Home / Dawson, Henry B. Westchester County, New York, During the American Revolution. Morrisania, NY: (privately printed by the author), 1886. / Passage

Westchester County, New York, During the American Revolution

Dawson, Henry B. Westchester County, New York, During the American Revolution. Morrisania, NY: (privately printed by the author), 1886. 339 words

That Battalion of Hessians who formed the forlorn-hope continues to be, to us, a subject on which we need and seek for further information, especially since it was definitely and very reasonably stated in The Annual Register for 1776, (History of Europe, *178,) that it was one of the Battalions of the Brigade commanded by Colonel Donop ; in which The History of the War in America, Edit. Dublin, 1779, (i., 195), concurred, both of which statements are in entire harmony with our own conclusions, on that subject, at the present time.

2 General Howe to Lord George Germaine, " New-York, 30 November " 1776."

The Begiments of which the Second Brigade was composed were named in Geuoral Howe's despatch to Lord Germaine, above mentioned, and in the Return of the KiUed, Wounded, ete., of the Brigade, in the action : those of which the Brigade commanded by Colonel Donop was composed may be seen in the same Return, as well as in the Report of the distribution of the Army, made by General Howe.

The appearance of the Boyal Army, as the main body was thus halted, with detachments moving towards the Bronx, for the proposed assault on Chatterton's-hill, was thus described by an eye-witness, himself an Officer among the Americans who were, then, awaiting the assault on their position : " Its ap- " pearance was truly magnificent. A bright autumnal " sun shed its full lustre on their polished arms; and " the rich array of dress and military equipage gave an " imposing grandeur to the scene, as they advanced, in " all the pomp and circumstances of War, to give us "battle;" 3 and, with the main bodies of the two armies, each resting on its arms, anxious spectators of the scene, 4 the Battalion of Hessians which had been designated for the forlorn-hope, in the proposed assault, and the British Begiments who had been detached for its support, moved, steadily, toward the Bronx, in front of the hill, on their mission of death.