making any expedition by land, and rendering
winter-quarters in New York neither safe nor comfortable.
On the Jersey side of the Hudson, on top of the
Palisades, opposite Fort Washington, stood Fort Lee.
Between them, Putnam had undertaken to build an
impassable barrier, that should close the river against
the British. The works were under the immediate
command of General Greene. On the morning of
October 9th, however, the obstructions had been broken
through and the forts passed by two British ships
of forty-four guns each, a frigate of twenty guns, and
three or four tenders, which had captured or destroyed
two American row-galleys on the river.[1] In view of
these facts, Washington wished to abandon the fort
named after himself, which was in danger of being
surrounded. Greene was of the opposite opinion, and
Congress shared the delusion of Greene. The
authority of the commander-in-chief was so limited that
he did not succeed in making his own views prevail.
Instead of being withdrawn, the garrison of Fort
Washington was strengthened, until Lieutenant-colonel
Magaw, who commanded it, had nearly three
thousand men under his orders. The ground to be occupied
was two miles and a half long—from a line a
little south of the present Trinity Cemetery to the
hills above Tubby Hook—and included a redoubt on
Laurel Hill.[2]
It was on the 16th of November, 1776, that this fort was stormed by Sir William Howe's army. The attack was made simultaneously by four columns, advancing
