t of "Rangers,"[195] or
volunteers from the New England regiments, which had been organized
for scouting service since the battle of Long Island, and placed under
the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Knowlton, of Connecticut. No
better man could have been found in the army to head such a corps, for
he had proved his courage at Bunker Hill, and on more than one
occasion since had shown his capacity for leadership. The detachment
started out, not more than one hundred and twenty strong, and passing
over to the Bloomingdale heights, marched for the Bloomingdale Road,
where the enemy were last seen the night before.

[Footnote 194: The centennial anniversary of this battle was
celebrated in 1876, under the auspices of the New York Historical
Society. The oration delivered on the occasion by the Hon. John Jay
has been published by the Society, with an appendix containing a large
number of documents bearing upon the affair, the whole making a
valuable contribution to our Revolutionary history.]

[Footnote 195: THE RANGERS.--The small corps known by this name
consisted, first, as already stated, of about one hundred men of
Durkee's Connecticut Regiment (Twentieth Continentals), who appear to
have accompanied Lieutenant-Colonel Knowlton, of that regiment, when
he went on any special service. These he took with him to Long Island.
After the battle there the Rangers were formally organized as a
separate body, composed of volunteer officers and men from several of
the New England regiments. These were borne on their respective
regimental rolls as detached "on command." For captains, Knowlton had
at least three excellent officers, men from his own region, whom he
knew and could trust--Nathan Hale, of Charles Webb's regiment, and
Stephen Brown and Thomas Grosvenor, of his own. The rolls in _Force_
show that there were officers and men in the Rangers from Durkee's,
Webb's, Chester's, Wyllys', and Tyler's Connecticut; Ward's and
Sargent's Massachusetts; and Varnum's Rhode Island. For a time they
received orders directly from Washington and then from Putnam, and
were of great service to the army in watching the enemy along the
Harlem front. They distinguished themselves on the 16th, and later in
the season, when Colonel Magaw was in command of Fort Washington, he
begged to have the Rangers remain with him, as he declared that they
were the only safe protection to the lines. (Greene to Washington.)
They remained and were taken pri