The British army did not long entertain its position on York Island. The British frigates, having passed up the North river, under a fire from Fort Washington and the post opposite to it on the Jersey shore, General Howe embarked a great part of his army in flat-bottomed boats, and passing through Hurl Gate into the sound, landed at Frog's neck. The object of the British general was, either to force Washington out of his present lines, or to inclose him in them. Aware of this design, General Washington moved a part of his troops from York island to join those at King's bridge, and detached some regiments to Westchester. A council of war was now called, and the system of evacuation and retreating was adopted, with the exception of Fort Washington, for the defence of which nearly three thousand men were assigned. After a halt of six days, the royal army advanced, not without considerable opposition, along the coast of Long Island sound, by New Rochelle, to White Plains, where the Americans took a strong position behind intrenchments. This post was maintained for several days, till the British, having received considerable rëinforcements, General Washington withdrew to the heights of North Castle, about five miles from White Plains, where, whether from the strength of his position, or from the British general having other objects in view, no attempt at attack was made.
Immediately on leaving White Plains, General Howe directed his attention to Fort Washington and Fort Lee, as their possession would secure the navigation of the Hudson, and facilitate the invasion of New Jersey. On the 15th of November, General Howe, being in readiness for the assault, summoned the garrison to surrender. Colonel Magaw the commanding officer, in spirited language, replied, that he should defend his works to extremity. On the succeeding morning, the British made the assault in four separate divisions; and, after a brave and obstinate resistance, surmounted the outworks, and again summoned the garrison to surrender. His ammunition being nearly expended, and his force incompetent to repel the numbers which were ready on every side to assail him, Colonel Magaw surrendered himself and his garrison, consisting of two thousand men, prisoners of war. The enemy lost in the assault nearly eight hundred men, mostly Germans. The conquest of Fort Washington made the evacuation of Fort Lee necessary. Orders were, therefore, issued to remove the ammunition and stores in it; but, before much progress had been made in this business, Lord Cornwallis crossed the Hudson, with a number of battalions, with the intention to inclose the garrison between the Hackensack and North rivers. This movement made a precipitate retreat indispensable, which was happily effected with little loss of men; but the greater part of the artillery, stores, and baggage, was left for the enemy. The loss at Fort Washington was heavy. The regiments captured in it were some of the best troops in the army. The tents, camp-kettles, and stores, lost at this place and at Fort Lee, could not, during the campaign, be rëplaced, and for the want of them the men suffered extremely. This loss was unnecessarily sustained, as those posts ought, unquestionably, to have been evacuated before General Howe was in a situation to invest them; and this event was the more to be deplored, as the American force was daily diminished by the expiration of the soldiers' term of enlistment, and by the desertion of the militia.
These successes encouraged the British to pursue the remaining American force, with the prospect of annihilating it. General Washington, who had taken post at Newark, on the south side of the Passaic, finding himself unable to make any real opposition, withdrew from that place, as the enemy crossed the Passaic, and retreated to Brunswick, on the Raritan; and Lord Cornwallis, on the same day, entered Newark. The retreat was still continued from Brunswick to Princeton; from Princeton to Trenton; and from Trenton to the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware. The pursuit was urged with so much rapidity, that the rear of one army was often within shot of the van of the other.
The winter being now set in, the British army went into quarters, between the Delaware and the Hackensack. Trenton, the most important post and barrier, was occupied by a brigade of Hessians, under Colonel Rawle. General Howe now issued a proclamation, in the name of his brother and himself, in which pardon was offered to all persons who, within the space of sixty days, should take the oath of allegiance, and submit to the authority of the British government. The effects of this proclamation were soon apparent. People from several quarters availed themselves of it, and threw down their arms. No city or town, indeed, in its corporate capacity, submitted to the British government, but most of the families of fortune and influence discovered an inclination to return to their allegiance. Many of the yeomanry claimed the benefit of the commissioner's proclamation; and the great body of them were too much taken up with the security of their families and their property to make any exertion in the public cause.[43] Another source of mortification to the Americans, was the capture of General Lee, who had imprudently ventured to lodge at a house three miles distant from his corps.[44]
"This was the most gloomy period of the revolutionary war. It was the crisis of the struggle of the United States for independence. The American army, reduced in numbers, depressed by defeat, and exhausted by fatigue, naked, barefoot, and destitute of tents, and even of utensils with which to dress their scanty provisions, was fleeing before a triumphant enemy, well-appointed and abundantly supplied. A general spirit of despondency through New Jersey was the consequence of this disastrous state of public affairs. But, in this worst of times, congress stood unmoved; their measures exhibited no symptoms of confusion or dismay; the public danger only roused them to more vigorous exertions, that they might give a firmer tone to the public mind, and animate the citizens of the United America to a manly defence of their independence. Beneath this cloud of adversity, too, General Washington shone with a brighter lustre than in the day of his highest prosperity. Not dismayed by all the difficulties which encompassed him, he accommodated his measures to his situation, and still made the good of his country the object of his unwearied pursuit. He ever wore the countenance of composure and confidence, and inspired, by his own example, his little band with firmness to struggle with adverse fortune."[45]
[VIII. RETURNING PROSPERITY.]
BATTLES OF TRENTON AND PRINCETON.
Reliance of the patriots for success upon God—Public Fast recommended by Congress—Offensive Operations decided upon—Battle of Trenton—Washington victorious—Battle of Princeton—British repulsed—American Army at Morristown—British at Brunswick—Prospects brightening.