* (v) The garrison consisted of only about twelve hundred men, when Knyphausen first sat down at King's Bridge. Greene sent a re-enforcement from Mercer's Flying Camp, and when the fort was attacked there were about three thousand men within the lines. When Washington heard of lhe summons to surrender, he hastened from his camp to Fort Lee, and at nine in the evening, while crossing the Hudson, he met Greene and Putnam returning from Fort Washington. They assured him that Magaw was confident of a successful defense, and the chief returned with them to Fort Lee.
Disposition of the Garrison.—Plan of Attack.—Knyphausen's Assault
with his Maryland riflemen, was posted in a redoubt (Fort George) upon a hill north of Fort Washington, and a few men were stationed at the outpost called Cock-hill Fort.
Militia of the Flying Camp, under Colonel Baxter, were placed on the rough wooded hills east of the fort, along the Harlem River, and others, under Colonel Lambert Cadwalader, of Pennsylvania, manned the lines in the direction of New York. Magaw commanded in the fort.
The plan of attack was well arranged.
