Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/464

 ere hastily thrown up, extending from the deep inlets of Wallabout Bay, on the north, to Gowanus Cove, on the south; and nine thousand men, under General Sullivan, were encamped at Brooklyn. About two miles and a half in front of the entrenchments and redoubts, .was a range of densely wooded heights, extending from south-west to north-east, forming a natural barrier across the island. It was crossed by three roads; one on the left, eastwardly towards Bedford, and thence by a pass through to Bedford Hills, to the village of Jamaica; another, central and direct, to Flatbush; and a third, on the right of the lines, by Gowanus Cove, to the Narrows and Gravesend Bay. Most unfortunately, General Greene was seized with a violent fever about the middle of August, and the command devolved on General Putnam, whose want of thorough knowledge of the ground, led to the Jamaica road being left without sufficient protection, and most unhappily afforded the British commander an opportunity of assaulting the Americans in front and rear at the same time. In the confusion and want of discipline which prevailed, the orders to watch and guard the passes were imperfectly obeyed; and, as Washington apprehended, the chances of success were greatly in favor of the enemy.

The British force, ten thousand strong, with forty cannons, landed on Long Island, on the 26th of August, and made their arrangements for a vigorous assault. Opposite the middle of the heights was General Be Heister, with the centre, composed of Hessians; the left wing, under General Grant, prepared to attack by the lower road; while General Clinton, supported by Earl Percy and General Cornwallis, was to advance at the head of the right wing towards the unprotected Jamaica road, with the purpose of turning the American left, placing them between two fires, and cutting off their retreat to the camp. This skillful plan of operations was, unhappily for the Americans, successfully carried out About nine o'clock, on the evening of the 26th, Clinton's division, guided by a Long Island Tory, passed the narrow causeway over a marsh, near the village of New Lots, called Shoemaker's Bridge,—where, it is said, a single regiment might have prevented the advance of the entire British force,—and, ascertaining by a patrol which was captured, that the Jamaica road was unguarded, hastened to seize the pass, and before daylight, was in possession of that and the Bedford pass, General Sullivan, meanwhile, being ignorant that Clinton had left Flatlands.

General Grant—the same braggart, who, in the House of Commons, had declared that the Americans could not fight"—on his part, advanced at midnight along the lower road, and thus came into direct contact with the troops under Lord Stirling; while at daybreak, De Heister assaulted the American force, posted under Colonel Hand, upon the crest of the hills. One of the ships, meanwhile, kept thundering away at the fort at Red Hook. The object of the English was to draw the attention of their enemy from what was passing on their left, but no sooner