position, at a place where the British formerly had a fortified post, the works. of which had been strengthened during the two preceding days. There a severe conflict, for about half an hour, ensued, when the combatants mutually withdrew from the field. The loss of the armies was nearly equal, amounting

to between two and three hundred killed or wounded in the course of the day. On the 30th of August there was a good deal of cannonading, but neither party ventured to attack the other. The British were expecting reinforcements; and Sullivan, although he made a show of resolutely maintaining his post, was busily preparing for the evacuation of the island. In the evening he silently struck his tents, embarked his army, with all the artillery, baggage, and stores, on board a great number of boats, and landed safely on the continent, before the British suspected his intention to abandon the post. General Sullivan made a timely escape; for Sir Henry Clinton was on his way, with 4,000 men, to the assistance of General Pigot. He was detained four days in the sound by contrary winds; but arrived on the day after the Americans left the island. A very short delay might have proved fatal to their army.

The most sanguine expectations had been entertained throughout the United States of the reduction of Rhode Island and the capture of the British force which defended it; so that the disappointment and mortification on the failure of the enterprise were exceedingly bitter. The irritation against the French, who were considered the authors of the miscarriage, was violent. Sullivan was confident of success; and his chagrin at the departure of the French fleet made him use some expressions, in a general order, which gave offence to D'Estaing. The American leaders felt the importance of preserving the good will of their allies. Hence Sullivan explained; and Washington and congress employed all their influence to sooth the angry feelings of the French admiral, and to prevent that disunion and distrust which threatened to alienate the Americans and their new allies from each other. These efforts to heal the growing breach were successful; although the ill humor of the populace manifested itself in quarrelling with the French sailors both at Boston and Charleston in South Carolina.

The British fleet had suffered considerably in the storm, but had not sustained so much damage as the French. In a short time, Lord Howe was again ready for sea; and, having learned that D'Estaing had sailed for Boston, he left New York with the intention of reaching that place before him, or of attacking him there, if he found it could be done with advantage. But on entering the bay of Boston, he perceived the French fleet in Nantucket Roads, so judiciously stationed, and so well protected by batteries, that there was no prospect of attacking it with success. He therefore returned to New York, where, finding that, by fresh arrivals, his fleet was decidedly superior to that of the French, he availed himself of the permission which he had received some time before, and resigned the command to Admiral Gambier, who was to continue in the command till the arrival of Admiral Byron, who was daily expected from Halifax.

Sir Henry Clinton, finding that General Sullivan had effected his retreat from Rhode Island, set out on his return to New York; but, that the expedition might not be wholly ineffectual, he meditated an attack on New London, situated on a river which falls into the sound. The wind, however, being unfavorable to the enterprise, he gave the command of the troops on board the transports to General Grey, with orders to proceed in an expedition against Buzzard's ́bay, and continued his voyage to New York. In obedience to the orders which he had received, General Grey sailed to Acushnet river, where he landed on the 5th of September, and destroyed all the shipping in the river, amounting to more than seventy sail. He burned a great part of the towns of Bedford and Fairhaven, the one on the west and the other on the east bank, destroying a

considerable quantity of military and naval stores, provisions, and merchandise. He landed at six in the evening; and so rapid were his movements, that the work of destruction was accomplished, and the troops reimbarked before noon the next day. He then proceeded to Martha's Vineyard, where he took or burned several vessels, destroyed a salt work, compelled the inhabitants to surrender their arms, and levied from them a contribution of 1,000 sheep and 300 oxen, with which seasonable supply of provisions he returned to New York.

The return of the British fleet and of the troops under General Grey relieved the Americans from the anxious apprehensions of an attack on their allies at Boston. Under that apprehension General Washington broke up his camp at White Plains, and, proceeding northward, took a position at Fredericksburg. He detached Generals Gates and McDougall to Danbury in Connecticut, in order that they might be in readiness to move as circumstances might require; and he sent General Putnam to West Point, to watch the North river, and the important passes in the highlands. But the return of the fleet and troops to New York quieted those apprehensions.

