given
notice to Washington of the time he supposed the different posts would
be vacated, that the Americans might be prepared to take possession of
them. On the 21st the British troops were drawn in from the
oft-disputed post of King's Bridge and from M'Gowan's Pass, also from
the various posts on the eastern part of Long Island. Paulus Hook was
relinquished on the following day, and the afternoon of the 25th of
November was appointed by Sir Guy for the evacuation of the city and
the opposite village of Brooklyn.

Washington, in the meantime, had taken his station at Harlem,
accompanied by Governor Clinton, who, in virtue of his office, was to
take charge of the city. They found there General Knox with the
detachment from West Point. Sir Guy Carleton had intimated a wish that
Washington would be at hand to take immediate possession of the city,
and prevent all outrage, as he had been informed of a plot to plunder
the place whenever the king's troops should be withdrawn. He had
engaged, also, that the guards of the redoubts on the East River,
covering the upper part of the town, should be the first to be
withdrawn, and that an officer should be sent to give Washington's
advanced guard information of their retiring.

Although Washington doubted the existence of any such plot as that
which had been reported to the British commander, yet he took
precautions accordingly. On the morning of the 25th the American
troops, composed of dragoons, light infantry and artillery, moved from
Harlem to the Bowery at the upper part of the city. There they
remained until the troops in that quarter were withdrawn, when they
marched into the city and took possession, the British embarking from
the lower parts. A formal entry then took place of the military and
civil authorities.

{Illustration: ROOM IN FRAUNCES' TAVERN. Vol. IV.}

In the course of a few days Washington prepared to depart for
Annapolis, where Congress was assembling, with the intention of asking
leave to resign his command. A barge was in waiting about noon on the
4th of December at Whitehall ferry to convey him across the Hudson to
Paulus Hook. The principal officers of the army assembled at Fraunces'
Tavern, in the neighborhood of the ferry, to take a final leave of
him. On entering the room, and finding himself surrounded by his old
companions in arms, who shared with him so many scenes of hardship,
difficulty, and danger, his agitated feelings overcame his usual
se