e Jersey coast to watch the hostile fleet. Setting off
promptly, Hunn had reached the shore, near Little Egg Harbor, by two
o'clock of Friday, the 25th, and thence he rode slowly down to Cape May,
not seeing any of the ships, however, until the 30th, when, after three
days of "thick" weather, some of them came into the view of observers on
both capes of the Delaware. From the Delaware side, at ten in the
morning, that truculent Sussex Whig, Henry Fisher, had discerned two
hundred and twenty-eight sail, and he sent off an express to ride with
might and main, up the forest roads by Dover and Cantwell's Bridge, to
Wilmington, and so to Philadelphia. Leaving the cape at ten in the
morning, the messenger reached Chester at a quarter before six in the
afternoon, and thence hurried on.

Hunn, too, saw the ships from his post on Cape May, and only the need of
being brief is reason for not giving here his quaint and badly-spelled
despatches, which, however, in spite of imperfect orthography,
sufficiently told the movements of the fleet.

July 31st the ships were still in the offing, but the next day not one
could be seen from the Delaware capes. Howe had sailed away for the
ampler waters of the Chesapeake, though the change of plan involved
further delay on shipboard and exposure to the dangers of a greatly
lengthened voyage. August 7th his ships were seen beating down the coast
toward Cape Charles, but, encountering adverse winds, it was some ten
days later before they were heard of inside the great bay.

Washington had already moved from New Jersey, and on the 24th of August
he set forth from Philadelphia, riding at the head of his troops, who,
as they marched through the streets, were decorated with sprays of green
and watched by great crowds. With him rode the marquis de la Fayette,
and other foreign officers of renown accompanied the march--Pulaski, the
gallant Pole, the marquis de la Rouerie, and Louis de Fleury, a young
and spirited compatriot of La Fayette, on duty with Stirling's division.

Part of the army, including the division of General Stephen, had
preceded the commander's march to Chester, and at that place General
Armstrong had been for some days gathering the Pennsylvania militia.
There moved with Washington the remaining divisions of the army under
Sullivan, Stirling, Wayne and Greene, the artillery alone excepted.
This, General Nash was to place upon flatboats at Philadelphia, and so
float down to Chester.