort Lee, saying to him at the same time, " we are determined to defend 
 the post or die." He then returned to the summons this brave answer, 
 addressed " To the Adjutant General of the British Army. — Sir, If I 
 rightly understand the purport of your message from General Howe, 
 communicated to Colonel Swoope, this post is to be immediately surren- 
 dered, or the garrison put to the sword. I rather think it is a mistake 
 than a settled resolution in General Howe, to act a part so unworthy of 
 himself and the British Nation. But give me leave to assure his excel- 
 lency that actuated by the most glorious cause that mankind ever fought 
 in, I am determined to defend this post to the very last extremity." 
 
 Roij't Magaw, Colonel Conunanding. 
 
 On receiving this note, Greene instantly ordered Heard's brigade 
 " to hasten on," directed Masfaw to defend to the last, and then in a let- 
 ter dated " Fort Lee, 4 o'clock," sent enclosed Magaw's dispatch an- 
 nouncing Howe's summons to Washington, who was at Hackensack, ar- 
 ranging for the reception of the American Army then crossing into New 
 Jersey. In his communication Greene said, " the contents will require 
 your Excellency's attention.'" Washington immediately started for Fort 
 Lee ; arrived there he found that Greene was on the New York side, and 
 himself embarked to cross the river to the fort about 9 o'clock at night, 
 " and [in his own words,] had partly crossed the North River, when I 
 met General Putnam and General Greene, who were just returning from 
 
 'Force 5II1 series, vol. iii, p. 699. 
 *IbicI. 6qy, 700. 
 
26 
 
 MOUNT WASHINGTON AND ITS CAPTURE NOV. 1 6 1 776 
 
 thence, and informed me that the troops were in high spirits and would 
 make a good defence ; and it being late at night I returned." 
 
 The morning of the i6th November, 1776, broke bright and fair. The 
 mists in the deep valley of the Harlem had not yet risen when Lieuten- 
 ant-General von Knyphausen, at the head of his Germans, marched 
 from their camp on its Westchester side across Kingsbridge, and joined 
 a small body of the same troops that had lain upon the island. 
 
 He had made a special request of Sir William Howe that the main 
 attack might be made by himself at the head of German regiments only, 
 and it had been granted. Forming his troops, consisting of detachments 
 from his own corps, von Rahl's brigade and the Waldeck regiment, 3,000 
 in all, according to Graydon, into two columns, the right nearest the Hud- 
 son under Colonel von Rahl, and the left under Major-General von Schmid, 
 the whole commanded by himself, he pressed forward about seven o'clock 
 supported by a terrific cannonade from all the British batteries, intend- 
 ed to confuse the Americans as to the real point of the main attack. But 
 receiving word from Howe that all was not quite ready, he rested quietly 
 till the final arrangements for the other assaults were made. The sun 
 had risen well above the Westchester hills on the eastern edge of the 
 valley, when a gun from the British battery farthest down the Harlem 
 suddenly threw a shot into the American lines south of Fort Washing- 
 ton. Then pushing forward a battery of Hessian field-guns far enough 
 to engage the American batteries on the hill above what is now called 
 Inwood, he put his columns in motion, each preceded by an advance guard 
 of about 100 men. Von Rahl on the right, passing through the break in 
 the hills forming the present entrance to Inwood, close along the Hudson 
 river, pressed through the woods up the northern end of the long hill 
 on which Fort Washington stood, supported by the guns of the Pearl 
 frigate, which lay opposite the break, and fiercely attacked the Ameri- 
 can battery and redoubt on its crest, defended by Colonel Rawling's 
 regiment of Maryland riflemen, under himself and Major Otho Williams, 
 and some Pennsylvania troops. The pass was steep, narrow, covered 
 with woods, and well defended. The greatest gallantry was shown on 
 both sides. Again and again the Germans attacked, and again and again 
 were repelled. Fighting behind intrenchments, the Americans had the 
 advantage of position ; the Germans that of numbers. Many were killed 
 on both sides, but far more of the latter than the former. 
 
