attempting with all their might to turn their cowardly soldiers
face-about to stand against the foe. But all their efforts were in vain,
though Washington, in his endeavors to stem the tide of retreat, came
near being made prisoner, and would have been, probably, if one of the
soldiers had not taken his horse by the bridle and turned him in another
direction.

In the actual retreat to Harlem Heights that then followed, brave Putnam
took the post of danger again, and, while nearly everybody else was
heading northward, he himself went the other way in search of his
detachment, which, fortunately, his aide-de-camp, Major Burr, had taken
the liberty of setting on the move. He and his men were the last to gain
the Heights, barely escaping the British as they tried to hem them in,
and reaching the rendezvous long after dark.

It was a current rumor in camp, later, that his escape was not
altogether due to celerity of movement, nimble as he was, but to the
clever ruse of a fair Quakeress, Mrs. Murray (mother of Lindley Murray,
the renowned grammarian), who, being known to the British officers,
invited them in, as they filed past her door, to refresh themselves with
cake and wine. Being fatigued with their labors, and considering the
Americans as good as captured by their clever flanking movement, they
accepted the invitation gladly and remained enjoying her hospitality
about two hours, or just long enough for Putnam and his men to slip out
of the trap and scamper along the North River roads to the rendezvous.

Their joy at their escape when (as Major Humphreys, who was with them,
said) they had been given up for lost by their friends, was tempered
next day by the death of Colonel Knowlton, who had been sent out with
his rangers to reconnoiter the enemy. In the ensuing engagement, known
as the Battle of Harlem Heights, the gallant Knowlton was killed,
besides about one hundred and seventy of his men. Knowlton, who had
taken a prominent part in the battle of Bunker Hill, was an old friend
and comrade of Putnam in the Indian wars, as well as at Havana, and the
latter felt his loss most keenly.

There was no time for vain regrets, since the enemy were pushing after
the Americans, giving them no pause for a while. When at last there was
a cessation in their endeavors at direct assault, Washington was more
uneasy than before, and did not rest until he had discovered what it
meant. In short, General Howe was about trying the secon