When it was certainly known that the British army had actually embarked on board the fleet, Washington moved slowly toward the Highlands by way of Morristown, Ramapo, * and the Clove. *** He encamped in the latter place on the 15th, eleven miles above the Ramapo Pass (of which I shall presently July, 1777 write) and immediately sent forward Lord Stirling, with a division, to Peekskill. He established his head-quarters at Ramapo on the 23d; but so much was that region infested with Cow-boys and other Tories, that it was with great difficulty that he could obtain correct information from a distance. *** Northward from the present Ramapo village rises a range of lofty hills, upon the highest summit of which is upreared a huge mass of granite, shaped like a mighty dome, the top covered with trees. From this eminence, five hundred feet above the village, a small portion of New York Bay, Staten Island, and the ocean near Sandy Hook, may be distinctly seen on a clear day, the distance being about thirty-five miles. To this observatory, it is said, Washington was piloted, and with his glass saw a portion of the fleet of the enemy near Sandy Hook. The Weehawken Hill obstructed a full view of New York Harbor, and the commander-in-chief was uncertain whether the whole fleet had dropped down to the Hook; but, on returning to his quarters at Ramapo, he received positive information that the British fleet had gone to sea. Convinced that Philadelphia was the destination of Howe, Washington recalled Stirling's division from Peekskill, broke up his encampment in the Clove, and the army pursued various routes toward the Delaware. The battle of Brandywine, and other events in the vicinity of Philadelphia, which June 1,1779. occurred soon afterward, will be noticed in subsequent chapters.
On the return of Commodore Sir George Collier and General Matthews from a marauding expedition to Virginia, at the close of May, 1779, they sailed up the Hudson River to attack the forts in the Highlands. This expedition, as we have noticed on page 175, was under the command of Sir Henry Clinton. As soon as Washington was advised of this movement, he drew his troops from their cantonments in New Jersey, and, by rapid marches, reached the Clove on the 7th with five brigades and two Carolina regiments. He pressed forward to Smith's Clove, whence there were mountain passes to the forts in the Highlands, and there he encamped. Small detachments for observation and protection to couriers were stationed at different points from the encampment
* Ramapo, or Romopoek, was a small settlement on the Ramapo River, about five miles south of the present Suffern's Station on the New York and Erie rail-way, and within the province of New Jersey. It was nearly seven miles below the present village of Ramapo, founded by Mr. Pierson.
** The Clove here mentioned was chiefly the Ramapo Valley extending to Smith's Clove, which continues northward from the former, in the vicinity of Turner's Station, on the New York and Erie rail-road, far in the rear of Haverstraw and Stony Point. Through this clove, by the way of Ramapo, was the best route for an army from New Windsor into the upper part of New Jersey. The main division of the Continental army was again encamped in the Clove in 1779, when General Wayne captured Stony Point.
*** "I can not give you any certain account of General Howe's intended operations," wrote Washington to General Schuyler. "His conduct is puzzling and embarrassing beyond measure. So are the informations which I get. At one time the ships are standing up toward the North River; in a little while they are going up the Sound; and in an hour after they are going out of the Hook. I think in a day or two we must know something of his intentions."
**** This view is from the verge of the dam above the Ramapo works, near the rail-way, looking northeast. The eminence is called Torn Rock, from its ragged appearance on its southeastern side. There is a deep fissure in a portion of the bare rock, from which comes up a sound like the ticking of a watch, caused by the water which percolates through the scams in the granite. A tradition was long current that Washington lost his watch in the fissure, and that, by some miraculous power, it continued to tick!
The Ramapo Pass. March of the allied Armies to Virginia.—Clinton Deceived by Washington's Letters.
southward to old Ramapo, and strong intrenchments were thrown up at the Pass, a narrow gorge about half a mile below the present Ramapo village. The passage between the hills here is only wide enough for the stream, the rail-way, a. wagon-road, and a narrow strip ol meadow-land.
