* * * * * * *

The situation of Sir Henry Clinton must have been mortifying in the
extreme to an officer of lofty ambition and generous aims. His force,
between sixteen and seventeen thousand strong, was superior in number,
discipline, and equipment to that of Washington; yet his instructions
confined him to a predatory warfare carried on by attacks and marauds
at distant points, harassing, it is true, yet irritating to the
country intended to be conciliated, and brutalizing to his own
soldiery. Such was the nature of an expedition set on foot against the
commerce of the Chesapeake; by which commerce the armies were supplied
and the credit of the government sustained. On the 9th of May, a
squadron under Sir George Collier, convoying transports and galleys,
with twenty-five hundred men, commanded by General Mathews, entered
these waters, took possession of Portsmouth without opposition, sent
out armed parties against Norfolk, Suffolk, Gosport, Kemp's Landing,
and other neighboring places, where were immense quantities of
provisions, naval and military stores, and merchandise of all kinds;
with numerous vessels, some on the stocks, others richly laden.
Wherever they went, a scene of plunder, conflagration, and destruction
ensued. A few days sufficed to ravage the whole neighborhood.

While this was going on at the South, Washington received intelligence
of movements at New York and in its vicinity, which made him apprehend
an expedition against the Highlands of the Hudson. Since the loss of
Forts Montgomery and Clinton, the main defences of the Highlands had
been established at the sudden bend of the river where it winds
between West Point and Constitution Island. Two opposite forts
commanded this bend, and an iron chain which was stretched across it.

Washington had projected two works also just below the Highlands, at
Stony Point and Verplanck's Point, to serve as outworks of the
mountain passes, and to protect King's Ferry, the most direct and
convenient communication between the Northern and Middle States. A
small but strong fort had been erected on Verplanck's Point, and was
garrisoned by seventy men under Captain Armstrong. A more important
work was in progress at Stony Point. When completed, these two forts,
on opposite promontories, would form as it were the lower gates of the
Highlands. To be at hand in case of any real attempt upon the
Highlands, Washington drew up with his forces