red off the Hook, stood quietly in at the
Narrows, and dropped anchor in the bay. On the 29th of June an express
from the look-out on Staten Island, announced that forty sail were in
sight. They were, in fact, ships from Halifax, bringing between nine
and ten thousand of the troops recently expelled from Boston; together
with six transports filled with Highland troops, which had joined the
fleet at sea. At sight of this formidable armament standing into the
harbor, Washington instantly sent notice of its arrival to Colonel
James Clinton, who had command of the posts in the Highlands, and
urged all possible preparations to give the enemy a warm reception
should they push their frigates up the river. Other arrivals swelled
the number of ships in the bay of New York to one hundred and thirty
men-of-war and transports. They made no movement to ascend the Hudson,
but anchored off Staten Island, where they landed their troops, and
the hill sides were soon whitened with their tents.

Washington beheld the gathering storm with an anxious eye, aware that
General Howe only awaited the arrival of his brother, the admiral, to
commence hostile operations. He wrote to the President of Congress,
urging a call on the Massachusetts government for its quota of
continental troops; and the formation of a flying camp of ten thousand
men, to be stationed in the Jerseys as a central force, ready to act
in any direction as circumstances might require. On the 2d of July he
issued a general order, calling upon the troops to prepare for a
momentous conflict which was to decide their liberties and fortunes.
Those who should signalize themselves by acts of bravery would be
noticed and rewarded; those who proved craven would be exposed and
punished.

About this time, we have the first appearance in the military ranks of
the Revolution of one destined to take an active and distinguished
part in public affairs; and to leave the impress of his genius on the
institutions of the country. As General Greene one day, on his way to
Washington's head-quarters, was passing through a field--then on the
outskirts of the city, now in the heart of its busiest quarter, and
known as "the Park,"--he paused to notice a provincial company of
artillery, and was struck with its able performances, and with the
tact and talent of its commander. He was a mere youth, apparently
about twenty years of age; small in person and stature, but remarkable
for his alert and manly b