ost two of his captains, killed. Ritzema's New York
Continentals suffered the most, having made a brave fight.
Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel B. Webb, of Wethersfield, Ct., one of
Washington's aids, who had shown his coolness under fire on Bunker
Hill, was slightly wounded and had a horse shot under him while
carrying orders.[214]

[Footnote 214: Statement of his son, General James Watson Webb, of New
York.]

This affair on Chatterton's Hill is known as the Battle of White
Plains. On the side of the Americans, not more than sixteen hundred
troops were engaged, but the action was an important one, as it had
the effect of changing the direction of future operations.[215]

[Footnote 215: The details of the various movements in Westchester
County would fill a long and interesting chapter; but in the present
connection not more than an outline can be attempted.]

On the following day, the 29th, Howe waited for reinforcements. On the
30th, the rain postponed an intended attack. On the 31st the weather
proved fine about noon, but the British General "did not think proper
to put his former intentions in execution." The next morning, November
1st, there was a further excuse for not attacking: Washington during
the night had fallen back to the almost unassailable heights of North
Castle, in his rear. Howe was thus again baffled in his attempt to
bring the Americans to a decisive engagement, or to surround them, and
he now turned his attention to another line of campaign. Stedman, the
British historian, probably gives the correct reason why Washington
was not followed. The American position, he says, was now "so
advantageous that any attack on them must have proved unsuccessful,
for the river Croton stretched along their front, and their rear was
defended by woods and heights. Convinced that it was part of the
enemy's system studiously to avoid an action, and that their knowledge
of the country enabled them to execute this system with advantage,
General Howe resolved to cease an ineffectual pursuit, and employ
himself in the reduction of King's Bridge and Fort Washington." This
accomplished, he could then push on to Philadelphia and close the
year's operations with the occupation of that place. The capture of
two cities, the successive defeats inflicted upon the Americans, and
the good prospect of ending the rebellion in the next campaign, would
be a brilliant military record with which to gratify the home
government.

FORT WA