THE CAMPAIGN OF 1777, IN THE MIDDLE STATES.

recruit for the indefinite term of the war, but it being found on experiment that the habits of the people were averse to engagements, for such an uncertain period of service, the recruiting officers were instructed to offer the alternative of either enlisting for the war, or for three years. Those who engaged on the first conditions were promised a hundred acres of land, in addition to their pay and bounty. The troops raised by Congress for the service of the United States were called continentals. Though in September, 1776, it had been resolved to raise eighty-eight battalions, and in December following, authority was given to General Washington to raise sixteen more, yet very little progress had been made in the recruiting business, till after the battles, of Trenton and Princeton. Even after that period, so much time was necessarily consumed before these new recruits joined the commander-in-chief, that his whole force at Morristown, and the several outposts, for some time, did not exceed fifteen hundred men. Yet, what is almost incredible, these fifteen hundred men kept as many thousands of the British closely pent up in Brunswick. Almost every party that was sent out by the latter, was successfully opposed by the former, and the adjacent country preserved in a great degree of tranquillity.

It was matter of astonishment, that the British suffered the dangerous interval between the disbanding of one army, and the raising of another, to pass away without attempting something of consequence against the remaining shadow of an armed force. Hitherto there had been a deficiency of arms and ammunition, as well as of men, but in the spring of 1777, a vessel of twenty-four guns arrived from France at Portsmouth in New Hampshire, with upwards of eleven thousand stand of arms, and one thousand barrels of powder. Ten thousand stand of arms arrived about the same time, in another part of the United States.

Before the royal army took the field, in prosecution of the main business of the campaign, two enterprises for the destruction of American stores were undertaken, in an opposite direction to what proved eventually to be the theatre of the operations of Sir William Howe. The first was conducted by Colonel Bird, the second by Major General Tryon. The former landed with about five hundred men at Peekskill, near fifty miles from New York. [March 23.] General Washington had repeatedly cautioned the commissaries not to suffer large quantities of provisions to be near the water, in such places as were accessible to shipping, but his prudent advice had not been regarded. The few Americans under General McDougal, who were stationed as a guard at Peekskill, on the approach of Colonel Bird, fired the principal storehouses, and retired to a good position, about two or three miles distant. The loss of provisions, forage, and other valuable articles, was considerable. Major-General Tryon, with a detachment of two thousand men, embarked at New York, and passing through the Sound, landed between Fairfield and Norwalk. [April 26.] They advanced through the country without interruption, and arrived in about twenty hours at Danbury. On their approach, the few continentals who were in the town withdrew from it. The British began to burn and destroy, but abstained from injuring the property of such as were reputed tories. Eighteen houses, eight hundred barrels of pork and beef, eight hundred barrels of flour, two thousand bushels of grain, seventeen hundred tents, and some other articles were lost to the Americans. Generals Wooster, Arnold, and Silliman having hastily collected a few hundred of the inhabitants, made arrangements for interrupting the march of the royal detachment, but the arms of those who came forward on this emergency were injured by excessive rains, and the men were worn down with a march of thirty miles in the course of a day. Such dispositions were nevertheless made, and such advantageous posts were taken, as enabled them greatly to annoy the invaders when returning to their ships. General, Arnold, with about five hundred men, by a rapid movement, reached Ridgefield in their front-barricaded the road, kept up a brisk fire upon them, and sustained their attack till they had made a lodgment on a ledge of rocks on his left. After the British had gained

this eminence, a whole platoon levelled at General Arnold, not more than thirty yards distant. His horse was killed, but he escaped. While he was extricating himself from his horse, a soldier advanced to run him through with a bayonet, but he shot him dead with his pistol, and afterwards got off safe. The Americans, in several detached parties, harassed the rear of the British, and from various stands kept up a scattering fire upon them till they reached their shipping.

The British accomplished the object of the expedition, but it cost them dear. They had nearly two hundred men killed, wounded, or taken. The loss of the Americans was about twenty killed and forty wounded. Among the former was Dr. Atwater, a gentleman of respectable character and considerable influence. Colonel Lamb was among the latter. General Wooster, though seventy years old, behaved with the vigour and spirit of youth. While gloriously defending the liberties of his country, he received a mortal wound. Congress resolved that a monument should be erected to his memory, as an acknowledgment of his merit and services. They also resolved, that a horse, properly caparisoned, should be presented to General Arnold, in their name, as a token of their approbation of his gallant conduct.

Not long after the excursion to Danbury, Colonel Meigs, an enterprising American officer, transported a detachment of about one hundred and seventy Americans, in whale-boats, over the Sound which separates Long Island from Connecticut, and burned several brigs and sloops belonging to the British, and destroyed a large quantity of forage and other articles collected for their use in Sagg-Harbour, on that island-killed six of their soldiers, and brought off ninety prisoners, without having a single man either killed or wounded. The colonel and his party returned to Guilford in twenty-five hours from the time of their departure, having in that short space not only completed the object of their expedition, but traversed by land and water a space not less than ninety miles. Congress ordered an elegant sword to he presented to Colonel Meigs for his good conduct in this expedition.

