n camp with part of the
troops which had been stationed at Fort Washington and King's Bridge.
He brought with him Shee's prime Philadelphia regiment, and Magaw's
Pennsylvania regiment, both well disciplined and officered, and
accustomed to act together. They were so much reduced in number,
however, by sickness, that they did not amount in the whole to more
than eight hundred men. With Mifflin came also Colonel Glover's
Massachusetts regiment, composed chiefly of Marblehead fishermen and
sailors, hardy, adroit, and weather-proof; trimly clad in blue jackets
and trousers. The detachment numbered, in the whole, about thirteen
hundred men, all fresh and full of spirits. They were posted at the
left extremity of the intrenchments towards the Wallabout.

There were skirmishes throughout the day between the riflemen on the
advanced posts and the British "irregulars," which at times were quite
severe; but no decided attack was attempted. The main body of the
enemy kept within their tents until the latter part of the day; when
they began to break ground at about five hundred yards distance from
the works, as if preparing to carry them by regular approaches.

On the 29th there was a dense fog over the island, that wrapped
everything in mystery. In the course of the morning, General Mifflin,
with Adjutant-general Reed, and Colonel Grayson of Virginia, one of
Washington's aides-de-camp, rode to the western outposts, in the
neighborhood of Red Hook. While they were there, a light breeze lifted
the fog from a part of the New York Bay, and revealed the British
ships at their anchorage opposite Staten Island. There appeared to be
an unusual bustle among them. Boats were passing to and from the
admiral's ship, as if seeking or carrying orders. Some movement was
apparently in agitation. The idea occurred to the reconnoitring party
that the fleet was preparing, should the wind hold and the fog clear
away, to come up the bay at the turn of the tide, silence the feeble
batteries at Red Hook and the city, and anchor in the East River. In
that case the army on Long Island would be completely surrounded and
entrapped.

Alarmed at this perilous probability, they spurred back to
head-quarters, to urge the immediate withdrawal of the army. As this
might not be acceptable advice, Reed, emboldened by his intimacy with
the commander-in-chief, undertook to give it. Washington instantly
summoned a council of war. The difficulty was already apparent