 The American guns, only three in number, served rapidly and well, 
 did great execution. But courage and numbers finally prevailed over 
 courage and intrenchments, and the Germans, with a shout, at last car- 
 
MOUNT WASHINGTON AND ITS CAPTURE NOV. l6 I776 
 
 27 
 
 ried the crest oi the hill, and drove the Americans, whose rifles at the 
 last had become almost too foul for use, from their works. 
 
 Von Schmid's column, with which von Knyphausen himself was, 
 took a more easterly route, and attacked the same position a little nearer 
 the Kingsbridge road, but having to penetrate a triple abatis of felled 
 trees, and to go through a thick undergrowth covering the declivity, they 
 were somewhat delayed ; but forcing their way through, von Knyphau- 
 sen in. person leading and helping to break down the obstructions with 
 his own hands, the two German columns united upon the summit of the 
 hill, and completed the discomfiture of the Americans, who retreated 
 along its flat top to the fort. 
 
 Just as the Germans became fully engaged the English regiments of 
 light infantry and guards, four in number, under Brigadier-General 
 Mathews, supported by the First and Second Grenadiers and the Thir- 
 ty-third foot, under Cornwallis, in thirty boats, under cover of a tre- 
 mendous fire from the British batteries on its Westchester side, crossed 
 Harlem river to Sherman's Creek. Though met with a sharp fire, they 
 instantly ascended the face of Laurel Hill, high wooded and precipitous, 
 the fallen leaves, yet moist with the rain of the preceding day, render- 
 ing the footing still more difficult, and drove from the battery on its brow 
 and its summit the Pennsylvania troops (the last reinforcements sent 
 over from Fort Lee) whom Magaw had detailed to defend it. Though 
 defeated and forced to retreat, they made a brave defense. Colonel 
 Baxter (their commander) being killed, sword in hand, at the head of his 
 men. About eight o'clock Earl Percy with two brigades, one English 
 and the other Hessian under von Stein, began the attack upon the 
 lines to the south of Mount Washington. With this corps was Sir 
 William Howe himself, who animated the troops by his presence and 
 personal bravery. The American lines were defended by Colonel Lam- 
 bert Cadwallader at the head of his own, and Magaw's Pennsylvania 
 battalions and some broken companies from Miles' and other regiments, 
 chiefly from Pennsylvania. Driving them from a small outwork and the 
 first fortified line across the island, Percy rested, extending his line how- 
 ever to the North river. 
 
 As soon as he obtained this advantage orders were sent to Colonel 
 Sterling (whose attack, originally intended as a feint, was now changed 
 into reality), on the Harlem river, who with the Highlanders, sup- 
 ported by two battalions of the Second Brigade, instantly crossed 
 the river in boats and landed at the foot of the hill, near the Morris 
 House, inside of the American lines. Magaw, who had remained at the 
 
28 
 
 MOUNT WASHINGTON AND ITS CAPTURE NOV. 1 6 1 776 
 
 centre of the position with a few men, in order to direct all the opera- 
 tions, at once sent about a hundred men to oppose them, and Cadwall- 
 ader also dispatched about one hundred and fifty for the same purpose. 
 They poured a heavy fire into Sterling's boats as they reached the shore, 
 killing and wounding many men, but failed to stop his landing, as 
 they were only aided by a single eighteen pound gun. Leaving behind 
 their Major, named Murray, a man so fat he could not keep pace with 
 them, the Highlanders, in kilt and tartan, rushed up the ascent with 
 such speed and dash that they actually made prisoners of about a hun- 
 dred and seventy of the Americans. Hearing his calls, some of his 
 men then went back and helped their stout Major to the top of the hill. 
 
 When Stirling's fire was heard, Percy again quickly advanced, 
 and Cadwallader, after a short and brisk contest at the second line, find- 
 ing himself in danger of being cut off by the Highlanders, retreated 
 to the Fort, into which the flying Americans had crowded in disor- 
 der as th'^y were driven from their respective lines of defence. 
 
 Knyphausen's columns having neared the fort first, and taken a 
 commanding position within a hundred yards of its west side, he sent a 
 second summons to surrender, which was received by Cadwallader and 
 referred to Magaw. 
 
