* (vi) For a notice of Washington's arrival in New York, when on his way to Cambridge, see vol. i., page 564.
Wooster and his Troops at Harlem.—Capture of British Stores.—Turtle Bay.—Committee of One Hundred.
somewhat purged of its Toryism by intelligence from the East, invited General Wooster, then in command of eighteen hundred Connecticut militia at Greenwich, to come to the defense of New York.
He encamped at HarlemJune, 1775 for several weeks, sent detachments to beat off marauders, who were carrying away the cattle of Long Island to the British army in Boston, and by his presence made the New York patriots bold and active. At midnightJuly 20 they captured British stores at Turtle Bay, and sent part to the grand army at Boston and a part to the troops then collecting on Lake Champlain to invade Canada; they also seized a tender, with stores, belonging to the Asia, and took possession of provisions and clothing deposited at Greenwich * by the government. **
Governor Tryon returned to New York in the Asia on the third of July, and was received with respect. His course soon indicated his opposition to the Republicans. The energetic actions of the committee of One Hundred taught him to be circumspect in public, and his private intrigues to gain ascendency for Toryism in the Provincial Congress were abortive. That body, now guided by the popular will, and perceiving a resort to arms to be inevitable, ordered Lamb, who was then a captain of artillery, to remove the cannons from the grand battery and the fort, and take them to a place of security. Assisted by an independent corps under Colonel Lasher, and a body of citizens guided by King Sears, as
* Greenwich was then a village of a few houses, a mile and a half from the city. It has long since been merged into the metropolis, and is now (1852) at about a central point, on the Hudson, between the lower and upper part of the city.
** These acts were done under the immediate sanction of the committee of One Hundred, * who, while the Provincial Congress legislated, were busy in executing according to the known will of the people. The patriots regarded this committee with more confidence than they did the Provincial Congress.