excessively excited. Less discreet historians than Irving have not hesi- tated to say that the Father of his Country on that occasion expressed his excitement in language of much greater vigour than is countenanced by polite custom. In other words, this is believed to have been one of the rare occasions upon which Washington swore. And certainly, if there was ever an excuse for profane in- vective, he could plead it at that time. Besides Magaw there were Cadwalader, Rawlings, Baxter, and other officers of merit at the beleaguered fort, together with a force of about two- thousand picked men, the flower of the army ; while opposed to them was an overwhelming force of British regulars and German hirelings, bred to the trade of war. Lossing has given an anecdote that does not seem Digitized by Microsoft® Forts Washington and Lee 189 to have any substantial basis of fact, but is offered here at its worth : The chief criassed the river with Generals Putnam, Greene, and Mercer; and made his way stealthily to the house of Roger Morris, in wljifih he had had his headquarters a few weeks before. From the Morris house, a mile south of Mount Washington, the chief made a hurried survey of the field of operations when a young, small, and very pretty vivandihre, the wife of a Pennsyl- vania soldier, who had followed the chief like a guardian angel, from the river, came up reverently and touched him on the arm and whispered in his ear. Washington immediately ordered his companions into the saddle and they galloped back to their boats. Fifteen minutes later a British regiment which had been creeping stealthily like a serpent up the rocky acclivity, appeared at the mansion. This story has a strongly apocryphal flavour. From Fort Lee the Chief saw the greater part of the attack upon Fort Washington and his spirits were alternately raised and depressed by the varying for- tunes of the fray. The battle commenced about noon, with General Knyphausen's division attacking from the north, General Mathew advancing from the Harlem River and Lord Percy trying to force the lines gallantly held by Colonel Cadwalader, two miles and a half south of the fort. Much of the action was hidden from the watcher across the river by intervening hills and woods, but the gallant defence made by Cadwalader's eight hundred Pennsylvanians against double their number of Enghsh and Hessians was in open view. Eagerly the Chief directed his glass to that quarter. Digitized by Microsoft® igo The Hudson River Nothing [says Irving] encouraged him more than the gallant style in which Cadwalader with an inferior force maintained his position. When he saw him, however, assailed in flank, the hne broken and his troops, overpowered by numbers, retreating to the fort, he gave up the game as lost. The worst sight of all was to behold his men cut down and bayoneted by the Hessians while begging quarter. It is said so completely to have over- come him that he wept "with the tenderness of a child." By the hands of a daring messenger Washington managed to get a note to Magaw, telling him that if he could hold out till night, he would then endeavour to bring ofiE the garrison. The rbessenger was one Captain Gooch, of Boston, whose intrepidity reminds one of some mighty deed from the sagas. General Heath is authority for the following account of his adventure : He ran down to the river, jumped into a small boat, pushed over the river, landed under the bank, ran up to the fort and delivered the message, came out, ran and jumped over the broken ground, dodging the Hessians, some of whom struck at him with their pieces and others attempted to thrust him with their bayonets; escaping through them, he got to his boat and returned to Fort Lee. But Magaw found it impossible to hold out. Already the summons to surrender had been made, and found him surrounded by troops that had been driven in from all sides by the overwhelming force of the enemy. The fortress was so filled with men that movement was difficult and further defence impossible. Fort Wash- ington was therefore surrendered. Thus ended the American occupancy of Manhattan Digitized by Microsoft® Forts Washington and Lee 191 Island. Washington's own reflections upon the closing scene, given in a letter to his brother Augustine, will throw much light upon the difficulties that beset him, and his frame of mind regarding an action against which his better judgment rebelled. This is a most unfortunate affair and has given me great mortification; as we have lost, not only two thousand men, that were there, but a good deal of artillery, and some of the best arms we had. And