of
guarding such extensive works with troops fatigued and dispirited, and
exposed to the inclemencies of the weather. Other dangers now
presented themselves. Their communication with New York might be cut
off by the fleet from below. Other ships had passed round Long Island,
and were at Flushing Bay on the Sound. These might land troops on the
east side of Harlem River, and make themselves masters of King's
Bridge; that key of Manhattan Island. Taking all these things into
consideration, it was resolved to cross with the troops to the city
that very night.

Never did retreat require greater secrecy and circumspection. Nine
thousand men, with all the munitions of war, were to be withdrawn from
before a victorious army, encamped so near that every stroke of spade
and pickaxe from their trenches could be heard. The retreating troops,
moreover, were to be embarked and conveyed across a strait
three-quarters of a mile wide, swept by rapid tides. The least alarm
of their movement would bring the enemy upon them, and produce a
terrible scene of confusion and carnage at the place of embarkation.
Washington made the preparatory arrangements with great alertness, yet
profound secrecy. Verbal orders were sent to Colonel Hughes, who acted
as quartermaster-general, to impress all water craft, largo and small,
from Spyt den Duivel on the Hudson round to Hell Gate on the Sound,
and have them on the east side of the city by evening. The order was
issued at noon, and so promptly executed that, although some of the
vessels had to be brought a distance of fifteen miles, they were all
at Brooklyn at eight o'clock in the evening, and put under the
management of Colonel Glover's amphibious Marblehead regiment.

To prepare the army for a general movement without betraying the
object, orders were issued for the troops to hold themselves in
readiness for a night attack upon the enemy. To keep the enemy from
discovering the withdrawal of the Americans until their main body
should have embarked in the boats and pushed off from the shore,
General Mifflin was to remain at the lines with his Pennsylvania
troops, and the gallant remains of Haslet, Smallwood and Hand's
regiments, with guards posted and sentinels alert, as if nothing
extraordinary was taking place; when the main embarkation was
effected, they were themselves to move off quietly, march briskly to
the ferry, and embark.

It was late in the evening when the troops began to retire fro