enix did not shake his faith. None of his letters
written during the summer disclose any such misgivings as Lee
expressed, respecting the possibility of maintaining this base, and in
attempting to hold it he followed out his own best military judgment.

[Footnote 105: "Till of late I had no doubt in my own mind of
defending this place."--_Washington to Congress_, September 2d, 1776.]

What occasioned the principal anxiety in the mind of the
commander-in-chief was the number of points at which the British could
make an attack and their distance from one another. They could advance
into New Jersey from Staten Island; they could make a direct attack
upon the city with their fleet, while the transports sailed up the
Hudson and the troops effected a landing in his rear; they could cross
to Long Island and fall upon Greene in force; or they could make
landings at different points as feints, and then concentrate more
rapidly than Washington, as their water carriage would enable them to
do, and strike where he was weakest.[106]

[Footnote 106: "Before the landing of the enemy in Long Island, the
point of attack could not be known, nor any satisfactory judgment
formed of their intentions. It might be on Long Island, on Bergen, or
directly on the city."--_Washington to Congress_, September 9th,
1776.]

The summer and the campaign season were passing, and still the
uncertainty was protracted--when and where will the enemy attack?

CHAPTER IV.

THE BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND.

At length, upon the twenty-second of August, after days of expectation
and suspense in the American camp, the British moved forward.
Thoroughly informed of Washington's position, the strength of his
army, and the condition of his lines at every point,[107] Lord Howe
matured his plan of action deliberately, and decided to advance by way
of Long Island. An attack from this quarter promised the speediest
success and at the least cost, for, should he be able to force the
defences of Brooklyn, New York would be at his mercy; or, failing in
this, he could threaten Washington's flank from Hell Gate or beyond,
where part of the fleet had been sent through the Sound, and by a push
into Westchester County compel the evacuation of the city.
Preparations were accordingly made to transport the troops from Staten
Island across to the Long Island coast and debark them at Gravesend
Bay, a mile to the eastward of the Narrows. A thunder-storm of great
violence on t