The proprietor of the house was absent; but his wife set cake and wine before them m al)undance. So grateful were these refreshments in the heat of the day, that they lingered over their wine, quaffing and laughing, and bantering their patriotic hostess about the ludicrous panic and discomfiture of her countrymen. In the meantime, before they were roused from their regale, Putnam and his forces had nearly passed by, within a mile of them.

The Island and the River in 1776 175

Washington's retirement from his i)revious headquarters to the Jumel mansion in Richmond Hill occurred on the evening of the 14th, before the British had gained possession of the lower end of the island. The enemy's line extended from Horcn's Hook on the East River across the island to about 91st Street on the North River. The vanguard was commanded by General Leslie, whose most advanced picket posts did not go above 95th Street. The main body of the Americans was resting upon Harlem Heights, their pickets about 13 2d Street. On the morning of the i6th, before daylight. Colonel Thomas Knowlton, of Bunker Hill fame, was directed by Washington to advance with a reconnoitring party of Rangers, to determine the position and strength of the enemy. It is not known whether he started from the right of our pickets or from a point farther to the east; nor is the question important. Professor Henr}* P. Johnston, whose study of the action on Harlem Heights has been exhaustive, says in this connection : It is enough to know that when we hear of tliem [the Rangers] a Httle later, they were at the most important point on the enemy's front. We hnd them stirring up their pickets on the left, that left which rested, as we have seen, somewhere on the Bloomingdale Road, not far above Apthorpe's (91st Street), between which and our pickets at the Hollow Way (Manhattanville) intervened the wooded and rolling ground of the two farms on Morningside Heights.