Life and Times of Washington, Volume 2 / Revised, Enlarged, and Enriched

by John Frederick Schroeder; Benson John Lossing

A council of general officers, called to deliberate on their situation, took the bold resolution to abandon everything but their arms and such provisions as the soldiers could carry, and by a forced march in the night up the river, to extricate themselves from the American army, and crossing at Fort Edward, or at a ford above it, to press on to Fort George.

Gates had foreseen this movement and had prepared for it. In addition to placing strong guards at the fords of the Hudson he had formed an entrenched camp on the high grounds between Fort Edward and Fort George. The scouts sent to examine the route returned with this information and the plan was abandoned as impracticable.

Nothing could be more hopeless than the condition of the British army, or more desperate than that of their General, as described by himself. In his letter to Lord George Germain, Secretary of State for American affairs, he says: "A series of hard toil, incessant effort, stubborn action, until disabled in the collateral branches of the army by the total defection of the Indians; the desertion or timidity of the Canadians and provincials, some individuals excepted; disappointed in the last hope of any cooperation from other armies; the regular troops reduced by losses from the best parts to 3,500 fighting men, not 2,000 of which were British; only three days' provisions upon short allowance in store; invested by an army of 16,000 men, and no appearance of retreat remaining—I called into council all the generals, field officers, and captains commanding corps, and by their unanimous concurrence and advice I was induced to open a treaty with Major-General Gates."

A treaty was opened with a general proposition stating the willingness of the British general to spare the further effusion of blood, provided a negotiation could be effected on honorable terms. This proposition was answered by a demand that the whole army should ground their arms in their encampment and surrender themselves prisoners of war. This demand was instantly rejected with a declaration that if General Gates designed to insist on it the negotiation must immediately break off and hostilities recommence. On receiving this decided answer Gates receded from the rigorous terms at first proposed, and a convention was signed (October 17, 1777), in which it was agreed that the British army, after marching out of their encampment with all the honors of war, should lay down their arms and not serve against the United States till exchanged. They were not to be detained in captivity, but to be permitted to embark for England.

The situation of the armies considered, {9} these terms were highly honorable to the British general and favorable to his nation. They were probably more advantageous than would have been granted by Gates had he entertained no apprehension from Sir Henry Clinton, who was at length making the promised diversion on the North river, up which he had penetrated as far as Aesopus. The drafts made from Peekskill for both armies had left that post in a situation to require the aid of militia for its security. The requisitions of General Putnam were complied with, but the attack upon them being delayed, the militia, who were anxious to attend to their farms, became impatient; many deserted, and Putnam was induced to discharge the residue.

Governor Clinton immediately ordered out half the militia of New York with assurances that they should be relieved in one month by the other half. This order was executed so slowly that the forts were carried before the militia were in the field.

Great pains had been taken and much labor employed to render the position of the American army for guarding the passage up the Hudson secure. The principal defenses were Forts Montgomery and Clinton. They had been constructed on the western bank of the Hudson, on very high ground extremely difficult of access and were separated from each other by a small creek which runs from the mountains into the river. These forts were too much elevated to be battered from the water, and the hills on which they stood were too steep to be ascended by troops landing at the foot of them. The mountains, which commence five or six miles below them, are so high and rugged, the defiles, through which the roads leading to them pass, so narrow and so commanded by the heights on both sides, that the approaches to them are extremely difficult and dangerous.

To prevent ships from passing the forts, chevaux-de-frise had been sunk in the river and a boom extended from bank to bank, which was covered with immense chains stretched at some distance in its front. These works were defended by the guns of the forts and by a frigate and galleys stationed above them, capable of opposing with an equal fire in front any force which might attack them by water from below.

Fort Independence is four or five miles below Forts Montgomery and Clinton and on the opposite side of the river on a high point of land, and Fort Constitution is rather more than six miles above them on an island near the eastern shore. Peekskill, the general headquarters of the officer commanding at the station, is just below Fort Independence and on the same side of the river. The garrisons had been reduced to about 600 men and the whole force under Putnam did not much exceed 2,000. Yet this force, though far inferior to that which Washington had ordered to be retained at the station, was, if properly applied, more than competent to the defense of the forts against any numbers which could be spared from New York. To insure success to the enterprise it was necessary to draw the attention of Putnam from the real object and to storm the works before the garrisons could be aided by his army. This Sir Henry Clinton accomplished.

Between three and four thousand men embarked at New York and landed on the 5th of October (1777) at Verplanck's Point on the east side of the Hudson, a short distance below Peekskill, upon which Putnam retired to the heights in his rear. On the evening of the same day a part of these troops re-embarked and the fleet moved up the river to Peekskill Neck in order to mask King's Ferry, which was below them. The next morning at break of day the troops destined for the enterprise landed on the west side of Stony Point and commenced their march through the mountains into the rear of Forts Clinton and Montgomery. This disembarkation was observed, but the morning was so foggy that the numbers could not be distinguished, and a large fire, which was afterward perceived at the landing place, suggested the idea that the sole object of the party on shore was the burning of some storehouses. In the meantime the maneuvers of the vessels and the appearance of a small detachment left at Verplanck's Point persuaded Putnam that the meditated attack was on Fort Independence.