Washington desiring to learn the plans of the enemy, called for someone who would be willing to go into the British lines. This was a dangerous undertaking, for capture meant certain death. But there was a young officer who was anxious to undertake the mission, and the arrangements were made. This was Nathan Hale. In disguise he made his way, learned the number of the enemy, and learned, too, all about the plan of attack.
With this information he was hurrying back to General Washington, when he was recognized as belonging to the American army, and was arrested.
In a few days, when he was tried, he freely admitted that he had acted as Washington"s spy. He died as he had lived--bravely. A moment before he was hanged he was asked if he wished to say any word. "Yes," he answered; and looking firmly into the faces of those who stood about him, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country,"
No wonder that the memory of the Martyr Spy has lived through the pa.s.sing years!
Sixteen days after Washington and his men retreated from Long Island, the British sailed up the East River and anch.o.r.ed opposite a little inlet called Kip"s Bay (at the foot of what is now Thirty-sixth Street).
They fired upon those who defended the bay, and under cover of this fire landed; and the American soldiers scurried away up the island toward the north.
General Howe led his men on for half a mile, until they reached a large country house. This was the home, and all about it was the farm, of a family named Murray (who gave their name to Murray Hill). These Murrays were friendly to the patriots, but they were also well acquainted with Governor Tryon, who was with the British army. So the army rested close by the house, and Howe, Tryon, and the other officers were given a fine dinner by Mrs. Murray.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Mrs. Murray"s Dinner to British Officers.]
Now although the Americans had retreated north up the island from Kip"s Bay, and were safely on their way to the main army on Harlem Heights, you must remember there were 4,000 soldiers still in the city. So the British were in the centre of the island with a very large force; the main body of the Americans was to the north; while to the south was this little band of 4,000, far away from their army and in a position to be trapped by the British. Had the British officers at once decided to stretch their men across the island, the 4,000 would have been penned up on the lower part and would have been made prisoners. It therefore seemed to Putnam"s men that there was but one way for them to escape capture, and that was by slipping past the British who rested at Murray house and joining the main army on Harlem Heights.
The Murrays understood the condition of affairs, so they were particularly cordial to their British guests and detained them as long as they could at dinner. They were still feasting when General Putnam started his 4,000 men marching toward the north.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Howe"s Head-Quarters, Beekman House.]
He galloped far in advance, for the country was rough and his soldiers could walk but slowly. He galloped north, and Washington, hanging to the rear of the retreating troops from Kip"s Bay, the generals met where two roads crossed, close by where Broadway now crosses Forty-third Street.
Washington instructed Putnam to hurry his 4,000 on before they were irretrievably cut off from the main army. They did hurry on. They drew near the Murray house; they formed a line two miles long that moved silently over the road that led them to within half a mile of where the British soldiers were feasting. The line pa.s.sed this point. Scarcely had the last man gone by when the British were on the move, half an hour too late for the capture of 4,000 prisoners.
Now the American forces were all together in a solid ma.s.s, moving toward the upper end of the island; plodding through pouring rain, almost dropping from the exhaustion of their long march--but safe.
This same night a division of the British soldiers occupied New York.
The others, close on the heels of the American army, waited for the morning.
CHAPTER XXVII
THE BATTLE of HARLEM HEIGHTS
When the sun rose next morning (it was September 16th), the American army and the British army lay encamped each on a highland close beside one another separated by a valley.
The ground occupied by the British soldiers was then Vandewater Heights.
Much of this high ground still remains and is now called Columbia Heights, and Columbia University and Grant"s Tomb are upon it. The American forces were scattered over what was then Harlem Heights, as far as Washington"s head-quarters in the country mansion overlooking the Harlem River above Harlem Plains. It was the house of Roger Morris, a royalist who had fled at the approach of the American soldiers, and it still stands at 160th Street close by St. Nicholas Avenue. On the heights and in the valley a battle was fought, beginning with a light engagement quite early in the day, with more and more men of both armies gradually joining in until there were 5,000 Americans against 6,000 British, with several thousand of each side held in reserve.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Map of Manhattan Island in 1776, Showing the American Defences &c.]
The battle ended in the afternoon with the defeat of the British, who lost 200 of their number.
This was a great victory for the Americans, who fought against superior numbers--great because the men had lost heart after the defeat on Long Island, and the forced retreat from the city. There was sorrow for the dead, for even victories have a sad side. Every one of the 100 American soldiers who were killed that day were brave men, and though all their names are not written in history, the manner of their death urged on their companions in the days that followed.
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE BRITISH FAIL to SWEEP EVERYTHING BEFORE THEM
On the fourth day after the battle of Harlem Heights the soldiers of England were making themselves comfortable in New York when a great fire broke out. It swept over the city and 500 houses crumbled and fell in ashes before it was controlled. Almost the entire western part of the city was consumed, St. Paul"s Chapel being the only building of importance that was saved. Almost all who favored the American cause had fled. But a few remained, and there was a hint that these had started the fire. The British soldiers were angered when they saw the city they had just entered burning, and while the flames roared and the houses fell they rushed about and in their rage dashed out the brains of the citizens who sought to beat back the flames from their homes. But it was afterward learned that the fire had started in quite an accidental manner.
A little while after this General Howe moved with the greater part of the British army up the East River, and sailing on past the Island of Manhattan, landed on the mainland beyond in Westchester. In this way the British were in the rear of the Americans, and within a few days the two armies coming together a battle was fought, in which the Americans were defeated. Washington and his men then retreated into New Jersey.
General Howe next attacked Fort Washington, a high and rocky point on the banks of the Hudson River (on a line with the present 178th Street).