Meanwhile the Americans perceived that an expedition was preparing at New York, the object of which they were unable to ascertain; but soon after the return of the troops under General Grey, the British army advanced in great force on both sides of the North river. The column on the west bank, consisting of 5,000 men, commanded by Lord Cornwallis, extended from the Hudson to the Hackensack. The division on the east side, consisting of about 3,000 men, under General Knyphausen, stretched from the North river to the Bronx. The communication between them was kept up by flat-bottomed boats, by means of which the two divisions could have been readily united, if the Americans had advanced against either of them. General Washington sent out several detachments to observe the movements of those columns. Colonel Baylor, who with his regiment of cavalry, consisting of upward of a hundred men, had been stationed near Paramus, crossed the Hackensack on the morning of the 27th of September, and occupied Tappon or Herringtown, a small village near New Tappon, where some militia were posted. Of these circumstances Lord Cornwallis received immediate notice, and he formed a plan to surprise and cut off both the cavalry and militia. The execution of the enterprise against Baylor was intrusted to General Grey; and Colonel Campbell, with a detachment from Knyphausen's division, was to cross the river, and attack the militia at New Tappon. Colonel Campbell's part of the plan failed, by some delay in the passage of the river; during which a deserter informed the militia of their danger, and they saved themselves by flight. But General Grey completely surprised Baylor's troops, and killed, wounded, or took the greater part of them. Colonel Baylor was wounded and made prisoner. The slaughter on that occasion, which the Americans thought unnecessarily great, excited much indignation, and was the subject of loud complaints throughout the United States.

Three days after the surprise of Baylor, the American Colonel Butler, with a detachment of infantry, assisted by Major Lee with part of his cavalry, fell in with a party of fifteen chasseurs and about 100 yagers, under Captain Donop, on whom they made such a rapid charge, that, without the loss of a man, they killed ten on the spot, and took about twenty prisoners. This advantage was very soothing to the embittered feelings of the Americans, who considered it some compensation for Baylor's loss.

The movement of the British army up the North river already mentioned, was made for the purpose of foraging, and also to cover a meditated attack on Little Egg Harbor; and having accomplished its object, it returned to New York. Little Egg Harbor, situated on the coast of Jersey, was a noted rendezvous of privateers; and being so near the entrance to New York, ships bound to that

port were much exposed to their depredations. An expedition against it was therefore planned, and the conduct of the enterprise intrusted to Captain Ferguson of the seventeenth regiment, with about 300 men, assisted by Captain Collins of the navy. He sailed from New York; but, short as the passage was, he was detained several days by contrary winds, and did not arrive at the place of his destination till the evening of the 5th of October. The Americans had got notice of his design, and had sent to sea such of their privateers as were ready for sailing. They had also hauled the largest of the remaining vessels, which were chiefly prizes, twenty miles up the river to Chestnut Neck, and had carried their smaller vessels still farther into the country. Ferguson proceeded to Chestnut Neck, burned the vessels there, destroyed the storehouses and public works of every sort; and, in returning, committed some depredations on private property.

Count Pulaski, a Polish nobleman in the service of the United States, had been nominated commander of the American cavalry; but, as that appointment gave offence to the officers, he resigned his commission. Congress, however, permitted him to raise a legionary corps, consisting of three incomplete companies of infantry and three troops of cavalry, which he officered chiefly with foreigners, and commanded the whole in person. He was ordered toward Little Egg harbor, and lay, without due vigilance, eight or ten miles from the coast. One Juliet, a Frenchman, who had deserted from the British service and obtained a commission in Pulaski's corps, redeserted, joined Captain Ferguson of Little Egg harbor, after his return from Chestnut Neck, and gave him exact information of the strength and situation of Pulaski's troops. Ferguson and Collins immediately resolved to surprise the Polish nobleman; and for that purpose, on the fifteenth of October, they embarked two hundred and fifty men in boats, rowed ten miles up the river before daybreak, landed within a small distance of his infantry, left fifty men to guard their boats, and with the remainder of their force suddenly fell on the unsuspicious detachment, killed about fifty of them, among whom were the Baron de Bosc and Lieutenant de la Borderie, and retreated, with scarcely any loss, before they could be attacked by Pulaski's cavalry.

In this instance they greatly injured or ruined many individuals among the Americans; but they were useless in respect of the great object of the warthe subjugation of the country.

