The Glorious Cause - Jeff Shaara [61]
To the dismay of Clinton and Cornwallis, Howe would not move the army by water as long as Long Island Sound was churned by the storms and blustery winds. For six days the British remained in their tents, waiting for the order to move to Pell’s Point.
When the weather finally cleared to Howe’s satisfaction, the army began the short journey, reinforced now by most of the units on Manhattan. Howe landed twenty thousand men on Pell’s Point. As they advanced inland, they were not impeded by any marsh, but by the regiment of John Glover, the Marblehead fisherman. The land was farm country, cut by stone fences and hedgerows, and Glover backed away from the British advance with perfect precision, keeping Howe’s army from any kind of orderly march. The delay was all that Washington required. Howe had given Washington the gift of time, and the entire rebel force abandoned Harlem Heights and made their escape northward to the hills around White Plains. Howe still came forward, and confronted as much of Washington’s force as he could find, but Washington stayed away from a general engagement, withdrew from field to hill, and finally placed his army on another stretch of high ground that only Howe seemed to fear. Instead of pressing what might be a costly attack, Howe ordered his astonished officers to turn the army around and march back to the flatboats. Cornwallis held tight to his frustration, and obeyed Howe’s orders. He recognized that there might be one bright spot in Howe’s amazing and puzzling strategy. There was still one body of rebel troops on Manhattan Island, one strong outpost protected by the high cliffs west of Harlem Heights, overlooking the Hudson River. Above rugged, nearly impassable terrain, the rebels had constructed a fortress, called Fort Washington. It was the only place on the island that rebel forces still occupied, and it was a significant position that Howe could not ignore. If the British were to retreat from White Plains, there would be no shame. Howe could justify the move by planning the immediate capture of the rebel stronghold. But Cornwallis understood, no matter how much Howe tried to build enthusiasm for the new plan, Washington had escaped again.
10. GREENE
NOVEMBER 6, 1776
AN ENORMOUS LUXURY HAD COME TO WASHINGTON’S ARMY IN THE form of prisoners of war, captured in the various engagements from Brooklyn to White Plains. As the numbers of these prisoners increased, so too had their rank. As Howe returned his troops to their posts around New York, negotiations had begun, and customary to the rules of war, officers had been exchanged. The luxury resulted in the return to Washington’s army of the two senior commanders captured on Long Island, Generals Sullivan and Stirling. At nearly the same time, word had come to headquarters of another blessing, a piece of news whose effect was an immediate boost to the morale of the army. From his triumph in South Carolina, General Charles Lee had made the journey northward, and once again, was in place beside Washington as his second in command.
From the first organization of the army around Boston, Lee was seen as the one shining professional in an army of amateurs. Though Washington’s appointment as commander in chief had seemed entirely appropriate, given his experience and his prominence in the key colony of Virginia, many were quietly relieved that congress had shown its true wisdom by appointing Lee as Washington’s immediate subordinate. But to Greene, all the noise about Lee’s prowess seemed to come more from Lee’s opinion of himself than anything he had accomplished in the field. To many in the army, Lee’s prestige