 The fort itself does not seem to have fired at all. It was in fact so 
 crowded by the fugitive Americans that they would have been slaught- 
 ered in masses had it been defended and stormed. When they firsjL be- 
 gan to crowd in Magaw endeavored to animate them, urging them again 
 to man the lines, but in vain. They could not again be rallied. 
 
 When Washington from Fort Lee saw the success of the German at- 
 tack, he sent Captain Gooch over the river with a note to Colonel Magaw 
 to try and hold out till night, when he would endeavor to relieve him 
 and bring off the garrison. Gooch rowed across, delivered the note, 
 and returned in safety with the answer. But his mission was too late. 
 Magaw had proceeded so far in his negotiations for a surrender that he 
 could not withdraw. After much parley, he signed articles of capitu- 
 lation with General von Knyphausen and Colonel Patterson, the British 
 Adjutant General, by which safety of persons and baggage was guar- 
 anteed, and the fort then surrendered to the British, who subsequently, 
 in honor of the gallantry of the Germans and their commander, changed 
 its name to Fort Knyphausen. 
 
 Demont's treason had done its work, and the flag of England again 
 waved over the entire island of New York. Twentv-eight hundred and 
 eighteen prisoners, including officers, forty-three guns, aud a large (juan- 
 
MOUNT WASHINGTON AND ITS CAPTURE NOV. l6 1776 
 
 29 
 
 tity of military stores, including " 200 iron fraise of four hundred 
 weii^ht each, supposed to be intended to stop the navigation of Hud- 
 son's River," fell into the hands of the victors, besides 2,800 muskets, 
 400,000 cartridges, 15 barrels of powder, and several thousand shot 
 and shell. The loss of the Americans was four officers killed and three 
 wounded, and fifty privates killed and ninety wounded, a total of one hun- 
 dred and forty-seven. The British loss was seventy-eight killed and three 
 hundred and eighty wounded, a total of four hundred and fifty -eight; 
 of which that of the Hessians alone was fifty-eight killed and two hundred 
 and seventy-two ' wounded, including officers, being in all three hun- 
 dred and thirty. The British forces engaged were, according to Gray- 
 don, three thousand under von Knyphausen, eight hundred under Stir- 
 ling, and sixteen hundred under Percy. Mathews' numbers he does not 
 give, but as there were seven regiments, of only about five hundred 
 effective men each, they may be set down as thirty-five hundred, 
 making a total force of eighty-nine hundred. Sir William Howe's 
 dispatch gives merely the names of the regiments engaged, not 
 their numbers. 
 
 In the defense of Mount Washington Magaw seems to have disposed 
 of his men to the best advantage, considering its great extent and his 
 numbers, especially as he had to make his full dispositions after the Brit- 
 ish plan had developed itself ; and he did his duty faithfully, 
 
 Washington's private judgment was opposed to holding the post 
 after the retreat from New York, but he was governed by the wishes 
 of Congress and the decisions of his Council of War. When the British 
 ships last passed up the river in spite of the obstructions, he strongly 
 advised, and also authorized, General Greene and Magaw to abandon 
 the post, but did not command it to be done. He was present, too, at 
 Greene's quarters at Fort Lee and at Hackensack from the 13th, when he 
 found his advice had not been followed, to the i6th, and during this 
 time could easily have ordered the post abandoned and the garrison 
 withdrawn, if he had seen fit. On the other hand. General Greene was 
 for holding the fortress throughout from the very first. After the last 
 passage of the frigates he was left to use his own discretion whether to 
 abandon it or not by the Commander-in-Chief, and he exercised that 
 discretion by holding it, as he had a perfect right to do. Neither Gen- 
 eral should be censured at the expense of the other — each did what he 
 thought was for the best under the circumstances, and neither dreamt 
 
 ' Force iii, 925, British returns of ordnance and stores taken. Ibid., 1058, Howe's dispatch. 
 
1 
 
 30 
 
 MOUNT WASHINGTON AND ITS CAI'Tl RE NOV. 1 6 1 776 
 
 •' 
 
 that he had treason to contend against. The loss of Fort Washington 
 was due to the first traitor of the American Army, William Demont. 
 
