As to the promotions, we shall only say, that the man who feels no indignity upon such occasions, wants an essential qualification for a soldier, and is, in our opinion, unworthy to bear a commission.

But do not imagine, gentlemen, by this, that we are envious of superior merit. For our parts, we pretend to very little; and in any other service, for inerit is rated by comparison, we should think ourselves inadequate to our present appointments. We entered into the army not for pay or preferment, but abilities: to serve our country to the best of our poor

Tis this alone which keeps us in it at this hour, as we conceive, and in so doing, we hope we may not incur the imputation of vanity, that notwithstanding the insignificance of our services, the cause as well as our honor, might suffer from our resignations. However, we mean not to continue in the army, nor do we intend to accept of commissions on the new establishment; and it is a matter of the utmost indifference to us, how soon the council of safety may take it into their heads to appoint others more to their satisfaction in the room of, gentlemen,

us.

Your most obedient servants." This angry epistle was signed, I think, by five of We heard no more of it; but in the sequel, we had reason to wish that it never had been written ; and were convinced, that silence under suffering, is generally, if not always wise.

The denouement of the drama, in which we were acting a part, was now rapidly approaching. After the action of White Plains, of which, as I was not there, I shall say nothing, general Howe with his army, was falling down upon our post; and we had little doubt, that his object was to invest it without delay On receipt of this intelligence, colonel Cadwalader proposed to me to walk with him to the fort, (for we were now stationed in the lines of Haerlem heights) that we might endeavor, by an examination of its means of defence, to collect, whether it could be the design to hold it. We went and reconnoiter

ed it, and the result was, that it was absolutely untenable, and must be abandoned; though still, all the measures taking, seemed to point to a defence. I will not undertake minutely to describe the situa tion of the fort, as my memory might not enable me to do it truly. But I recollect, as it has been observed by general Lee, that there were no barracks, or casemates, or fuel, or water within the body of the place. It was an open, earthern construction, with ground at a short distance on the back of it, equally high if not higher; without a ditch of any consequence, if there was a ditch at all; no outworks, an incipient one on the north, not deserving the appellation, or any of those exterior, multiplied obstacles and defences, that, so far as I can judge, could entitle it to the name of a fortress, in any degree capable of sustaining a siege. It required no parallels to approach it: the citadel was at once within reach of the assailants. In addition to this, there were no magazines of any kind prepared; and it is stated in the Annual Register, which carried on the history of the war, that with its other deficiencies, there was not found in it ammunition adequate to the shortest defence. Yet, it was to be defended, as will soon appear: and Gordon, in his history, gives a letter from colonel Magaw, stating that he could hold out until the latter part of December, an opinion which shews him to have been more miserably deficient in judgment, than ever we supposed him to be. He had heard of sieges being protracted for months and even years; he had a good opinion of the spirit of his garrison; and, as the place he had to defend was called a fort, and had cannon in it, he thought the devil was in it if he could not hold out a few weeks. Such, probably, were the data of his calculation; nor, though friendly to the memory of, a sincere and gallant man, can I suppose them a jot

better.

While we remained in this incertitude in respect to our destination, and the main armies were ma

