Volume 7 documents the dramatic events of the New York campaign
and the ensuing New Jersey campaign, a seemingly endless string of
American reverses and retreats terminated by surprising victories
at Trenton and Princeton. The volume opens with Washington's
withdrawal of most of his army from Manhattan Island north to White
Plains, where on 28 October British and Hessian troops routed the
American right wing on Chatterton hill. Although Washington
subsequently succeeded in blocking any further British advance to
the north, his indecisiveness about ordering the evacuation of Fort
Washington, the sole remaining American post on Manhattan Island,
led to the disastrous loss of the fort's large garrison and many
valuable stores when General Howe's forces overran it on 16
November.
After the fall of Fort Lee on the west bank of the Hudson River
four days later, Washington began retreating across New Jersey with
his rapidly dwindling army. His repeated appeals for reinforcement
by local militia and Continental troops remaining in New York fell
largely on deaf ears, and in early December Washington was obliged
to cross the Delaware River into Pennsylvania, leaving New Jersey
in enemy hands. From his Bucks County Headquarters Washington wrote
his brother Samuel on 18 December: "If every nerve is not strained
to recruit the New Army with all possible Expedition I think the
game is pretty near up.... No Man I believe ever had a greater
choice of difficulties & less the means of extricating himself
than I have--However under a full perswation of the justice of our
Cause I cannot but think the prospect will brighten." Washington's
optimism was justified by his subsequent actions. His daring
counterstrokes against a Hessian brigade at Trenton on 27 December
and a British detachment at Princeton on 3 January not only
reversed the strategic situation but also turned the tide of
political defection that had theatened to engulf the middle
states.
General
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