The men were detached and gathered at Spuyte^ Duyvil Ridge for the attack, but before morning the weather had so moderated that it was deemed too hazardous to make the attem])t. There was cannonading on both sides on the 20th, and the enemy on the island were thrown into much confusion. Heath observing that the enemy, when fired at across the Harlem, found shelter behind the hill at Hyatt's, had a field-piece hauled up to the brow of Tippett's Hill, and opened fire on both their front and rear on the afternoon of the 21st. Some of the enemy found shelter in their redoubt, others under the banks ; some lay flat on the ground and some betook themselves to the cellars, so that presently there was no object for the gunners. A smart skirmish occurred at Fort Independence on the 22d. To keep up the appearance of serious designs upon the fort. Heath ordered fascines, etc., to be made, and sent for a brass twenty-four pounder and a howitzer from New Castle. Another skirmish took place near the south side of the fort on the 23d, just before dusk, in which the Americans had an ensign and private

' Probably to a point on the old Tetard farm, now Claflin's land.

-the fort on (he liill at noitherly end of Manhattan Island, overlooking the King s and Flee lii iilges, -- originally built by Americans and called by the British " Fort Prince Charles."

killed, and five men wounded. On the 24th a severe storm began; Lincoln's division had to quit their huts in the woods back of Colonel Van Cortlandt's, and move back, some even to Dobbs Ferry, to find shelter. A freshet in the Bronx caused the water to run over Williams' bridge. Early on the 25th, the enemy sallied from Fort Independence towards De Lancey's jMills, surprised and routed the guard, wounding several and causing a regiment to quit its quarters.