There were 3,000 men here, all the American soldiers who were now on the island, and they held such a high and well-fortified position that they thought themselves quite safe. They doubtless would have been had not one of their number, William Demont, turned traitor. He told the British just how many men there were, and just how the fortress should be attacked. And the British stormed the fort as the traitor directed, and took it, and every one of the soldiers who had not been killed was made prisoner. This ended the actual fight for liberty in New York.
[Ill.u.s.tration: View from the Bowling Green in the Revolution, from an Old Print]
But outside of New York the war went bravely on. Washington in New Jersey kept up the fight, but the winter came on and his army suffered exceedingly. It had come to be a very small army by this time, for they were poorly fed and ill clothed and seldom had any sort of shelter.
Nevertheless, Washington gained many victories in New Jersey and manoeuvred his little army so well that the whole world, hearing of his achievements, was forced to recognize him as a great general.
New York was the head-quarters of the British army in America, and the residence of its chief officers. The city was as thoroughly British as it had before been American, and it was as much as life was worth even to hint of an interest in the American cause.
Early in the next year, 1777, those who had the making of the laws for the new State of New York, met in secret, and chose George Clinton as their first Governor. The other colonies had formed themselves into States, and the new nation grew stronger day by day.
Commissioners were sent to the European courts to ask aid for the United States. Many young French n.o.blemen, thrilled at the idea of fighting for liberty, came to America as volunteers, and by their knowledge of war gave valuable a.s.sistance to the American officers. The name of the Marquis de Lafayette stands out prominently as the chief of these volunteers. He was not yet twenty years old, but fitted out a vessel at his own expense and crossed the ocean to offer his services. He asked to be enlisted as a volunteer and to serve without pay, but he was soon appointed a major-general.
When it had come to be July of this year, there was some fighting in the North, for the British General Burgoyne came down from Canada. He intended to meet the army under Howe which was marching northward, and the two armies were to sweep everything before them. Burgoyne defeated the Americans led by General Philip Schuyler, in several battles. Just at this time General Schuyler"s command was given to General Gates. Now Gates followed the plans that had been made by Schuyler, with the result that Burgoyne and his entire force of 6,000 men surrendered at Saratoga.
This settled one branch of the British army. The other branch, under General Howe, took possession of Philadelphia, but the defeat of Burgoyne at Saratoga put an end to their hopes of sweeping everything before them.
In the last month of the year, Washington and his army took up winter quarters at Valley Forge so as to keep a close watch upon the British in Philadelphia.
CHAPTER XXIX
NEW YORK a PRISON-HOUSE
The winter pa.s.sed, and when the spring came the British army moved from Philadelphia to New York City, but not without great trouble, for Washington"s army fought them every step of the way across New Jersey.
The city was now quite different from the flourishing town it had been before the war. Held possession of by the British, it was a military camp. No improvements were made. Many of the citizens who were loyal to the American cause had fled. Those who were too poor to leave pretended to favor the British, but as little business could be done, they could find no work, and their condition became worse daily. Thousands of American prisoners were brought here, making it a British prison-house, and every building of any size was a guard-house, every cellar a dungeon.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Old Sugar-House in Liberty Street, the Prison-House of the Revolution.]
One of the gloomiest of these prisons was an old sugar-house close by the Middle Dutch Church. It was built in the days of Jacob Leisler, with thick stone walls five stories high, pierced with small windows.
The ceilings were so low and the windows so small that the air could scarcely find entrance. Underneath was a black and dismal cellar. The pale and shrunken faces of prisoners filled the openings at the windows by day and by night, seeking a breath of air. They were so jammed together that there was by no means room at the windows for all. So these wretched men divided themselves into groups, each group crowding close to the windows for ten minutes, then giving place to another group. They slept on straw that was never changed, and the food given them was scarcely enough to keep them alive. Those who suffered this living death might have been free at any time had they been willing to go over to the British, but few of the patriots, even in this dread hour, deserted their cause. To while away the hours of their captivity, they carved their names upon the walls with rusty nails. Fevers raged constantly and they died by scores, leaving their half-finished initials on the walls as their only relics. Their bodies were thrown out of doors, and every morning gathered up in carts and carried to the outskirts of the city to be buried in a trench without ceremony.
This was only one of a dozen such prison-houses. There was one other that, if anything, was worse. It was the New Jail, and it still stands in City Hall Park and is now the Hall of Records. During the war it was known as The Provost, because it was the head quarters of a provost-marshal named Cunningham. It was his custom at the conclusion of his drunken revels to parade his weak, ill, half-fed prisoners before his guests, as fine specimens of the rebel army. It is said of him, too, that he poisoned those who died too slowly of cold and starvation, and then went right on drawing money to feed them. This gave rise to the saying that he starved the living and fed the dead. He took a great delight in being as cruel and merciless as he could, and very often boasted that he had caused the death of more rebels than had been killed by all of the King"s forces.
Many American sailors were also captured (for the Revolution was fought on the sea as well as on land) and all these were placed aboard prison-ships--useless hulks, worn-out freight-boats, and abandoned men-of-war. For a time these hulks were anch.o.r.ed close by the Battery, but afterward they were taken to the Brooklyn sh.o.r.e. There was misery and suffering on all of them, but the worst was called the "Jersey,"
where captives were crowded into the hold, the sick and the well, poorly fed and scarcely clothed, so many of them as hardly to permit s.p.a.ce to lie down, watched over by a guard of merciless soldiers. Disease in a dozen forms was always present, and every morning the living were forced to carry out those who had died over night.
During this year 1778, and for several years after, the war was carried on for the most part in the South, in Georgia and South Carolina, while the British soldiers in the city made trips into the surrounding country and laid it waste. Washington and his army in New Jersey could do little more than watch.