[Frederic Shonnard & W.W. Spooner (1900)] their customary course of treatment, one in-2 See Scharf, ii., 713. 428 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY put to work at various duties — notably the strengthening of the chain. About the end of April several British transports advanced up the river, but came no farther than Dobbs Ferry. In May Washington dispatched Generals Greene and Knox to Peekskill, who, in con-junction with Generals McDougall, George Clinton, and Anthony Wayne, made a careful examination of the Highland situation and submitted a joint report, in which the importance of the chain was dwelt upon, but it was expressly urged that there was no need of additional defenses on the west shore below Fort Clinton. A fatal recommendation, as the event proved. Immediately after the inspec-tion by the board of generals, Washington, regarding the Peekskill command as too important to be held by an officer of the minor rank of brigadier-general, removed McDougall and substituted for him Major-General Putnam, having previously offered the position to Benedict Arnold, who declined it. Putnam, though brave as a lion, zealous, and despite his advanced years indefatigable, was not equal to the administration of such a post, and the great catastrophe of October, 1777, was largely due to his deficiency in the nicer qualities of generalship. Under his superintendence the chain received the most conscientious attention.