note: _WASHINGTON'S RETREAT._]

An example of real slackness was being given by Howe at New York. He
should with the aid of the fleet have made a prompt effort to prevent
Washington from retreating from Manhattan island, and to cut off his
communications with Connecticut whence he was drawing supplies. Even
before occupying New York he might have conveyed his army by water to a
point from which White Plains, where the land begins to broaden out
rapidly, might have been reached with ease. He wasted four weeks of
precious time at New York, and did not embark his troops till October
12. Washington left his narrow position on Haarlem heights, gained White
Plains before him, and fortified his camp. Howe attacked him on the 28th
with the object of outflanking him. Although part of his army by a
frontal attack drove the American right from a strong position, this
success was fruitless as well as costly. The insurgents' centre was
weak, and if he had attacked it in force he might have crushed them
completely. He made no further attempt in that direction, and Washington
retreated to a good position behind Croton river. Howe returned to New
York. There, however, he dealt the Americans a serious blow. Fort
Washington, on Manhattan island, and Fort Lee, opposite to it on the
Jersey shore, were intended to bar the Hudson and so secure
communications with the country to the west of it. Congress, which often
interfered in military matters, ordered that Fort Washington should be
held, though in fact the forts did not prevent our ships from passing up
the river. On November 16 a well-planned attack was made upon the fort;
it was forced to surrender, and 2,858 prisoners, forty-three cannon, and
a large quantity of small arms were taken by the British.

Two days later Cornwallis took possession of Fort Lee, together with 140
cannon and stores of various kinds. He rapidly overran New Jersey.
Washington had been drawn down thither, and Lee, whom he left at the
Croton, failed to support him. He retreated hastily through New Jersey
with a force daily diminished by desertion. Cornwallis pressed upon him,
but was detained by Howe's orders for a week at Brunswick; and
Washington, who left Princeton only an hour before Cornwallis entered
it, had just time to convey his army, then reduced to some 3,300
men,[117] across the Delaware on December 8 before the British came up.
They were unable to follow him at once for no boats were left on the
easte