The fleet, under the command of Admiral Sir George Collier, embraced about seventy vessels, great and small, and a hundred and fifty flatboats, and there was a land force of 5,000. The troops were landed in two divisions on the 31st. The principal division, under General Vaughan, debarked on the Westchester County side, seven or eight miles below Verplanck's Point, and the other, led by Sir Henry in person, on the opposite side of Haverstraw Bay, some three miles south of Stony Point. Nothing was done for the time being by Vaughan, except to get in position to assail Fort Lafayette. But Stony Point was promptly seized, the thirty men occupied on its unfinished works decamping without resistance. During the night of the 31st the British dragged artillery up its steep sides, with which, at daybreak, Fort Lafayette was cannonaded; and at the same time the ships in the river opened fire and Vaughan

HISTORY

WESTCHESTER

COUNTY

prepared to assault the works. Against such overpowering force it was useless to contend, and the garrison surrendered on conditions guaranteeing the safety of the men and security of their personal property. It is an interesting reminiscence that Major John Andre, who a year and some months later passed that locality on the errand that took him to his death, signed the articles of capitulation on behalf of the British. After the capture of the two promontories Sir Henry Clinton completed the works on Stony Point, fortified them in a powerful manner (especially with reference to the approach from the land side), and amply garrisoned both forts. Washington prudently refrained from any offensive demonstrations, retiring to the vicinity of West Point and bending all his energies toward the further development of the defensive situation there. He ordered all the heavy cannon at Boston and Providence to be sent to him, and recalled Heath from Boston.