in the rights and duties of British
subjects. All were to be ready to take up arms at a moment's notice.
Those who had families were to form a militia for home defence. Those
who had none were to serve with the royal forces. All who should
neglect to return to their allegiance, or should refuse to take up
arms against the independence of their country, were to be considered
as rebels and treated accordingly.

Having struck a blow, which, as he conceived, was to insure the
subjugation of the South, Sir Henry embarked for New York on the 5th
of June with a part of his forces, leaving the residue under the
command of Lord Cornwallis who was to carry the war into North
Carolina and thence into Virginia.

CHAPTER LV.
MARAUDS IN THE JERSEYS.--THE FRENCH FLEET AT NEWPORT.

A handbill published by the British authorities in New York reached
Washington's camp on the 1st of June, and made known the surrender of
Charleston. [With this intelligence came reports of a large fleet
entering Sandy Hook, which was supposed to be the return of Sir Henry
with the whole or part of his force.] The report proved to be
erroneous, but on the 6th of June came a new alarm. The enemy, it was
said, were actually landing in force at Elizabethtown Point, to carry
fire and sword into the Jerseys! It was even so. Knyphausen, through
spies and emissaries, had received exaggerated accounts of the recent
outbreak in Washington's camp and of the general discontent among the
people of New Jersey, and was persuaded that a sudden show of military
protection, following up the news of the capture of Charleston, would
produce a general desertion among Washington's troops, and rally back
the inhabitants of the Jerseys to their allegiance to the crown.

In this belief he projected a descent into the Jerseys with about five
thousand men, and some light artillery, who were to cross in divisions
in the night of the 5th of June from Staten Island to Elizabethtown
Point. The first division, led by Brigadier-general Sterling, actually
landed before dawn of the 6th, and advanced as silently as possible.
The heavy and measured tramp of the troops, however, caught the ear of
an American sentinel stationed at a fork where the roads from the old
and new point joined. He challenged the dimly descried mass as it
approached, and receiving no answer, fired into it. That shot wounded
General Sterling in the thigh, and ultimately proved mortal. The
wounded general wa