[FN] Letter from Washington to General Putnam, Oct. 19, 1777.
The troops of the enemy were landed at Stoney Point, twelve miles below the forts. A small advanced party of the Americans was met and attacked at about 10 o'clock in the morning of the 6th of October, when within two and a half miles of the fort. This party was of course driven in, having returned the enemy's fire. [FN-1] When arrived within a mile of the forts, Sir Henry divided his troops into two columns; the one, consisting of nine hundred men under Lieutenant Colonel Campbell, was destined for the attack on Fort Montgomery; the other, under the immediate command of Sir Henry Clinton, was to storm the stronger post of Fort Clinton. [FN-2] Ascertaining that the enemy were advancing to the west side of the mountain, to attack his rear, Governor Clinton ordered a detachment of upward of one hundred men, under Col. Lamb, together with a brass field-piece and fifty men more, to take a strong position in advance. They were soon sharply engaged, and another detachment of an equal number was sent to their assistance. They kept their field-piece sharply playing upon the enemy's advancing column, and were only compelled to give way by the point of the bayonet—spiking their field-piece before they relinquished it. In this preliminary encounter the loss of Sir Henry was severe.
[FN-1] Letter from Governor Clinton to the Committee of Safety, Oct. 7, 1777.
[FN-2] Holmes.
Pressing rapidly onward, both forts were in a few minutes attacked with vigor upon all sides. The fire was incessant during the afternoon until about five o'clock, when a flag approaching, Lieutenant Colonel Livingston was ordered to receive it. The officer was the bearer of a peremptory summons to surrender, as he alleged, to prevent the effusion of blood. Nor would he treat, unless upon the basis of a surrender of the garrison as prisoners of war, in which case he was authorised to assure them of good usage. The proposition being rejected "with scorn," [FN-1] in about ten minutes the attack was renewed, and kept up until after dark, when the enemy forced the American lines and redoubts at both forts, and the garrisons, determined not to surrender, undertook to fight their way out. The last attack of the enemy was desperate; but the Americans, militia as well as regulars, resisted with great spirit, and, favored by the darkness, many of them escaped. Governor Clinton himself escaped by leaping a precipice in the dark, and jumping into a boat, in which he was conveyed away. His brother was wounded and taken prisoner. Of the British forces, Lieutenant Colonel Campbell and Count Grabouski, a Polish nobleman, engaged as a volunteer under Sir Henry, were slain. The loss of the Americans, killed, wounded, and missing, was stated at two hundred and fifty. The British loss was stated at two hundred, but was believed to have been much more than that of the Americans. [FN-2]
[FN-1] Letter of Governor Clinton to the Council of Safety, from which the facts of this affair are chiefly drawn.
[FN-2] "I believe, from the bravery of the garrison of Fort Montgomery, Sir Henry Clinton purchased victory at no inconsiderable expense. General Campbell was certainly killed. This they mention in their own official account, but call him Lieutenant Colonel of the fifty-second regiment. He was a General on the American establishment, so declared in one of the orderly books which fell into our hands."—Letter of Washington to General Putnam. [Sparks corrects the Commander-in-chief upon this point—believing that General Campbell was another person, who was at Staten Island at the time in question.]