In the resulting correspondence between the two commanders it was resolved to begin at once joint operations against New York, and Washington forthwith broke up his New Jersey camp, crossed King's Ferry into our county, and descended to White Plains, where he spread his tents about the 20th day of July. From this place, whither he had retired from New York island under such perilous circumstances in the fall of 1770, he wrote to a friend in Virginia: "After two years' maneuvering and the strangest vicissitudes, both armies are brought back to the very point they set out from, and the offending party at the beginning is now reduced to the use of the spade and pickax for defense. The hand of Providence has been so conspicuous in all this that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked that has not gratitude to acknowledge his obligations." The army remained at White Plains for about two months. In September, Washington, as shown by an entry in his accounts with the United States, reconnoitered " the country about the [White] Plains between the North and East Rivers," disbursing for that purpose out of his private purse the sum of $133. But it was not ordered •that the arrangement for the taking of New York, whose successful execution would doubtless have terminated the war, should be carried out. The French fleet sailed up to Sandy Hook. The British naval force in New York Bay at thai time comprised only six ships of the line, four 50-gun ships, and a number of frigates and smaller vessels. D'Estaing, however, was informed by pilots that the depth of water on the Sandy Hook bar was not sufficient to permit the passage of his largest vessels, one of which carried eighty and another ninety guns.