On the 18th of August, Lee set out on the expedition, at the head of
three hundred men of Lord Stirling's division, and a troop of
dismounted dragoons under Captain McLane. It was between two and three
in the morning when he arrived at the creek. It happened, fortunately,
that Major Sutherland, the British commander, had the day before
detached a foraging party under a Major Buskirk to a part of the
country called the English Neighborhood. As Lee and his men approached
they were mistaken by the sentinel for this party on its return. The
darkness of the night favored the mistake. They passed the creek and
ditch, entered the works unmolested, and had made themselves masters
of the post before the negligent garrison were well roused from sleep.
Major Sutherland and about sixty Hessians threw themselves into a
small block-house on the left of the fort and opened an irregular
fire. To attempt to dislodge them would have cost too much time. Alarm
guns from the ships in the river and the forts at New York threatened
speedy reinforcements to the enemy. Having made one hundred and
fifty-nine prisoners, among whom were three officers, Lee commenced
his retreat, without tarrying to destroy either barracks or artillery.
Few of the enemy were slain, for there was but little fighting and no
massacre. His own loss was two men killed and three wounded.

The arrival of Admiral Arbuthnot, with a fleet bringing three thousand
troops and a supply of provisions and stores, strengthened the hands
of Sir Henry Clinton. Still he had not sufficient force to warrant any
further attempt up the Hudson, Washington, by his diligence in
fortifying West Point, having rendered that fastness of the Highlands
apparently impregnable. Sir Henry turned his thoughts, therefore,
towards the South, hoping by a successful expedition in that direction
to counterbalance ill success in other quarters.

At this juncture news was received of the arrival of the Count
D'Estaing with a formidable fleet on the coast of Georgia, having made
a successful cruise in the West Indies, in the course of which he had
taken St. Vincent's and Granada. A combined attack upon New York was
again talked of. In anticipation of it, Washington called upon several
of the Middle States for supplies of all kinds, and reinforcements of
militia. Sir Henry Clinton also changed his plans; caused Rhode Island
to be evacuated; the troops and stores to be brought away; the
garrisons brought off