JANUARY,

1779,

SEPTEMBER,

ton. We borrow the following description of Stony Point, as it then was, from Irving: It was a rocky promontory advancing far into the Hudson, which washed three sides of it. A deep morass, covered at high water, separated it from the mainland, but at low tide might be traversed by a narrow causeway and bridge. The promontory was crowned by strong works furnished with heavy ordnance, commanding the morass and causeway. Lower down were two rows of abatis, and the shore at the front of the hill could be swept by vessels of war anchored in the river. The garrison was about 600 strong.

Washington's instructions to Wayne were to make the assault about midnight, because, as he explained, the usual time selected for such enterprises was just before dawn, when a. more vigilant officer would probably be on guard. Wayne, with 1,400 men, came down through the Highland defiles on the afternoon of the 15th, made the circuit of the Dunderberg (around which Sir Henry Clinton had swept when going to attack the American forts), and arrived within a mile and a half of the Point by eight o'clock in the evening. Here he halted until half -past eleven, when he sent forward a negro of the neighborhood, accompanied by two men disguised as farmers. The negro had the entree to the fort, having frequently supplied the soldiers with fruit, and possessed the countersign. By this means the sentinels were secured and gagged. Before being discovered the Americans had arrived close to the outer works. Then, heedless of shot and shell, they made the assault in two columns, which arrived in the center of the works almost at the same instant. The garrison surrendered at discretion. The heroic Wayne, leading one of the columns, received a wound on the head, and, thinking he was dying, said: "Carry me into the fort and let me die at the head of my column." In his report to Washington he used these noble words: " The humanity of our brave soldiery, who scorned to take the lives of a vanquished foe when calling for mercy, reflects the highest honor on them and accounts for the few of the enemy killed on the oeeasiem." The enemy's killed were only 63.