Colonel Stirling, with the forty-second. The fourth division was under Lord Percy, with his reinforcements from the south of the island. Each party was supported by a powerful and well served artillery.

The party under General Knyphausen was compelled to pass through a thick wood, where a regiment of riflemen under Col. Rawling were posted. Between these parties an action immediately commenced, which was continued with unexampled spirit until the Hessians had lost a great number of their men.

In the mean time, a body of the British light infantry advanced against a party of Americans, who were posted upon a steep and almost inaccessible eminence, which poured a very destructive fire from behind the rocks and trees; and after suffering severely, drove them from their position, and thus secured the landing of the main body.

Lord Percy carried an advanced work on his side; and Colonel Stirling, with the forty-second, and two battalions of the second brigade, effected a landing on the left of the American lines, forced his way to the summit of a steep hill, took one hundred and seventy prisoners, and then crossed the island. A detachment from the American flying camp, who were stationed upon the lines, abandoned them after a slight resistance, and crowded tumultuously within the fort; into which, also, Colonel Magaw had determined to throw himself, when thus he saw the lines forsaken.

In the mean time, Colonel Rhal, who led the right column of Knyphausen's attack, pushed forward and lodged his troops within one hundred yards of the fort, where he was soon joined by the left column. A summons was then repeated, and the garrison surrendered as prisoners of war; the officers keeping their side arms and baggage." The number of men which surrendered was about two thousand; the British loss is stated to be about eight hundred.

Death of Captain Hale.-After General Washington, by his retreat, had left the British in complete possession of Long Island, and not knowing what would be their future operations, he

From the position in which Washington was placed, he could distinctly see his soldiers bayonetted, while upon their knees, with their hands uplifted, and even at that hour, great as must have been his anxiety, when the fate of so important a post was at stake, the feelings of the man were as conspicuous as those of the soldier. It is said, he was affected with the butchery even to tears: and General Lee, to whom the fate of the post was sent by express, so far forgot the natural and unbending stateliness of his character, as to burst into the most passionate exclamations, accompanied also with tears. It was indeed a terrible blow. Even on the 19th, he had not recovered his composure; for he wrote thus to Washington on that day—'Oh General, why would you be over-persuaded by men of inferior judgment to your own? It was a cursed affair!' The defence of the post had always appeared impossible to this eccentrick man. The moment he was told that it was determined to maintain it, he exclaimed, then we are undone !'

.

applied to Colonel Knowlton, commander of a regiment of light infantry, to devise some means for gaining necessary information of the design of the British in their future movements. Captain Hale nobly offered himself for this hazardous and important service. His amiable, pious, intelligent, and patriotic character, and the sacrifice of his life in the manner in which he made the sacrifice, entitle him to a distinguished rank among the first patriots of the revolution. The particulars of this tragical event, sanctioned by General Hull, who was knowing to them at the time, are related by Miss H. Adams, in her History of New-England.

The retreat of General Washington, left the British in complete possession of Long Island. What would be their future operations remained uncertain. To obtain information of their situation, their strength and future movements, was of high importance. For this purpose General Washington applied to Colonel Knowlton, who commanded a regiment of light infantry, which formed the van of the American army, and desired him to adopt some mode of gaining the necessary information. Colonel Knowlton communicated this request to Nathan Hale, of Connecticut, who was then a captain in his regiment. This young officer, animated by a sense of duty, and considering that an op portunity presented itself by which he might be useful to his country, at once offered himself a volunteer for this hazardous service. He passed in disguise to Long Island, examined every part of the British army, and obtained the best possible information respecting their situation and future operations.

In his attempt to return, he was apprehended, carried before Sir William Howe, and the proof of his object was so clear, that he frankly acknowledged who he was, and what were his views. Sir William Howe at once gave an order to the provost marshall to execute him the next morning.