 There were instances on both sides in this action of humor and gaity, 
 as well as of intrepidity and valor, in the midst of danger. One instance 
 of the latter must be mentioned, which has rarely been equalled or sur- 
 passed. In one of the Pennsylvania regiments was a soldier named Corbin, 
 who was accompanied by his wife. His post was at one of the guns in 
 the battery on the hill attacked by the Hessians, where the battle raged 
 hardest, hottest, and longest ; for it was between two and three hours be- 
 fore the Germans succeeded in carrying that position. In the midst of 
 the fight Corbin, struck by a ball, fell dead at his wife's feet as she was 
 aiding him in his duties. Instantly, without a word, she stepped into 
 his place and worked the gun with redoubled skill and vigor, fighting 
 bravely till she sank to the earth, pierced by three grapeshot in the 
 shoulder. Though terribly wounded, she .finally recovered, but was dis- 
 abled for life. A soldier's half-pay and the value of a soldier's suit of 
 clothes, annually voted her by the Continental Congress while John Jay 
 presided, was all the reward that the first woman who fought for 
 American liberty ever received for such heroic love, courage, and 
 suffering. 
 
 Thirty-two years afterward Spain's glowing, dark-eyed daughter, 
 erect in the deadly breach, fiercely defending her native city against 
 the French invader, and hurling vengeance on the slayers of her lover 
 dead at her feet, burst upon the world never to be forgotten. The deed 
 of Augustina of Aragon, the Maid of Zaragoza, was not nobler, truer, 
 braver than that of Margaret Corbin of Pennsylvania. Byron's im- 
 mortal lines are as true of the one as of the other : 
 
 " Her lover sinks, — she sheds no ill timed tear, 
 Her chief is slain, — she fills his fatal post; 
 The foe retires,— she heads the sallying host: 
 Who can appease, like her, a lover's ghost ? 
 
 E. F. DeLANCEY. 
 
 Note. — This account is an extended statement of one of Mr. E. F. DeLancey's editorial 
 notes in the first volume of the History of New York during the American Revolution, written at 
 its close by the Hon. Thomas Jones, of Queens county, Long Island (giving a Loyalist account of 
 the war), now in press, and soon to be issued by the New York Historical Society. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 31 
 
 COLONEL MAGAW S 
 ORDERLY BOOK AT MOUNT WASH- 
 INGTON. 
 
 The following is a copy of all the 
 entries in the Orderly Book of Colonel 
 Magaw, taken from the original by the 
 kind permission of its present owner, the 
 Rev. Dr. Joseph A, Murray, of Carlisle, 
 Pennsylvania. It begins October 31st, 
 1776, but unfortunately stops November 
 loth, 1776, six days before the surrender.. 
 The order of Nov. ist, increasing the 
 picket guards very strongly for the 2d, 
 may have been the proximate cause of 
 Demont's departure. He probably did 
 not want to run the risk of the increased 
 numbers of pickets, and therefore went 
 over to the enemy before they were act- 
 ually placed on guard. E. F. de L. 
 
 "Harlem Heights, October 25th, 
 Parole Danvers. Co. Sign Newberry. 
 
 Saturday, October 26th. 
 Parole Lexington. Co. Sign Concord. 
 
 Sunday, October 27th. 
 Parole Roxbury. Co. Sign Cambridge. 
 
 Monday, October 28th. 
 Parole Litchfield. Co. Sign Norwich. 
 
 Tuesday, October 29th. 
 Parole Berks. Co. Sign Reading. 
 
 Wednesday, October 30th. 
 Parole Lancaster. Co. Sign York. 
 
 Thursday, October 31st. 
 Parole Cumberland. Co. Sign Carlisle. 
 
 Friday, November ist. 
 Parole Pittsburgh. Co. Sign Bedford. 
 
