Page:The Hessians and the other German auxiliaries of Great Britain in the revolutionary war.djvu/93

 making any expedition by land, and rendering winter-quarters in New York neither safe nor comfortable. On the Jersey side of the Hudson, on top of the Palisades, opposite Fort Washington, stood Fort Lee. Between them, Putnam had undertaken to build an impassable barrier, that should close the river against the British. The works were under the immediate command of General Greene. On the morning of October 9th, however, the obstructions had been broken through and the forts passed by two British ships of forty-four guns each, a frigate of twenty guns, and three or four tenders, which had captured or destroyed two American row-galleys on the river. In view of these facts, Washington wished to abandon the fort named after himself, which was in danger of being surrounded. Greene was of the opposite opinion, and Congress shared the delusion of Greene. The authority of the commander-in-chief was so limited that he did not succeed in making his own views prevail. Instead of being withdrawn, the garrison of Fort Washington was strengthened, until Lieutenant-colonel Magaw, who commanded it, had nearly three thousand men under his orders. The ground to be occupied was two miles and a half long—from a line a little south of the present Trinity Cemetery to the hills above Tubby Hook—and included a redoubt on Laurel Hill.

It was on the 16th of November, 1776, that this fort was stormed by Sir William Howe's army. The attack was made simultaneously by four columns, advancing