The loyalists of New York received the British army with the utmost joy. A few nights after, a fire breaking out, which destroyed the largest church and about one-third of the city, this disaster was attributed to “the Sons of Liberty,” some of whom, seized on suspicion by the British soldiers, were thrown into the flames. The fire, however, is supposed to have originated in accident.
The utmost depression prevailed in the American camp at Harlem. The favour of Heaven, it was feared, had deserted their cause. Anxiety, despondency and dread filled all hearts; and sickness, the necessary concomitant of such a state of mind, prevailed greatly. There were no proper hospitals; the sick lay in barns and sheds, and even in the open air under walls and fences. The army was wasting away by the expiration of service and desertion; few would enlist. It seemed as if ere long America must yield from the mere inability to sustain her army. Washington did his utmost to revive hope and courage, and also appealed to congress for aid, without which success was impossible. A bounty of twenty dollars was offered therefore on enlistment, and grants of land promised to the soldiers and officers. So far good; in the meantime, Washington was unwilling to risk a general engagement, and Howe also on his side not venturing to attack the American camp, satisfied himself by making a movement to gain Washington’s rear, in order to cut off his connexion with the eastern states and thus prevent his receiving supplies from that quarter. For this purpose a portion of the royal troops was withdrawn from New York to Westchester, while three frigates were sent up the Hudson, to prevent any intercourse with New Jersey. Reinforcements were received by the British army.
Washington, to avoid being thus enclosed on all sides, crossed over with his army from New York Island, and took up his position along the western bank of the Bronx River, which separated him from the English, and so extending towards White Plains. On the 28th of October, a skirmish took place, in which the Americans were driven from their ground with considerable loss; immediately after which, Washington took up a much stronger position on the heights of North Castle, about five miles further northward.
Discontinuing the pursuit of Washington, Howe now turned his attention to the American posts on the Hudson, with the design of entering New Jersey. Aware of this intention, Washington crossed the Hudson with his army, and joined General Greene at Fort Lee, on the western bank of the Hudson, at the town of Hackensack in New Jersey, three miles only to the south-west of Fort Washington, where was a garrison of 3,000 men, and ten miles only from New York city. Scarcely, however, were these arrangements made, when Fort Washington was assaulted by a strong British force. The commander, Colonel Magaw, made a brave defence and the assailants lost 400 men in gaining the outworks; but no sooner were the British within the fort, than the garrison, to the number of 2,000, overcome with terror, refused to offer any resistance, and all, together with a great quantity of artillery, fell into the hands of the British.[[18]] Two days afterwards Lord Cornwallis crossed the Hudson with 6,000 men, against Fort Lee, which also surrendered with the loss of baggage and military stores.
Misfortune was the order of the day. Alarm and distrust increased; Washington and his daily diminishing army fled from point to point. The New York convention moved its sittings from one place to another, the members often sitting with arms in their hands to prevent surprise; when just at this disastrous crises, new alarm arose from the proposed rising of the Tories in aid of the British. Many suspected Tories, therefore, were seized, their property confiscated and themselves sent into Connecticut for safety. The gaols were full; so also were the churches, now employed as prisons, while numbers were kept on parole. These resolute measures effected their purpose; the Tory party yielded to a force which they were not yet strong enough to control, and deferred active co-operation with the British to a yet more favourable time.
On the last day of November, the American army amounted but to 3,000 men, and was then retreating into an open country at the commencement of winter, without tents, blankets, or intrenching tools, and but imperfectly clad. The prospect was hopeless in the extreme. The towns of Newark, New Brunswick, Princetown, and Trenton, all in New Jersey, were taken possession of by the British. Finally, Washington, on the 8th of December, crossed the Delaware, which was now the only barrier between the English and Philadelphia. The first state legislature of New Jersey, of which William Livingston was governor, like that of New York, had been driven, during these commotions, from one place to another; nor had their most urgent endeavours to call out a militia been availing, so depressed was the public mind.
Nor was the prospect more cheering in Pennsylvania. The hearts of many began to fail them; and saving for the energy of Mifflin and a few others, the American party in Philadelphia might have gradually melted away. But Israel Putnam had command of the city, and Mifflin put forth all his eloquence, and patriotism and courage still survived. In the meantime the disasters of the Americans were not ended. General Lee, an ambitious and conceited man, who ranked his own military experience as superior to that of the commander-in-chief, instead of hastening across the Hudson to join the main army, as Washington had earnestly requested him to do without loss of time, determined on a brilliant and independent achievement which should at once startle both English and Americans, and give him a great reputation. Lingering, therefore, among the hills of New Jersey while he decided what his great exploit should be, he lodged one night with a small guard at a house some little distance from his army, when he was surprised by a body of British cavalry sent there for the purpose, and carried prisoner to New York. The command of his troops falling on General Sullivan, the latter conducted them without further delay to join Washington, whose forces were thus increased to 7,000 men.
On the very day also on which Washington crossed the Delaware, a British squadron from New York, under command of Sir Peter Parker, took possession of Newport in Rhode Island, the second city in New England, the few troops stationed there abandoning the place without a blow for its defence. The American squadron, under Commodore Hopkins, was thus blocked up in Providence River, where it lay for a long time useless.
Having gained this important hold on the colonies both by land and sea, the Howes issued, as royal commissioners, a proclamation “commanding all insurgents to disband, and all political bodies to relinquish their assumed authority, granting sixty days within which to make this submission.” On this, great numbers of wealthy persons, many of whom had already been active in the revolutionary movements, to the amount even of from two to three hundred a day, came in to make the required submission. The cause of American independence appeared hopeless, and would have been so had all the people been cowards and time-servers. But there were thousands of true hearts left within her yet. Congress, sitting at that time at Philadelphia, adjourned to Baltimore in Maryland, and Washington was invested for six months with unlimited powers. Authority was given him to raise sixteen battalions of infantry, in addition to those already voted, and to appoint officers; the bounty on enlistment was increased, as were also grants of land for service. He was also empowered to raise and equip 3,000 light horse, three regiments of artillery, and a corps of engineers; to call out the militia of the different states; to displace and appoint all officers under the rank of brigadier-general, and to fill up all vacancies. He was further authorised to take whatever he might require for the use of the army at his own price, and to arrest and confine all such as should refuse the continental money, a new trouble which had arisen, owing to the vast issue of paper money. The entire power was thus placed in the hands of Washington, and he was worthy of the confidence.
Christmas was now at hand, and gloom and despondency pervaded the American mind. The sixty days were passing on, and the timid and vacillating were giving in their adherence to the British, when Washington, as it were, rose up and girded his loins for action. Aware that the festivities of the season would be fully enjoyed in the British camp, he resolved to avail himself of the time for an unexpected attack, and selected the Hessians stationed at Trenton as its object. On Christmas-eve, therefore, he set out with 2,500 picked men and six pieces of artillery, intending to cross the Delaware nine miles below Trenton, while two other forces, under Generals Cadwallader and Irving, were to cross at other points at the same time. The river was full of floating masses of ice, and it was only after great difficulty and danger that the landing was effected by four o’clock in the morning, when, amid a heavy snow-storm, Washington’s force advanced towards Trenton; the other bodies under Cadwallader and Irving not having been able to effect a landing at all.