Two hundred and fifty were either slain or captured by the British. Putnam did not suspect the true direction of the British advance till the reverberations of the battle, thundering along the cliffs of the Highlands, revealed the true state of affairs. The escape of the brothers George and James Clinton was almost marvellous. The Governor leaped down the rocks to the riverside, a breakneck proceeding, but accomplished without injury, and crossed the river in a boat, to join Putnam on the other side. His brother, though wounded, " slid down a precipice, one hundred feet high, and escaped to the woods." The American frigates and galleys stationed above, finding it impossible to escape the advance of the British ships or withstand their fire, were consigned to destruction, and one after another went up in flames. Then the victorious enemy proceeded to destroy the chcvaux-de-frise and clear the river. Proceeding through the passage thus made, Sir James Wallace and General Vaughn advanced to Kingston, then the State

The Spirit of "76 343 capital; but this is another story, and will find its place in another chapter. The main object of Sir Henry Clinton's attack, which was to create a diversion in favour of General Burgoyne, w^as a complete failure, as that officer, in the course of ten days, yielded to the harassing attentions of his foes.

Chapter XXI A Voyage up the Hudson in 1769

e A HITHERTO unpublished account of a voyag up the Hudson in 1769 is here presented. It is taken from a manuscript journal, written by the proprietor of the great tract of land in the interior of New York State, that was known to the old map-makers as the Smith patent: