The Tories alongshore w^ere suspected of furnishing both provisions and information. A tender beat u]3 from Ha\^erstraw Bay nearh^ to Fort Montgomery in the Highlands, when General Clinton greeted the unwelcome visitor with a ball from a 32-pounder, that had the effect of sending her about in short order. But soundings and observations had been completed, and the chart of the river was sufflcientlv accurate to enable the war-shi]3s to move up without other peril than that encountered from the American
?,2S The Hudson River
guns. They therefore advanced to within six miles of Fort Montgomery. George CHnton anticipated an effort to shp by him at night, and gain the defenceless reaches of the river above the Highlands, where the enemy might not only ravage the country, but destroy the little fleet that was then being built at Poughkeepsie. He therefore placed a guard at a point nearly midway between the vessels and the fort, with material at hand for a mammoth signal fire, and similar piles of combustibles were placed at intervals all through the Highlands, except at the fort. In case of activity on the part of the fleet, its every movement would be illuminated. As a further safeguard, fire-rafts were brought down from Poughkeepsie and held in readiness, like hounds in leash, ready to be let loose at the favourable moment.
" They were to be lashed together," we read, " between old sloops filled with combustibles and sent down with a strong wind and tide, to drive upon the ships." Besides these preparations, an effective barrier was to be made by stretching a huge iron chain across the river in an oblique direction, from Fort Montgomery to Anthony's Nose. Van Cortlandt and others were busy at this time in organising the river guard, a fleet of whale-boats, manned by patriotic rivermen, and stationed in the bays and coves of the Tappan Zee and Haverstraw.