Chapter I

THE OPERATIONS AND SKIRMISHES OF HE BRITISH AND AMERICAN ARMIES IN 1776, BE-FORE THE BATLE OF WHITEPLAINS.

The position which General Washington took with the main body of his army, in September, 1776, after the evacua-tion of New York, was upon the rocky and elevated grounds which are usually called Harlem Heights, and are situated in the northern part of Manhattan or New York Island. The island is here about a mile in width and is separated on the east and north, from its nearest mainland, the County of Westchester, by Harlem river and Spyt den duivel Creek; the one, a strait issuing from the East River or Long Island Sound, and the other a narrow inlet from the Hudson. The chain of rugged heights which borrow their name from Harlem, extends above the place where this ancient village stood; stretching from south to north for several miles, along the upper part of Manhattan. Fort Washington had already been erected upon the most commanding of these eminences. It overlooked the Hudson, being about two miles and a half south of Kingsbridge and Dyckmansbridge, both of which crossed the Spyt den duivel Creek, and formed, at that time, the only passes from Manhattan Island to the mainland. Fort Independence, at the same time in rapid process of construction, stood upon elevated ground on the main, about a mile northeast of Kingsbridge, between the highway leading to Boston and the Milesquare road. About a mile and a half south of Forth Washington, two in-trenched lines, nearly parallel with each other, and extend-ing across the island from Harlem River to the Hudson,