ith a very large force; the
main body of the Americans was to the north; while to the south was this
little band of 4,000, far away from their army and in a position to be
trapped by the British. Had the British officers at once decided to
stretch their men across the island, the 4,000 would have been penned
up on the lower part and would have been made prisoners. It therefore
seemed to Putnam's men that there was but one way for them to escape
capture, and that was by slipping past the British who rested at Murray
house and joining the main army on Harlem Heights.

The Murrays understood the condition of affairs, so they were
particularly cordial to their British guests and detained them as long
as they could at dinner. They were still feasting when General Putnam
started his 4,000 men marching toward the north.

[Illustration: Howe's Head-Quarters, Beekman House.]

He galloped far in advance, for the country was rough and his soldiers
could walk but slowly. He galloped north, and Washington, hanging to the
rear of the retreating troops from Kip's Bay, the generals met where two
roads crossed, close by where Broadway now crosses Forty-third Street.
Washington instructed Putnam to hurry his 4,000 on before they were
irretrievably cut off from the main army. They did hurry on. They drew
near the Murray house; they formed a line two miles long that moved
silently over the road that led them to within half a mile of where the
British soldiers were feasting. The line passed this point. Scarcely had
the last man gone by when the British were on the move, half an hour too
late for the capture of 4,000 prisoners.

Now the American forces were all together in a solid mass, moving toward
the upper end of the island; plodding through pouring rain, almost
dropping from the exhaustion of their long march--but safe.

This same night a division of the British soldiers occupied New York.
The others, close on the heels of the American army, waited for the
morning.

CHAPTER XXVII

THE BATTLE of HARLEM HEIGHTS

When the sun rose next morning (it was September 16th), the American
army and the British army lay encamped each on a highland close beside
one another separated by a valley.

The ground occupied by the British soldiers was then Vandewater Heights.
Much of this high ground still remains and is now called Columbia
Heights, and Columbia University and Grant's Tomb are upon it. The
American forces were scattered ov