absolutely secure. In view of this, he
proposed to construct a system of defences that should have an
alternative object, namely, that in case they should prove inadequate
for the city's protection, they should at least be sufficient to
prevent the enemy from securing a permanent foothold in it.

Under this plan, the line of the East River required the principal
attention, as here it seemed possible to offer the best resistance to
British attempts upon the city. First, to cut off the enemy's
communication between the Sound and the river, it was proposed to
blockade the passage at Hell Gate by a fort on Horn's Hook, at the
foot of East Eighty-eighth Street, as well as by works opposite, on
the present Hallet's Point. A further object of these forts was to
secure safe transit between Long Island and New York. In the next
place, batteries were planned for both sides of the river at its
entrance into the harbor, where the city was chiefly exposed. On the
New York side, a battery was located at the foot of Catherine Street
at the intersection of Cherry, and where the river was narrowest. This
was called Waterbury's Battery. To cover its fire a stronger work was
ordered to be built on Rutgers' "first hill," just above, which was
named Badlam's Redoubt, after Captain Badlam, then acting as Lee's
chief artillery officer. Lower down a battery was sunk in a cellar on
Ten Eyck's wharf, Coenties Slip, a short distance below Wall Street,
and called Coenties Battery. These three, with part of the Grand
Battery and Fort George, included all the works planned by Lee to
guard the East River from the New York side.

In connection with these, works were laid out on the bank opposite on
Long Island, the importance of which was apparent. Not only was the
site well adapted for guns to sweep the channel and prevent the
enemy's ships from remaining in the river long enough to do the city
serious damage, but it also commanded the city, so as to make it
untenable by the British should they succeed in occupying it. This
bluff, "Columbia Heights," was in fact the key to the entire
situation. Lee considered its possession and security of "greater
importance" than New York; and to hold it he proposed establishing
there an intrenched camp[22] for three or four thousand men,
fortified by "a chain of redoubts mutually supporting each other." Of
these redoubts, one was located on the edge of the bluff opposite the
Coenties Battery, and stood on the li