Howe had at last succeeded in reaching the place he wanted, but it was too late for his purpose of capturing the Continental army; for the Americans had evacuated Manhattan Island, except Fort Washington, and were now comparatively

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safe on Chatterton Heights, near the village of White Plains. For a few days Howe's army covered a wide field, and we hear of some of his troopers almost as far north as the Connecticut line. This, however, was probably done merely in search of forage, for he soon concentrated them on the Albany Road near the scene of the recent engagement.

It was a beautiful autumnal morning, October 2}, 1776, that the greatest military pageant took place that the fair county of Westchester ever saw, at all events in the eighteenth century. Howe, preparatory to following Washington, drew up his entire army for review, along the road and on the meadows (very near the present boundaryline between the city, and the now much curtailed County of Westchester), then known as Pelham and Eastchester flats. Some ten thousand men took part in the ceremonies, and the effect must, indeed, have been inspiring and beautiful. The bright scarlet of the British regulars, contrasted well with the more sombre green of Knyphausen's Hessians, and with the background of the yellow sedge grass covered with sparkling frost. This was a fine picture by which, on that chill October morning, to impress the inhabitants with the invincible power of England's chivalry, and the politic commander had thought it wise to invite a few of the more distinguished proprietors of