General Clinton's division, having crossed the whole island, gained their rear. Lord Sterling perceived his danger, and found that his troops could be saved only by an immediate retreat over a creek near the cove He gave orders to this purpose; and, to facilitate their execution, he in person attacked Lord Cornwallis, who, by this time having gained the coast, had posted a small corps in a house, just above the p'ace where the American troops must pass the creek. The attack was bravely made with four hundred men, who, in the opinion of their commander, were upon the point of dislodging Cornwallis; but his Lordship being reinforced from his own column, and General Grant attacking Lord Sterling in the rear, this brave band was overpowered by numbers, and those who survived were compelled to surrender themselves prisoners of war; but this spirited assault gave opportunity for a large proportion of the detachment to escape.

The loss of the A:nericans on this occasion, for the number engaged, was great; General WASHINGTON stated it at a thousand men ; but his returns probably included only the regular regiments. General Howe, in an official letter, made the prisoners amount to one thousand and ninety-seven. Among these were Major General Sullivan, and Brigadier Generals Sterling and Woodhull. The amount of the killed was never with precision ascertained. Numbers were supposed to have been drowned in the creek, and some to have perished in the mud on the marsh. The British loss acknowedged by General Howe, was twenty-one officers, and three aundred and forty-six privates killed, wounded, and taken.

General WASHINGTON passed over to Brooklyn in the heat of the action; but unable to rescue his men from their perilous situation, was constrained to be the inactive spectator of the slaughter of his best troops.

At the close of the day, the British approached in front of the American works, and it has been said, that

the troops, in their ardour, exhibited a strong inclination to storm the lines; but General Howe, remembering Bunker Hill, prudently restrained them from the assault.

Determining to carry the American works by regu lar approaches, the British commander broke ground, on the night of the 28th, within six hundred yards of a redoubt.

General WASHINGTON was fully sensible of the danger that awaited him. The success of the enemy by regular approaches was certain. His troops were without tents, and had already suffered extremely by heavy rains. The movements of the British fleet indicated an intention to force a passage into the East river, and cut off the retreat of the troops to the city. Should they accomplish this, the situation of the army on Long Island would be desperate. An immediate retreat to the city was therefore thought expedient. The measure was happily accomplished, on the night of the 29th, with all the stores, and military apparatus, except a few pieces of heavy artillery, which the softness of the ground rendered it impossible to move.

This important retreat was made with so much silence and address, that the enemy did not perceive it, although so near that the noise of their intrenching tools was distinctly heard by the Americans. A heavy fog hung over Long Island until late in the morning of the 30th, which hid the movements of the American army from General Howe. When it cleared, the rear guard was seen crossing East river, out of reach of the Britis: fire. The General in person inspected the details of this critical retreat; and for the forty-eight hours, which preceded its completion, in his own language, he was hardly off his horse, and never closed his eyes." He did not leave the island before the covering party marched from the lines.

The attempt to defen Long Island has by many been considered, as an errour in the military opera

tions of the American General. But before his judg ment, in this instance, is condemned, the reasons which led to it ought to be weighed. Its possession was highly important to cither army; its situation rendered its defence, in a good degree, probable; the range of hills was favourable to the obstruction of an invading enemy; and a fortified camp in the rear opening a communication with the city, and supported by batteries on Governour's Island and the East river, rendered a retreat practicable, when circumstances should make it necessary. There was then a fair prospect of defending the island; at least of detaining the enemy so long in the effort to gain possession of it, as to waste the campaign in the contention. The disastrous consequences of this measure, are not to be attributed to any defect in the original plan, but to the neglect of the commanding officer on the island in guarding the pass on the road from Jamaica to Bedford. Unfortu nately this officer was changed at the time, when hostilities were about to commence; and the General, who directed the disposition of the troops on the day of the action, was imperfectly acquainted with the passes in the mountains. General WASHINGTON, by written instructions, directed this officer " Particularly to guard the defiles in the woods, and to render the approach of the enemy through them as difficult as possible." This order was not fully executed. It appears, that General Sullivan was not apprized of the march of the British detachment from Flatbush to Flatland, on the evening of the 26th, and a guard on the Jamaica road did not seasonably discover the approach of the enemy to give information. General Howe, in his official letter, mentioned, that an American patroling party was taken on this road; and General WASHINGTON in a letter to a friend wrote, "This misfortune happened in a great measure, by two detachments of our people, who were posted in two roads leading through a wood to inte.cept the enemy in their

march, suffering a surprise, and making a precipitate retreat."

It should also be recollected, that the plans of the Commander in Chief, were laid in the expectation of a much larger force, than in the event he realized. The regiments were not complete; and he was absolutely destitute of cavalry. There was not a single company of horse on Long Island to watch the motions of the enemy, and give information of their movements. This furnishes some apology for the ignorance of the commanding officer on Long Island, respecting the manœuvre of the enemy.

The defeat of the 27th made a most unfavourable impression upon the army. A great proportion of the troops lost their confidence in their officers, and in themselves. Before this unfortunate event, they met the enemy in the spirit of freemen, fighting for their highest interests, and under the persuasion, that their thorough use of arms, rendered them equal to the disciplined battalions which they were to oppose. But, on this occasion, by evolutions, which they did not comprehend, they found themselves encompassed with difficulties, from which their utmost exertions could not extricate, and involved in dangers, from which their bravery could not deliver them; and entertaining a high opinion of the adroitness of the enemy, in every movement, they apprehended a fatal snare.

These melancholy facts were thus narrated by General WASHINGTON, in his letter to Congress. "Our situation is truly distressing. The check our detachment sustained on the 27th ultimo, has dispirited too great a proportion of our troops, and filled their minds with apprehension and despair. The militia, instead of calling forth their utmost efforts to a brave and manly opposition, in order to repair our losses, are dis mayed, intractable, and impatient to return. Great numbers of them have gone off-in some instances, almost by whole regiments by haif ones, and by com

panies at a time. This circumstance, of itself, inde pendent of others, when fronted by a well appointed onemy, superiour in number to our whole collected force, would be sufficiently disagreeable: but when their example has infected another part of the army; when their want of discipline, and refusal of almost every kind of restraint and government, have produced a like conduct, but too common to the whole, and an entire disregard of that order and subordination necessary to the well doing of an army, and which had been inculcated before, as well as the nature of our military establishment would adınit of, our condition is still more alarming; and with the deepest concern I am obliged to confess my want of confidence in the generality of the troops."

The British General being in possession of Long Island, prepared to attack New-York. The body of the fleet lay at anchor near Governour's Island; but particular ships passed up the East river, without sustaining injury from the American batteries; others, sailing round Long Island into the Sound, passed up to the higher part of York Island. By these movements, the situation of the American army became critical. It was uncertain whether the attack would be made upon the lines, or whether General Howe would land his troops above King's bridge, and enclose the Americans. To guard against the danger which threatened him, the Commander in Chief ordered the stores, that were not of present necessity, to be removed above King's bridge, and assembled a Council to determine upon the expediency SEPT. 7. of retreating from the city. The majority of .his general officers voted against the imme diate evacuation of New-York. The plan recommend ed was to station the army in the best manner, to defend the points menaced with attack, that the enemy might waste the residue of the season in the struggle to possess York Island. The belief that Congress de