neuvering above us about the Brunx, lord Percy, who commanded the British troops on York island, thought proper one day to appear in force in the plains of Haerlem, lying between his and our advanced posts. It was on Sunday, the day his lordship was supposed to prefer for his military operations.X As we were both too insignificant and too distant to admit the supposition that it was intended as a diversion, in favor of general Howe, his object probably was to put our countenance to the test; to feel our pulse, and if he found it tremulous, to push us into the fort. But on the other hand, if he found it fulland regular, it was only to bluster a while with his artillery; skirmish a little with his small arms, and retire. This was all, at least, that came of a very pompous display. We had one field piece with which we answered his fire; and from the carcase of a white horse, which was left bleaching on the ground he occupied, we had satisfactory evidence that our balls had reached him. It was not our business to quit the high ground in force, although some of our men were permitted to skirmish with the light parties which approached us. The firing was pretty warm, and a few men killed and wounded on either side. An Irish lad of about eighteen, who belonged to my company, killed a British soldier and brought off his arms; which on the evening parade, were formally presented to him by colonel Cadwalader, in reward of his bravery. History has preserved no record of this affair, which, trifling as it was, is as well deserving of memorial, as many others that have been preserved in the transactions of our pettite guere. Had it passed between the grand armies, it would without doubt have been taken notice of; but as it did not, we are reduced to the unfortunate situation of sir John Falstaff at the battle of Shrewsbury, in being obliged, though late, to atten:i to its booking ourselves. The celebrated Thomas Paine however, happened to witness the proceeding from Fort Lee, and gave us an handsome puff in one of the Philadelphia papers of the day.

Ahother affair, which never got beyond the precincts of our secluded position, was the carrying a Hessian piquet on the side of King's-bridge. This was achieved by one of our serjeants and a few men, but three or four days before we were taken. The officer of the guard was killed; and the serjeant, with the savage exultation of one of Homer's heroes, appeared in his uniform on the parade.

It was now November, and the nights becoming cold. It was the season too for north easterly storms, one of which is rendered memorable to me, from a circumstance of some interest which accompanied it. I was upon guard with lieutenant Davidson, of our battalion, at a place distinguished by the appellation of The point of rocks, which skirted the road leading to King's-bridge. This was our most advanced piquet towards New-York, and only separated from that of the enemy by a valley a few hundred yards over. The night, as already mentioned, was extremely raw, rainy and tempestuous; and the only shelter the spot afforded was an old caboose, which had been placed here by way of guard house. A kind of chimney had been built at the mouth of it, and a fire here in calm weather, rendered it tolerably comfortable; but at this time, the smoke produced and driven into the cabin by the storm, could not be endured; neither was the shelter from the driving rain by any means sufficient: we were dripping wet. In this miserable situation, Davidson proposed our going to a deserted house on the low ground directly across the road, where we could have a fire, and be dry and comfortable. But this I refused to do, since, though not more than thirty or forty yards from our post, and though rather an extension than a dereliction of it, yet it varied the station as to ourselves. The non-commissioned officers and the rest of the guard were, indeed, to remain there, but in case of disaster there would be blame, and the responsibility was upon us, and patticularly upon myself. In this resolution, I for a

long time persisted against the repeated importunities of my companion, who ingeniously obviated my objections, until at length, the storm rather encreasing than abating, I consented about midnight to go to the house, first taking the precaution to continue the line of sentinels from the point of rocks across the road and round the building at some distance from it, so that it was impossible it should be approached by the enemy unperceived, should he endeavor to grope his way into unknown hostile ground, in one of the darkest and most dismal nights that can be conceived. We had located ourselves in an outer room, where we had a good fire, and had already pretty well dried ourselves. Davidson was stretched along a bench fixed to the wall, half asleep, if not wholly so, and I was sitting before the fire, when a sudden noise of feet and voices reached the door. The latch was lifted, and as I rose up, not without considerable alarm, the first object that presented itself was a British soldier, with his musket and fixed bayonet in his hand. Who are you? said I, a deserter! "No deserter," was the answer. My emotion did not prevent my preserving a pretty good countenance, though my first impression was, that we were surprised, and should be bayonetted out of hand. But this idea was scarcely formed, when the appearance of one of my own men behind the British soldier, changed it to a more pleasing one, and justified, if it did not induce, the addition of the term deserter, to the question of who are you? In fact, he was a deserter; but though in the very act of committing the crime he revolted against its opprobrium. I understood him, and softened down the ungraciousness of my salutation, by asking him if he had come over to us. He answered, yes. Our centinel had done his duty, but awkwardly, in not hav ing disarmed the soldier, and introduced him in a less questionable shape.

The bustle of the incident having completely Housed Davidson, and set him upon his legs, we fel