With all the information, concerning " the enemy's " intention to surround " the American Army, which the General had been able to secure ; with all the knowledge which his personal and careful reconnaissance of the country had imparted to him ; and with all the intelligence concerning " the turbulence of " the disaffected in the upper parts of this State," which the Convention had communicated to him, he re-assembled the Council of War which had met and adjourned on the preceding Sunday, 5 [October 13;] and he laid all these matters before it, for its consideration.

That very notable Council was assembled at the Head-quarters of General Lee ; and, besides the Com-

1 Although General Lincoln was considered and named, in the General Order now under notice, as a Major-general, it is probable that that was only his rank in the Militia of Massachusetts, since, in the Council of War, which was held on the following day, [October 16,] he was ranked as only a Brigadier-general, and then only at the lower end of the ^ine of Brigadiers.

2 General Orders, " Head-quarters, Harlem Heights, October 15, " 1776."

8 Memoirs of General Heath, 71.

4 The first reconnaissance which the General made, after the enemy's occupation of Throgg'B-neck, included "the Necks adjacent," so that he was not ignorant of the character of the ground on and near Pell'sneck ; but, on the morning of the sixteenth -- probably because of information received, on the preceding day, from some deserters from the fleet, who had been taken to Head-quarters and personally examined by the General, with evident confidence in their testimony, (General Washington to Governor Trumbull, " Head-qiiartebb, Heights of Haiilem, Octo- "ber 16, 1776,")-- another and more minute examination of the ground was made, as Btated in the text.