As the season advanced, the American army in New Jersey was reinforced by the successive arrival of recruits, but nevertheless, at the opening of the campaign, it amounted only to eight thousand three hundred and seventy-eight, of whom nearly two thousand were sick.

Great pains had been taken to recruit the British army with American levies. A commission of brigadier-general had been conferred on Mr. Oliver Delancey, a loyalist of great influence in New York, and he was authorized to raise three battalions. Every effort had been made to raise the men, both within and without the British lines, and also from among the American prisoners, but with all these exertions only five hundred and ninety-seven were procured. Mr. Courtland Skinner, a loyalist well

known in Jersey, was also appointed a brigadier, and authorized to raise ave battalions. Great efforts were also made to procure recruits for his command, but their whole number amounted only to five hundred and

seventeen.

Towards the latter end of May, General Washington quitted his winter encampment at Morristown, and took a strong position at Middlebrook. Soon after this movement was effected, the British marched from Brunswick, and extended their van as far as Somerset Court-house, but in a few days returned to their former station. This sudden change was probably owing to the unexpected opposition which seemed to be collecting from all quarters, for the Jersey militia turned out in a very spirited manner to oppose them. Six months before, that same army marched through New Jersey without being fired upon, and even small parties of them had safely patrolled the country at a distance from their camp; but experience having proved that British protections were no security for property, the inhabitants generally resolved to try the effects of resistance, in preference to a second submission. A fortunate mistake gave them an opportunity of assembling in great force on this emergency. Signals had been agreed on, and beacons erected in high places, with the view of communicating over the country instantaneous intelligence of the approach of the British. A few hours before the royal army began their march, the signal of alarm, on the foundation of a false report, had been hoisted. The farmers, with arms in their hands, ran to the place of rendezvous from considerable distances. They had set out at least twelve hours before the British, and on their appearance were collected in formidable numbers. Whether Sir William Howe intended to force his way through the country to the Delaware, and afterwards to Philadelphia, or to attack the American army, is uncertain, but whatever was his design, he thought proper suddenly to relinquish it, and fell back to Brunswick. The British army, on their retreat, burned and destroyed the farm-houses on the road, nor did they spare those build ings which were dedicated to the service of the Deity.

Sir William Howe, after his retreat to Brunswick, endeavoured to provoke General Washington to an engagement, and left no manœuvre untried that was calculated to induce him to quit his position. At one time he appeared as if he intended to push on without regarding the army opposed to him. At another he accurately examined the situation of the American encampment, hoping that some unguarded part might be found on which an attack might be made that would open the way to a general engagement. All these hopes were frustrated. General Washington knew the full value of his situation. He had too much penetration to lose it from the circumvention of military manœuvres, and too much temper to be provoked to a dereliction of it. He was well apprized it was not the interest of his country to commit its fortune to a single action.

Sir William Howe suddenly relinquished his position in front of the Americans, and retired with his whole force to Amboy. The apparently retreating British were pursued by a considerable detachment of the American army, and General Washington advanced from Middlebrook to Quibbletown, to be near at hand for the support of his advanced parties. The British general immediately marched his army back from Amboy with great expedition, hoping to bring on a general action on equal ground, but he was disappointed. General Washington fell back, and posted his army in such an advantageous position, as compensated for the inferiority of his numbers. Sir William Howe was now fully convinced of the impossibility of compelling a general engagement on equal terms, and also satisfied that it would be too hazardous to attempt passing the Delaware while the country was in arms, and the main American army in full force in his rear. He therefore returned to Amboy, and thence passed over to Staten Island, resolving to prosecute the objects of the campaign by another route. During the period of these movements, the real designs of General Howe were involved in great obscurity. Though the season for military operations was advanced as far as the month of July, yet his determinate object could not be ascertained. Nothing on his part had hitherto taken place but alternately advancing and retreating. General Washington's embarrassment on this account was increased by intelligence which arrived, that Burgoyne was coming in great force towards New York, from Canada. Apprehending that Sir William Howe would ultimately move up the North River, and that his movements, which looked southwardly, were calculated to deceive, the American general detached a brigade to reinforce the northern division of his army. Successive advices of the advance of Burgoyne favoured the idea that a junction of the two royal armies near Albany was intended. Some movements were therefore made by General Washington towards Peekskill, and on the other side towards Trenton, while the main army was encamped near the Clove, in readiness to march either to the north or south, as the movements of Sir William Howe might require. At length the main body of the royal army, consisting of thirty-six British and Hessian battalions, with a regiment of light horse, and a loyal provincial corps, called the Queen's Rangers, and a powerful artillery, amounting in the whole to about sixteen thousand men, departed from Sandy Hook, and were reported to steer southwardly. About the time of this embarkation, a letter from Sir William Howe to General Burgoyne was intercepted. This contained intelligence that the British troops were destined to New Hampshire. The intended deception was so superficially veiled, that, in conjunction with the intelligence of the British embarkation, it produced a contrary effect. Within one hour after the reception of this intercepted letter, General Washington gave orders to his army to move to the southward, but he was nevertheless so much impressed with a conviction, that