Little, expecting that
"morning would bring us to battle," and remembering his promise to
defend Fort Greene to the last extremity, enclosed his will to his
son, and directed him in a certain event to take proper charge at
home.

[Footnote 112: Livingston sent a spy to Staten Island on the night of
the 20th, who brought word that the British were embarking, and would
attack on Long Island and up the North River. Washington received the
information during the storm on the following evening, and immediately
sent word to Heath at King's Bridge that the enemy were upon "the
point of striking the long-expected stroke." The next morning, the
22d, he wrote again instructing Heath to pick out "eight hundred or a
thousand, light, active men, and good marksmen," ready to move rapidly
wherever they were most needed; and he promised to send him some
artillery, "if," he continues, "we have not other employment upon
hand, which General Putnam, who is this instant come in, seems to
think we assuredly shall, this day, as there is a considerable
embarkation on board of the enemy's boats." (_Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll._,
volume for 1878. The Heath correspondence.) On the same date
Washington wrote to Hancock: "The falling down of several ships
yesterday evening to the Narrows, crowded with men, those succeeded by
many more this morning, and a great number of boats parading around
them, as I was just now informed, with troops, are all circumstances
indicating an attack, and it is not improbable it will be made to-day.
It could not have happened last night, by reason of a most violent
gust." (_Force_, 5th Series, vol. i., p. 1110). On the 21st, Colonel
Hand at the Narrows reported three times to General Nixon that the
British transports were filling with men and moving down, and the
reports were sent to Washington. These facts show how closely the
enemy were watched. The embarkation was known at headquarters early on
the morning of the 22d, before the landing was made on Long Island.]

[Footnote 113: Washington wrote to Heath the next day: "Our first
accounts were that they intended by a forced march to surprise General
Sullivan's lines, who commands during the illness of General Greene;
whereupon I immediately reinforced that post with six regiments."
Miles, Silliman, and Chester's adjutant, Tallmadge, state that their
regiments were among the first to cross after the enemy landed.
Sullivan's orders of the 25th and other records seem to indi