 Coll. Magaw's Orders. 
 Ninety men for Picquet towards New 
 York tomorrow, to be stationed as fol- 
 
 lows — North River, i Sub. and 20; Hol- 
 loway, I Sergt. and 10; Point of Rocks, 
 I Sub. and 20 ; Works near Harlaem 
 River, i Sub. and 20; One Capt. at the 
 Point of Rocks or North River; i Sub. 
 and 20 on the East River between Head 
 quarters and Fort Washington. Weekly 
 returns to be given in before 12 o'clock 
 at Noon, of the strength of the several 
 Regiments and Detachments of our 
 Troops now on this Island, that duty may 
 be proportioned. 
 
 Capt. Longs Company to join Coll. 
 Rawlings Battn.; in the mean time Capt. 
 Moulton, of the Artillery, will appoint 
 one of his Officers to act as Fort Major 
 who will prevent all doubtfull or suspect- 
 ed persons entering the Fort, and observe 
 such Orders As may be given by the 
 Commanding Officer or Capt. Moulton. 
 
 Saturday, November 2d. 
 Parole Amboy. Co. Sign Woodbridge. 
 
 Sunday, November 3d. 
 Parole Morris. Co. Sign Potter. 
 
 Monday, November 4th. 
 Parole Sabrook. Co. Sign Enfield. 
 
 No cattle or hogs to be suffered in the 
 Fort. No passes or passages to be made 
 on any pretence whatsoever through the 
 Abbatis, Lieut. Coll. Wypert is to be at 
 liberty to have any Tents or obstructions 
 removed which may be in his way in 
 strengthening the works; all Officers to 
 give him assistance for that purpose. 
 The Officers of the several Guards to 
 recommend the greatest allertness to their 
 Centinels at this time and place, the most 
 dangerous, important, and honourable, 
 Post that, perhaps, Americans were ever 
 placed in. The Liberty of this great and 
 free Continent may in great measure de- 
 
32 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 ? 1 ' 
 
 IP 
 
 i 
 
 fii 
 
 pend on our vigilance and bravery. Mr. 
 John Morgan is to act as Brigade Major, 
 all passes signed by him to be considered 
 as good. 
 
 The Adjutants orSergt. Majors of the 
 several battalions to attend at Headquar- 
 ters at 3 o'clock every day for orders, 
 which will be delivered by Mr. Morgan, 
 he will also deliver them the Parole and 
 Counter Sign in the !^.vening. Each Bat- 
 talion and Detachment to make out exact 
 returns of their strength on this Island, 
 both fit for duty and sick, as orders are 
 received to transmit the returns to the 
 Commander in Chief, and the Congress, 
 these returns to be made by 12 o'clock 
 tomorrow. 
 
 Tuesday, November 5th. 
 
 Parole Bristol. Co. Sign Frankfort. 
 
 Notwithstanding the frequent general 
 orders against fireingguns about the Camp 
 and wanton waste of Amunition, This 
 destructive practice still prevails, Officers 
 are to be very vigilant and detect and 
 confine offenders, and also to examine 
 the Cartouch Boxes at least twice a week, 
 and charge the men 6d pr Cartridge for 
 such as cant be accounted for. 
 
 Wednesday, November 6th. 
 
 Parole Dover, Co. Sign Darby. 
 
 The Officers of the Guards on the 
 lines are to be very punctual in giveing 
 strict orders to the Centinels to permit 
 no person who is not in this service to 
 come within the lines, but such as come 
 to continue, as they will not on any pre- 
 tence whatever be permitted to return, 
 likewise no person to pass from here be- 
 yond the lines, as they will not on any 
 account be suffered to return. 
 
 The Adjutants and Sergt. Majors of 
 the several battalions and detachments 
 are to be carefull that all their officers 
 have the Reading the above orders. 
 
 Thursday, November 7th. 
 Parole Washington. Co. Sign Lee. 
 
 Friday, November 8th. 
 Parole Magaw. Co. Sign Greene. 
 
 Saturday, November 9th. 
 Parole Cadwallader. Co. Sign Beatty. 
 
 Sunday, November loth. 
 Parole Brunswick. Co. Sign Burling- 
 ton." 
 
