it could be drawn off at any time.
He believed, too, that the stores could be removed at the last moment,
in spite of an attack; and again he called attention to the advantage
of holding the post as an annoyance to the enemy. No further
communications passed on the subject, but Washington rode to the
Highlands, and, returning on the Jersey side of the Hudson, reached
Greene's headquarters at Fort Lee on the 14th, to find no steps taken
to withdraw men or stores from Mount Washington. Had the enemy in the
mean time invested and captured the fort, it is pertinent to inquire
whether Greene, having been acquainted with the distinct wishes of the
commander-in-chief not to hazard the post, could not have been justly
and properly charged with its loss. Washington's instructions were
discretionary only so far as related to the details or perhaps the
time of the evacuation; and to leave Greene free, he revoked the order
already given to Magaw to defend the fort to the last. Upon the
arrival of Washington at Fort Lee, however, one phase of the question
changed. By not renewing his instructions to evacuate the mount when
he found that nothing had been done in the case, or not making the
instructions peremptory, he entirely relieved Greene of the charge of
non-compliance, which could have been brought against him before. The
commander-in-chief was now present, and Greene was no longer under
instructions, discretionary or otherwise. Washington accepted the
situation as he now found it, and was reconsidering the propriety of a
total evacuation. Finding Greene, of whose military judgment he had "a
good opinion," strong in favor of holding the post, and others
agreeing with him, among whom evidently were Putnam, Mercer, and
Magaw, and knowing that Congress and the country would not easily be
reconciled to its abandonment, Washington hesitated for the moment to
enforce his own views and opinions. On the 14th and 15th, he still
delayed a final decision. So says Greene. "His Excellency General
Washington," he writes, "has been with me several days. The evacuation
or reinforcement of Fort Washington was under consideration, but
finally nothing concluded on;" and it was not until the morning of the
16th, just at the time of the attack, that they all went over to the
fort "to determine what was best to be done." This clearly settles the
fact that Greene was not under instructions at the time of the
surrender of the post.

But at the same t