ttack the lines, and gave time for the arrival of reinforcements of
militia to the garrison. It also afforded time for Sir Guy Carleton to
cool in ardor, and calculate the chances and the value of success. The
post, from its strength, could not be taken without great loss of
life. If taken, the season was now too far advanced to think of
passing Lake George, and exposing the army to the perils of a winter
campaign in the inhospitable and impracticable wilds to the southward.
Ticonderoga, too, could not be kept during the winter, so that the
only result of the capture would be the reduction of the works and the
taking of some cannon; all which damage the Americans could remedy
before the opening of the summer campaign. If, however, the defence
should be obstinate, the British army, even if successful, might
sustain a loss sufficient to cripple its operations in the coming
year. These, and other prudential reasons, induced Carleton to give up
all attempt upon the fortress at present; wherefore, re-embarking his
troops, he returned to St. Johns, and cantoned them in Canada for the
winter.

CHAPTER XXXVI.
CAPTURE OF FORT WASHINGTON AND GARRISON.--RETREAT THROUGH NEW JERSEY.

On the morning of the 12th of November, Washington crossed the Hudson
to the ferry below Stony Point, with the residue of the troops
destined for the Jerseys. Far below were to be descried the Phoenix,
the Roebuck, and the Tartar, at anchor in the broad waters of
Haverstraw Bay and the Tappan Sea, guarding the lower ferries. The
army, thus shut out from the nearer passes, was slowly winding its way
by a circuitous route through the gap in the mountains, which Lord
Stirling had secured. Leaving the troops which had just landed to
pursue the same route to the Hackensack, Washington, accompanied by
Colonel Reed, struck a direct course for Fort Lee, being anxious about
affairs at Fort Washington. He arrived there on the following day, and
found, to his disappointment, that General Greene had taken no
measures for the evacuation of that fortress; but on the contrary had
reinforced it with a part of Colonel Durkee's regiment and the
regiment of Colonel Rawlings, so that its garrison now numbered
upwards of two thousand men; a great part, however, were militia.
Washington's orders for its evacuation had, in fact, been
discretionary, leaving the execution of them to Greene's judgment, "as
being on the spot." The latter had differed in opinion as to th