 Colonel Robert Magaw was the 
 eldest son of William Magaw a Scotch- 
 Irish lawyer who came, prior to 1752, 
 from Strabane, in the north of Ireland, 
 to Maryland, and thence to Carlisle, in 
 Pennsylvania. He was born in Ireland, 
 was a lawyer, married while a prisoner 
 Marritie Van Brunt of Flatbush, and 
 died 6th January, 1790, at Carlisle, 
 leaving a son and daughter. His regi- 
 ment, 5th Pennsylvania, numbered 25 
 officers and 312 men when surrendered. 
 — AIs. Magaw papers. Letter of Dr. 
 Murray. 
 
 DoDON Henry, Baron von Knyp- 
 hausen, Lieutenant-General, born in Al- 
 sace, in 1730, son of Baron von Knyp- 
 hausen a Colonel under Marlborough, 
 and was a descendant of the great 
 Holland General of Gustavus Adolphus, 
 whose name he bore. Tall, spare in per- 
 son, very German in appearance, he was, 
 though a strict officer, popular with both 
 officers and men. He died in Berlin, 
 in 1794, a full General in the Prussian 
 service. — Watson's Philadelphia Bio- 
 graphic Universelle. 
 
 Parade of the Prisoners. — " The 
 prisoners taken at Mt. Washington were 
 all paraded near the Jews' Burying 
 Ground (now Chatham Square). They 
 were said to be 2,500; no insults were 
 offered to them when paraded, nor any 
 public huzzaing or rejoicing as was usual 
 on similar and less occasions." — Ms. 
 letter of John McKesson to Geo. Clinton. 
 
MOUNT WASHINGTON AND ITS CAPTURE NOV. l6 X'J'jG 15 
 
 provisions for the garrison.' Harrison, however, writing for Washington 
 the same day, from White Plains, tells Hancock that there " are about 
 1400 men at Mount Washington and 600 at Kingsbridge.'"" But Colonel 
 Lasher, the officer in command at the 'ccter post, wrote General Heath 
 on the 26th that he only had 400 men and 6 artillery men.'' On the 27th 
 Laslier had order:, from Heath to quit the post, burn the barracks, and 
 join the army at White Plains, and either do this himself, or communi- 
 cate with Magaw, as he pleased. He obeyed ard executed the orders 
 himself.* 
 
 The same day, which was Sunday, an attack was made by Lord 
 Percy on Mount Washington by land, at the same time that two men-of- 
 war attempted to pass it and go up the river. The latter were severely 
 cut up by Magaw's artillery, and one of them, badly crippled, had to re- 
 tire/ The British troops moved down from their lines at McGowan's 
 Pass to Harlem Plains and began a fire with field pieces, which the 
 Americans returned from their fortified lines and batteries. It was a 
 mere artillery duel, had no effect, and was apparently intended as a feint." 
 The cannonade was heard at White Plains.' This affair was probably 
 one great cause of Greene's confidence in Fort Washington, and of his 
 desire a fortnight later to hold it. He was present in the fort, and with 
 Magaw, during the firing on the ships. The whole contest was over by three 
 o'clock in the afternoon, when he returned to Fort Lee and wrote an ac- 
 count of it to General Mifflin," and the next day sent another to the 
 President of Congress. " From the Sunday affair," he wrote Washing- 
 ton on the 29th, '* 1 am more fully convinced that we can prevent any 
 ships from stopping the communication."" 
 
 Two days afterwards, Greene asked Washington's opinion as to hold- 
 ing, not the fort only, but all Mount Washington, in these words : " I 
 rhould be glad to know your excellency's mind about holding all the 
 ground from the Kingsbridge to the lower lines. If we attempt to hold 
 the ground, the garrison must still be rc-inforced, but if the garrison 
 is to draw into Mount (Fort) Washington, and only keep that, the num- 
 
 •Force 5th series vol. ii, pp. 1202, 1203, 1221. . 
 
 *Ibid. 1239? 
 
 ^Ibid. 1263. 
 
 *Ibid. vol. ii, p. 1264. 
 
 "Ibid. vol. ii, pp. 1263, 1265. 
 
 ®Ibid. 1266. 
 
 'MS. Letter of General Sillinian to his wife. 
 
 ^Force 5th series, 1263, I26(j. 
 
 'Ibid. 1281.