gether, and enjoin them to put
a stop to the irregularities which he had observed among the troops.
In the meantime, the enemy were augmenting their forces on the island.
Two brigades of Hessians, under Lieutenant-general De Heister, were
transferred from the camp on Staten Island on the 25th. This movement
did not escape the vigilant eye of Washington. He now concluded that
the enemy were about to make a push with their main force for the
possession of Brooklyn Heights. He accordingly sent over additional
reinforcements, and among them Colonel John Haslet's well equipped and
well disciplined Delaware regiment; which was joined to Lord
Stirling's brigade, chiefly composed of Southern troops, and stationed
outside of the lines.

On the 26th he crossed over to Brooklyn, accompanied by Reed, the
adjutant-general. There was much movement among the enemy's troops,
and their number was evidently augmented. In fact. General De Heister
had reached Flatbush with his Hessians, and taken command of the
centre; whereupon Sir Henry Clinton, with the right wing, drew off to
Flatlands, in a diagonal line to the right of De Heister, while the
left wing, commanded by General Grant, extended to the place of
landing on Gravesend Bay.

Washington remained all day, aiding General Putnam with his counsels,
who, new to the command, had not been able to make himself well
acquainted with the fortified posts beyond the lines. In the evening,
Washington returned to the city, full of anxious thought. A general
attack was evidently at hand. Where would it be made? How would his
inexperienced troops stand the encounter? What would be the defence of
the city if assailed by the ships? It was a night of intense
solicitude, and well might it be; for during that night a plan was
carried into effect, fraught with disaster to the Americans.

The plan to which we allude was concerted by General Howe, the
commander-in-chief. Sir Henry Clinton with the vanguard, composed of
the choicest troops, was, by a circuitous march in the night to throw
himself into the road leading from Jamaica to Bedford, seize upon a
pass through the Bedford Hills, within three miles of that village,
and thus turn the left of the American advanced posts. To divert the
attention of the Americans from this stealthy march on their left,
General Grant was to menace their right flank toward Gravesend before
daybreak, and General De Heister to cannonade their centre, where
Colonel Hand