[Frederic Shonnard & W.W. Spooner (1900)] deck had been penetrated by a very large Wayne. The cannon brought up by the anchor auger, which encountered haul substances, and was doubtless one of these." its thread was shown with silver attached, FROM JANUARY, 1779, TO SEPTEMBER, 1780 455 strengthened Fort Lafayette and again drew his forces up the river to that neighborhood. Washington meantime had undertaken a separate project for the reduction of Fort Lafayette. He ordered Major-Genera] Robert Howe, with two brigades, to march down from the Highlands, by way of Peekskill, and besiege the fort. The latter, in executing this command, came near getting into serious difficulty; for Clinton by that time (July 17) had reached the north side of the Croton, and there was danger that he would throw himself be-tween Verplanck's Point and Peekskill, and thus cut Howe off. But happily General Heath, who with a considerable force had just pre-viously gone to the rescue of Connecticut, returned by a forced march to the Hudson and posted troops so as to prevent Clinton's advance at every point. Howe retired from Verplanck's Point, ami all the American forces fell back to Peekskill. Clinton retained Fort Lafay-ette, and also resumed possession of Stony Point, reconstructed its works, and fortified it with a more powerful armament than before. But Washington still declined to bring his army down from its High-land position, and Clinton was too prudent to undertake anything formal against West Point.