ack. "I was
prevented from proceeding," says the captain, "by Coll Wardsworth and
Commissary Hughes who ordered your memorialist over with the sloop to
Long Island ferry where she was used to carry off the Troops and
stores after the unfortunate retreat, &c."--_N.Y. Hist. MS._, vol. i.,
p. 620.]

The final withdrawal of the troops from the lines was effected under
the cover of a plausible general order, which was the only one known
to have been issued by the commander-in-chief while on Long
Island.[168] This order now comes to light for the first time, and is
important as serving to correct the improbable though standard theory
that the regiments were moved from their posts under the impression
that they were to make a night attack upon the enemy.[169] The order
as actually given was far more rational, and less likely to excite
suspicion as to its true intent. In the first place, the sick, "being
an encumbrance to the army" were directed to be sent to the hospital,
their arms and accoutrements taken with them, and from there to be
conveyed across to New York and reported to Surgeon-General Morgan. In
the next place, the order announced that troops under General Mercer
were expected that afternoon from New Jersey, with whom it was
proposed to relieve a proportionate number of the regiments on Long
Island, and "make a change in the situation of them." In view of the
distressed condition of most of the troops at the lines, the propriety
of such a "change" was obvious; and in all probability Washington did
originally intend to make the relief. And last, as it was apparently
undecided what regiments were to be relieved, they were all, or the
greater part of them, directed "to parade with their arms,
accoutrements, and knapsacks, at 7 o'clock, at the head of their
encampments and there wait for orders." On the evening of the 29th,
accordingly, we find the troops ready at their camps and the lines to
march off at a moment's notice, and all prepared for a retreat by the
most natural arrangement that could have been devised to conceal the
real design.[170]

[Footnote 168: _Document_ 3. "General Orders. Head-Quarters Long
Island, Aug. 29, 1776. Parole, _Sullivan_, Countersign,
_Greene_."--_Col. Douglas' Order Book._]

[Footnote 169: All our principal accounts follow Graydon, who states
that the order to attack the enemy was given "regimentally." Colonel
Hand, in his letter describing the night's incidents (Reed's Life of
Ree