Admiral Byron, with a considerable number of ships, sailed from England on the ninth of June to take the command of the fleet on the American station, and to oppose Count d'Estaing in those seas: but during the summer the weather was uncommonly boisterous in the Atlantic ocean; and on the third of July he was overtaken by a storm which dispersed his fleet. Several of his ships reached New York singly; and six of them, which had kept together under Admiral Parker, arrived there on the 29th of August. Admiral Byron, in the Princess Royal, being left alone, steered for Halifax, where he anchored on the 26th of August; and in that port found the Culloden, one of his fleet. These two vessels being refitted with the utmost despatch, he sailed on the 4th of September, and arrived at New York about the middle of the month.

He made every exertion to repair his shattered squadron; but was not ready for sea till the 18th of October, when he sailed for Boston in quest of D'Estaing. His ill fortune still pursued him; for scarcely had he reached the bay of Boston, when on the 1st of November, a violent storm arose, which drove him to sea, and so disabled his ships that he was obliged to hasten to Rhode Island to refit. D'Estaing, having repaired his fleet, seized the opportunity of Admiral Byron's absence to put to sea, on the 3d of November, and steered for the West Indies. On the same day, Grant, with a detachment of six thousand men from the British army, convoyed by six sail of the line under Commodore Hotham,

sailed for the same quarter. Toward the end of the month a detachment of the British army under Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell, embarked with the design of invading the southern states, and was escorted by Commodore Sir Peter Parker. A sufficient force still remained at New York for its defence.

As the season for active operations in the northern and middle states was now at an end, the American army retired into winter quarters. The main body was cantoned on both sides of the North river, about West Point and Middleburgh, while light troops were posted in advance. In this situation they covered the country, and were conveniently placed for procuring subsistence. The greater part of the men were on the west side of the river, because from that quarter the supplies of bread were drawn, while the animal food was brought from the states of New England; and it was easier to drive the cattle than to transport the corn from a distance. The army was lodged in huts as in the preceding winter; but, by means of the French alliance, the men were more comfortably clothed than formerly.

During the summer of 1778 a harassing and destructive war was carried on by the Indians against the settlers on the western frontier of the United States. Congress was desirous that the numerous tribes of aboriginal inhabitants should either become their allies or remain neutral during the war. At first many of the nations seemed friendly to the United States: but congress had not the means of supplying them with those European commodities which they were in the habit of using; while the British agents in Canada liberally bestowed upon them the articles of which they stood in need, and zealously invited them to take up arms against the United States. By their presents and their councils they alienated the minds of the Indians from the Americans, and prevailed upon them to espouse the British cause; so that, from the Mohawk to the Ohio, the American frontier was threatened with the tomahawk and the scalping-knife.

Although the storm was foreseen, yet the measures of the Americans, depending on the resolutions of different states and the agency of militia, were not sufficiently prompt to prevent or anticipate the threatened aggression. The Indians, with savage fury, burst into the American territory, carrying death and desolation in their train. The happy settlement of Wyoming became, in a particular manner, the scene of carnage, misery, and ruin. That beautiful tract of country, lying on both sides of the Susquehannah, was claimed both by Connecticut and Pennsylvania; and had been settled by emigrants from the former of those states, who, it is said, purchased the land from the Indians. The settlement was in a most flourishing condition, and contained upward of 1,000 families. Unfortunately, Wyoming was not free from those political dissensions which, in a greater or less degree, agitated every province of the union, and which have such a pestilential tendency to destroy social happiness and embitter human life. A great majority of the settlers zealously espoused the cause of congress; but a few were devoted to the support of royalty. These last, considering themselves harshly treated by their political opponents, withdrew from the settlement, and sought refuge among the savages, or retired to the British posts on the frontiers of Canada. There they cherished a deadly hatred against their countrymen, and meditated sanguinary schemes of vengeance.

At the head of those refugees was Colonel John Butler, cousin of Zebulon Butler, commander of the militia of Wyoming. The hostile designs of the Indians and of the emigrants were not unknown to the settlers at Wyoming, who constructed forts, and made such other preparations for defence as they were able. But their enemies endeavored to deceive, in order more easily to destroy them. The hostile Indians sent messengers with assurances of their peaceable disposition; and, the more effectually to lull the settlers at Wyoming into a fatal security, Butler, in a numerous assembly of savages, declared that