ikewise made a
predatory and disgraceful foray from their lines at King's Bridge,
towards the American encampment at White Plains, plundering the
inhabitants without discrimination, not only of their provisions and
forage, but of the very clothes on their backs. None were more
efficient in this ravage than a party of about one hundred of Captain
Donop's Hessian yagers, and they were in full maraud between Tarrytown
and Dobbs' Ferry, when a detachment of infantry under Colonel Richard
Butler, and of cavalry under Major Henry Lee, came upon them by
surprise, killed ten of them on the spot, and captured a lieutenant
and eighteen privates.

The British detachments having accomplished the main objects of their
movements, returned to New York; leaving those parts of the country
they had harassed still more determined in their hostility, having
achieved nothing but what is least honorable and most detestable in
warfare.

About the middle of September Admiral Byron arrived at New York with
the residue of the scattered armament, which had sailed from England
in June to counteract the designs of the Count D'Estaing. Finding that
the count was still repairing his shattered fleet in the harbor of
Boston, he put to sea again as soon as his ships were refitted, and
set sail for that port to entrap him. Success seemed likely to crown
his schemes: he arrived off Boston on the 1st of November; his rival
was still in port. Scarce had the admiral entered the bay, however,
when another violent storm drove him out to sea, disabled his ships,
and compelled him to put into Rhode Island to refit. Meanwhile, the
count having his ships in good order, and finding the coast clear, put
to sea, and made the best of his way for the West Indies.

The force at New York, which had been an object of watchful
solicitude, was gradually dispersed in different directions.
Immediately after the departure of Admiral Byron for Boston, another
naval expedition had been set on foot by Sir Henry Clinton. All being
ready, a fleet of transports with five thousand men, under General
Grant, convoyed by Commodore Hotham with a squadron of six
ships-of-war, set sail on the 3d of November, with the secret design
of an attack on St. Lucia. Towards the end of the same month, another
body of troops, under Lieutenant-colonel Campbell, sailed for Georgia
in the squadron of Commodore Hyde Parker; the British cabinet having
determined to carry the war into the Southern Stat