st of December, and, like the other six months men, had
already abandoned the army in great numbers. No hope existed of
retaining the remnant after they should possess a legal right to be
discharged; and there was not much probability of supplying their
places with other militia. To New England he looked with anxious hope;
and his requisitions on those states received prompt attention. Six
thousand militia from Massachusetts, and a considerable body from
Connecticut, were ordered to his assistance; but some delay in
assembling them was unavoidable, and their march was arrested by the
appearance of the enemy in their immediate neighbourhood.

[Footnote 49: See note No. VII. at the end of the volume.]

Three thousand men, conducted by Sir Henry Clinton, who were embarked
on board a fleet commanded by Sir Peter Parker, sailed late in
November from New York, and, without much opposition, took possession
of Newport. This invasion excited serious alarm in Massachusetts and
Connecticut, and these states retained for their own defence, the
militia who had been embodied at the instance of the
Commander-in-chief.

Not intending to maintain his present position, General Washington had
placed some regiments along the Hackensack to afford the semblance of
defending its passage until his stores could be removed; and, with the
residue of the troops, crossed the Passaic, and took post at Newark.
Soon after he had marched, Major General Vaughan appeared before the
new bridge over Hackensack. The American detachment which had been
left in the rear, being unable to defend it, broke it down, and
retired before him over the Passaic.

[Sidenote: Ineffectual attempts to raise the militia.]

Having entered the open country, General Washington determined to halt
a few days on the south side of this river, make some show of
resistance, and endeavour to collect such a force as would keep up the
semblance of an army. His letters, not having produced such exertions
as the public exigencies required, he deputed General Mifflin to the
government of Pennsylvania, and Colonel Reid, his Adjutant General, to
the government of New Jersey, with orders to represent the real
situation of the army, and the certainty that, without great
reinforcements, Philadelphia must fall into the hands of the enemy,
and the state of Jersey be overrun.

While thus endeavouring to strengthen himself with militia, he pressed
General Lee to hasten his march, and ca