CHAP. XXII. BATTLE ON LONG ISLAND. 877 the British troops, and on the 26th, the combined forces of the enemy composed a most perfect army in experience and discipline. Its chief leaders were Generals Clinton and Cornwallis, accompanied by General Howe, and it was supported by over four hundred ships and transports. Among the former were ten ships-of-the-line, twenty frigates, and some bomb-ketches. On the evening of the 26th, the number of effective American troops on Long Island did not exceed eight thousand men. Between this weak force of republicans and the strong army of the king now stretched the denselywooded hills, with their steep sides and narrow passes, from the flat lands to the Brooklyn ferry. One of these was south of the present Greenwood Cemetery; another in Prospect Park (now marked by an inscription); a third near the village of Bedford, and a fourth toward Jamaica. About twenty-five hundred Americans were set to guard these passes, not so much to prevent the British pressing through them (for this Washington did not expect to do), but to harass and confuse them in their march. When Washington left the camp at Brooklyn on the evening of the 26th, it was obvious that the British intended to gain the rear of the Americans by the Bedford and Jamaica passes, and he gave strict orders for them to be closely watched and strongly guarded. At three o'clock on the morning of the 27th of August (1776), General Putnam was told that his pickets at the lower pass (south of Greenwood) had been driven in. He ordered Brigadier-General Lord Stirling, with some Delaware and Maryland troops, to march and "repulse the enemy." Stirling instantly obeyed, and was followed by General Parsons with some Connecticut troops. They all crossed the marsh-bordered Gowanus Creek over a causeway and bridge at some tide-mills on the creek, when Stirling soon found himself confronted by an overwhelming division of the British army under General Grant, with Howe's ships-of-war in the Bay, on his right flank, for they had come up in a menacing attitude toward the city, and lay not far from Governor's Island. Stirling placed his only two cannon on the side of a wooded height (now known as Battle Hill, in Greenwood), so as to command the road. This formed the left of his line. This formed the left of his line. His right was nearly on the Bay, and the troops of Colonels At Lee and Kiechlein, which had been guarding the pass, formed his centre. The Germans under De Heister and Knyphausen were moving at the same time to force their way through the pass at Prospect Mount (now Prospect Park), while Howe, with the main body of the British army led by Sir Henry Clinton and Lord Cornwallis, was moving toward the Bedford and Jamaica passes, to gain the rear of the Americans. Putnam had utterly neglected to place a competent guard at the latter pass, as Washington had ordered him to do; and when he was told of the movement of the British in that direction, instead of informing the commander-in-chief of the imminent danger, or directing Stirling to retreat from almost certain destruction, he allowed Sullivan to go out with a few troops, and take command of New Jersey and other forces on Mount Prospect. When, at eight o'clock in the morning, the British had reached the Bedford and Jamaica passes, not more than four thousand Americans were out of the lines at Brooklyn-a handful to oppose five times that number, then stretched along a line more than five miles in extent. The Americans on the left did not perceive their danger until the British had gained their flank and began the attack. The incapacity of Putnam for such important service had allowed a surprise. The British attack was severe and persistent. The troops composing the American extreme left fled in confusion, and with fearful loss to the lines. at Brooklyn; and some Connecticut fugitives, unmindful of the safety of those behind them, burned the bridge over the Gowanus Creek, thereby cutting off the retreat of their fellow-soldiers by that way. Meanwhile the Germans had attacked Sullivan, on the site of Prospect Park, and a desperate fight ensued. While it was going on, Clinton unexpectedly appeared, endeavoring to gain Sullivan's rear. As soon as the latter saw his peril, he ordered a retreat to the Brooklyn lines. It was too late. Clinton drove him back upon the German bayonets. After a sharp hand-to-hand conflict, and seeing no chance for success, Sullivan ordered his men to shift for them CHAP. XXII. THE AMERICANS DEFEATED. 879 selves. Some fought their way through the cordon of soldiers, some hid in the woods, and Sullivan, concealed in a field of corn, was made prisoner by some German grenadiers. Stirling and his party were now the only Americans in the field with unbroken ranks. They fought the enemy with great spirit four hours, when, hopeless of receiving reinforcements, and seeing the main body of the British army rapidly approaching his flank and rear, Stirling ordered a retreat. The bridge was in flames, and the tide was rising. There was no alternative but to wade the morass and the creek, and that passage was about to be cut off by Cornwallis, who was rapidly descending the Port Road with grenadiers and Highlanders. What was to be done? Could any be saved? Stirling's valor quickly answered the questions. He ordered the Delaware troops and one-half of the Marylanders to cross the mud and water with some German prisoners which they had taken, while he and the rest of the Marylanders should keep Cornwallis in check. The order was obeyed. The five Maryland companies that remained fought with desperate valor while the whole of their companions-in-arms crossed the water in safety, excepting seven who were drowned. This movement was seen by Washington from the redoubt on Brooklyn Heights. He was sorely grieved by the disasters of the day. And now the final one occurred. Stirling, having saved a majority of his troops, could no longer resist the pressure of overwhelming numbers on his front, flank and rear, and he surrendered. He would not yield up his sword to a British commander, but sought De Heister, to whom he delivered it. The Germans were the principal victors on that day. They received the surrender of Sullivan, Stirling, and more than half the prisoners. The loss of the Americans did not, probably, exceed one thousand, of whom one-half were prisoners; more than half the loss fell upon Stirling's command. Many of the prisoners were afterward sufferers in the loathsome British prisons in the city of New York and the prison-ships near by. The victors encamped before the American lines on the night succeeding the battle, and prepared to besiege the works of their foe. Washington was anxiously watching every movement, for there was no one on whose judgment and vigilance he might implicitly rely. For forty-eight hours he did not sleep. Fortunately for the republicans, Howe was very indolent and sluggish in thought and movement. A devotee of sensual pleasures and impatient when business interfered with them, he allowed opportunities for achieving grand results to slip. Had Clinton been in command at that time, he would, doubtless, have captured the whole American army and its munitions of war, on the morning of the 28th. Howe dallied in the lap of |