SHINGTON.

Howe broke up his camp near White Plains on November 5th, and marched
west to the Hudson at Dobb's Ferry. Knyphausen, who had lately arrived
with a second division of "foreigners," had already been despatched to
King's Bridge. After various movements and delays, the entire British
force also moved on the 12th to the immediate vicinity of the bridge,
and dispositions were made to attack and capture Fort Washington. On
the 15th, Howe sent a summons for the surrender of the fort, in which
he intimated that a refusal to comply would justify the putting of the
garrison to the sword.

The commander of Fort Washington was Colonel Robert Magaw, of
Pennsylvania. In addition to his own regiment and Colonel Shee's, now
under Lieutenant-Colonel Cadwallader, he had with him several
detachments of troops from the Pennsylvania Flying Camp, under
Colonels Baxter, Swoope, and others, together with a Maryland rifle
battalion, under Colonel Rawlings, whose major was Otho Holland
Williams, an officer distinguished later in the war. The artillery
numbered about one hundred men, under Captain Pierce, and there were
also the "Rangers," parts of Miles's and Atlee's old regiments, such
as escaped the Long Island defeat, and about two hundred and fifty
from Bradley's Connecticut levies, many of whom were to die in
captivity. The whole force under Magaw numbered about twenty-eight
hundred officers and men. The ground they were expected to hold was
that part of Harlem Heights from the first of the three lines already
described, northward to the end of Laurel Hill on the Harlem, and the
hill west on the Hudson, a distance of two miles and a half.

At the lower lines at One Hundred and Forty-sixth Street,
Cadwallader's men, the Rangers, and some others were posted; at Laurel
Hill, Colonel Baxter, and west of him, at the northern termination of
the level summit of the ridge where Fort Washington stood, was Colonel
Rawlings. Magaw remained at the fort to direct movements during the
attack. The outer defences where the troops were stationed were to be
held as long as possible, while the fort and the intrenchments
immediately surrounding it were to be the point of retreat. Magaw
believed he could hold the post against almost any force until
December, and when the summons for a surrender reached him he returned
the following spirited reply:

"15 NOVEMBER, 1776.

"SIR: If I rightly understand the purport of your message
fr