Washington's headquarters at this time were at New Windsor. The column destined for the attack upon Stony Point marched from Sandy Beach, fourteen miles above, at noon of the fifteenth. The soldiers numbered twelve hundred light infantry. Their march was over bad roads and rocky hills and through heavy swamps. They halted after nightfall at the house of a man named Springsteel, a mile and a half from the British position, and here the final arrangements for the attack were completed. General Wayne's disposition of the troops before Stony Point was as follows: The column on the right, to be led by Wayne himself, consisted of the regiments

The Storming of Stony Point 309

of Meigs and Febiger, and a detachment commanded by Major Hull: Butler's regiment constituted the left column; and Major Murfee was ordered forward in the centre to engage the attention of the British garrison by a feint. Two bodies of \'olunteers, led by Lieutenant-Colonel Fleury and Major Posey on the right, and Major Stewart on the left, served as i)ioneers to precede the main body of the assailants; and in the van of each com])any of ]:)ioneers was " a forlorn hope" of twenty men, led l)y Lieutenants Gibbon and Knox. It was their work to remove the obstructions in the wa}' of the troops. It was nearh' midnight when the advance commenced. Absolute silence was enjoined, and like spectres the two storming parties faded from each other's sight in the gloom. The marshes were overflowed with two feet of water, and through this the men followed their officers, eager and alert, for the object of the expedition was no longer a secret to any one.