The order was accordingly executed in the most unfeeling manner, and by as great a savage as ever disgraced humanity. A clergyman, whose attendance he desired, was refused him; a Bible, for a moment's devotion was not procured, though he requested it. Letters, which on the morning of his execution he wrote to his mother and other friends, were destroyed; and this very extraordinary reason was given by the provost marshall, that the rebels should not know that they had a man in their

who could die with so much firmness.'

army,

Unknown to all around him, without a single friend to offer him the least consolation, thus fell as amiable and as worthy a young man as America could boast, with this as his dying observation, 'that he only lamented he had but one life to lose for his coun

Retreat of Washington through New-Jersey.-General Wash

ington was posted at Newark, where his little army had been refreshing themselves, for about a week, without experiencing or anticipating any further molestation, when he was informed that Lord Cornwallis, with a chosen body of troops, was on his track. This was the 28th of November; he marched immediately for Brunswick; and Lord Cornwallis entered Newark the same day. A rapid retreat was now the only hope of Washington. It must open the heart of the country to his enemy, but distressing as was the alternative, he preferred doing this to losing the relicks of his army, upon which, as a future rallying point, every thing would depend. Lord Cornwallis had six thousand men, and trod so vigorously upon the heels of Washington, that his van successively entered Newark, Brunswick, Princeton, and Trenton, as the American rear was leaving each; and finally, at twelve at night, reached the banks of the Delaware, just as the rear of the retreating army had left it. Here it was confidently expected by Lord Cornwallis, that the Americans would lose their baggage and artillery; and, but for the destruction of a bridge over the Raritan (at Brunswick) which delayed their pursuers for some hours, it is extremely probable that his expectations would have been realized. But here, as Lord Cornwallis had orders not to advance beyond Brunswick, the pursuit was discontinued ; and it is probable too, but for these orders, that the event would have taken place notwithstanding this delay, as the Raritan was fordable at Brunswick at every recess of the tide. Other facts, somewhat unaccountable at such a season were these. The Americans did not leave Princeton till the enemy were within three miles of it, and the two British columns, which first reached Princeton at four o'clock in the afternoon, actually slept there, and consumed seventeen hours, within twelve miles of Trenton, while Washington was crossing the Delaware at that place. Sir William Howe, in a despatch of the 20th of December, declared that his first design was only to get possession of East New Jersey, and Washington certainly conducted at this time, as if he not only knew this design, but was confident that it would not be departed from; for after advancing his main body to Trenton and leaving Lord Stirling with about twelve hundred, as a covering party; he afterwards reinforced his Lordship with the whole militia that arrived, and privately returned himself to Princeton. Perhaps he also knew, that Lord Cornwallis had been ordered not to advance beyond Brunswick. Except on this supposition, the fact of halting so long at Princeton, is inexplicable; and the conduct of the enemy still more so, while Washington was on his way to Trenton. From Brunswick, Lord Cornwallis had despatched an express to General Howe, assuring him that then was the time to conclude the war; that, if vigorously

pursued, Washington must lose his stores and artillery before he could cross the Delaware. General Howe replied that he woud join him immediately; but he did not arrive till the sixth of December. At Brunswick, on the first, Washington had hoped to make a stand, but was again disappointed in his militia. Had they supported him with spirit, he could have prevented the enemy from passing the Hackensack. On the very day that he left that village, the time of service for the Jersey and Maryland brigades expired, and both of them abandoned him. Under the pressure of this discouragement, Washington wrote to Lee to hasten his march, or his arrival might be too late.

On the eighth, Lord Howe had arrived at the shores of the Delaware in his pursuit, with the intention of pushing a strong body across the river. Early in the morning, he halted with his rear division, within six miles of Trenton. The artillery were prepared to cover his landing, and the troops kept in readiness for day light. At the place chosen, about two miles below Corlyl's ferry, it was only twenty-eight rods to a ridge of sand, on the Pennsylvania side, on which a body was to be landed, and thence it was proposed to march up to Corlyl's ferry and take possession of the boats collected there by the Americans, and left under a guard of only ten men. With the boats thus obtained, the main body would have been passed over immediately. In the vicinity of the place, at which the attempt was to be made by the first party, there was a large flour boat, capable of bearing one hundred men, concealed beneath a bank. This had been overlooked, when Washington ordered the boats to be removed; but was providentially discovered, and brought off, in season to prevent the enemy from taking possession of it.

