d of the road, and in connection with Fort Greene was depended
upon to defend the centre of the line.

[Footnote 41: "_Force_," Fifth Series, vol. ii., p. 202.]

FORT PUTNAM.--From the Oblong Redoubt, the line ascended
north-easterly to the top of the hill included in Washington Park,
where the fourth in the chain of works was erected. This was Fort
Putnam. Star-shaped like Fort Greene, it was somewhat smaller than the
latter, and mounted four or five garrison guns. Its strong natural
position, however, made it the salient point of the line, and it
became, as will be seen, the main object of attack by the British
during and after the battle.[42] The fort may have taken its name, as
usually supposed, from Major-General Israel Putnam; but it is
altogether more probable that it was named after Colonel Rufus Putnam,
the chief engineer, who marked out many of the works on Long Island as
well as in New York, and who must have frequently crossed to give
directions in their construction.

[Footnote 42: Mr. Field states that the site of Fort Putnam was
unfortunately overlooked by the high ground east of it, Greene and his
engineers probably not noticing the fact until after the woods were
cut down. The official surveys of the ground, made before it was
levelled, show no such commanding elevation, the Fort Putnam Hill
being as high as any _within range_; nor can we credit Greene or his
officers with fortifying a point which was untenable, or with not
observing that it was untenable. As the engineers of 1812 occupied the
same site, it could be safely concluded, were no surveys preserved,
that it was entirely defensible.]

REDOUBT ON THE LEFT.--At the eastern termination of the hill, a short
distance from Fort Putnam, and on a lower grade, stood the last of the
works, which is identified in the orders and letters of the day as the
"redoubt on the left." It was a small affair, and occupied a point at
about the middle of the present Cumberland Street, nearly midway
between Willoughby and Myrtle avenues; but in 1776 the site was twenty
feet higher, and appeared as a well-defined spur extending out from
Fort Putnam. As it was commanded by the latter, its capture by the
enemy would bring them no advantage, while as an American defence it
could materially assist in protecting the left.

Between these five works a line of connecting intrenchments was laid
out, while on the right it was to be continued from Fort Box to the
marsh, and