Having detached two Brigades of British and one Brigade of Hessian troops, the whole under the command of Lieutenant-general Earl Percy, to occupy the exterior lines, on the high grounds to the southward of the Harlem-plain, for the protection of the City of New York,^ and another Brigade of British troops to garrison the City itself,^ "all previous arrange- "ments, having been made," early on the morning of Saturday, the twelfth of October, the first detachment of the forces designated for that purpose, under the personal command of General Howe, embarked, at Kip's-bay,' in the City of New York, in flat-boats, batteaux, etc. ; and, having passed through Hellgate, landed -- the Cary/ort, frigate, having been so placed that she could cover the descent -- about nine o'clock in the morning, on Throgg's-neck, in the Borough Town of Westchester, in Westchestercounty.*

It was an exceedingly foggy morning; ^ and, from the fact that General Washington made no allusion to the enemy's movement, in letters written by him, on that day, respectively, to the President of the Congress and to Governor Cooke, of Rhode Island, notwithstanding his Headquarters, in the elegant mansion of Colonel Roger Morris, more recently owned

' General Home to Lord George Germame, " New York, November 30, "1776."

2 General Howe made no mention of a third Brigade of British troops having been left, to garrison the City ; but common sense tells us there must have been siicli a Garrison, within the thickly settled portions of the City; and Captain Hall, (HisWrij nf the Civil iVar in America, i.,203,) and Stedman, (Hisionj o f the American War, i., 210,) both of them officers of the Royal Army, have left records of the fact.