The fate of America, for a season, in all probability depended upon that incident. The very day before Washington crossed the Delaware, a return of his forces was made to Congress; which made it only thirty-three hundred; and when he crossed, he had but two thousand two hundred; from these, such constant and rapid deductions had been made, that in two days, he was reduced to less than seventeen hundred; and by his own letter of the twenty-fourth of December, to between fourteen and fifteen hundred, hourly diminishing.

Why Washington was not pursued when the shores of the Delaware afforded such an abundance of materials for the construction of rafts and pontoons, is one of those events which baffles all speculation, if it be not attributed to positive orders; but why those orders were given, still remains to be explained. Washington himself, declared in a despatch, written after he reached the Pennsylvania bank, that nothing could have saved him, but the infatuation of the enemy. The city of Philadelphia was only two days easy march from Trenton: a greater number of men than Washington commanded could have been advanced, and what part of the British fleet and transports were wanted, could have passed up to the city in one week, without en

countering any obstruction; for at that time, the Fort on Mud Island was not built, the chevaux-de-frize nor chain prepared; nor had they fire rafts in any place

This retreat through the Jerseys, was one uninterrupted series of discouragement to the American people. It had been commenced, immediately after the loss of Fort Washington, and a fine garrison; and a large quantity of military stores, abandoned at Fort Lee. In a few days, the whole flying camp disappeared. This was followed by the disappearance of whole regiments, whose periods of service had also expired. Even the reinforcements, which had been sent from the Northern department, silently dissolved on the march, and General St. Clair, the commander, appeared in the camp of Washington, with only a few officers, for his relief. Every man had abandoned him. Even the few troops, under the command of Washington, were nearly useless from their wretched deficiency in necessaries. They were the garrison of Fort Lee, hurried away with such precipitation, as to leave their blankets and cooking utensils. He had no cavalry, except one troop, miserably mounted; and no artillery: yet under all these circumstances of distress and ill fortune, with his little band, a part of whom were literally barefooted, Washington had the address to consume nineteen days, in marching ninety miles before his conquerors, and then to give time for the militia to collect for his succour. As these the last hope of their country-fled before their pursuers, scarcely a man had the courage to strengthen them; while numbers were flocking to the royal standard, at every step of its progress. Appearance is every thing with the multitude. A gallant, well disciplined army, well officered, and well provided with all the furniture of war, with their banners, and horns and trumpets, were indeed a formidable trial to the constancy of the multitude; and all this, when contrasted with a feeble band of disorderly, tattered and emaciated wretches, who were flying from the haunts of men, like a troop of malefactors, caught abroad in open day light. So powerful was the effect of this contrast, that it operated, not only on the lower classes, but on the opulent and distinguished. Soine of the leading men of New Jersey and Pennsylvania were terrified into submission by this pageantry.

"Capture of the Hessians at Trenton.-Washington had observed that general Howe, either to procure more commodious quarters for his troops in this rigorous season, or to impede the Americans in recruiting, or finally because he believed the war at an end, and his enemy no longer in a condition to act, had too far extended the wings of his army, which occupied the entire province of New Jersey and the left bank of the Delaware, from Trenton down to Burlington. Colonel Ralle, a Hessian officer of great merit, was cantoned in the first of these places, with his brigade of infantry and a detachment of English dragoons, the whole constituting a corps of fourteen or fifteen hundred men. Bordentown, a few miles below, was occupied by colonel Donop, with another brigade of Hessians; and still lower down, within twenty miles of Philadelphia, was stationed another corps of Hessians and English. Knowing the extreme weakness of their enemy, and holding him as it were degraded by his recent defeats, they kept a negligent guard. The rest of the army was lodged in places more distant, and principally at Princeton, at New Brunswick, and at Amboy. Washington having attentively considered the extent of the enemy's quarters, conceived the hope of surprising the corps that were nearest to the river, and too remote from the others to be succored in season. In order to make his attack with more order and effect, he divided