قراءة كتاب Conduct of Sir William Howe

تنويه: تعرض هنا نبذة من اول ١٠ صفحات فقط من الكتاب الالكتروني، لقراءة الكتاب كاملا اضغط على الزر “اشتر الآن"

‏اللغة: English
Conduct of Sir William Howe

Conduct of Sir William Howe

تقييمك:
0
No votes yet
المؤلف:
دار النشر: Project Gutenberg
الصفحة رقم: 3

northward of Rochelle, on the road to the White Plains, leaving Lieutenant-General Heister, with two brigades of Hessians and one of British, to occupy the former ground. Lieutenant-Colonel Rogers,[2] with his corps of Rangers was detached to take possession of Mamaroneck, where the carelessness of his centries exposed him to a surprize from a large body of the enemy, by which he lost a few men killed or taken; nevertheless, by a spirited exertion he obliged them to retreat, leaving behind them some prisoners and several killed and wounded.

The sixth brigade, commanded by Brigadier Agnew, was moved the 22d to sustain the post of Mamaroneck. On the same day Lieutenant-General Knyphausen, with the second division of Hessians and regiment of Waldeckers, having arrived the 18th at New York, landed at Rochelle, was ordered to remain there to cover the disembarkation of the stores and provisions. Upon the movement of the army to Frog's Neck the enemy detached a corps to White Plains, and quitted their position about King's Bridge with some precipitation, leaving two thousand men for the defence of Fort Washington, extending their force behind the Bronx, from Valentine's Hill to White Plains, in detached camps every where entrenched. Their left by this means covering an upper communication with Connecticut, as well as the road along the North River, it was judged expedient to move to White Plains and endeavour to bring them to action.

Lieutenant-General Heister, with his corps, having orders to join on the march, the army moved in two columns on the the 25th, and took a position with the Bronx in front, the right of the line being at the distance of four miles from the White Plains; upon which the rebels immediately quitted their detached camps between King's Bridge and White Plains, assembling their whole force at the latter place, behind entrenchments that had been thrown up by the advanced corps. The army marched by the right in two columns toward White Plains, early on the 28th, Lieutenant-General Clinton leading the right and Lieutenant-General Heister the left column. Before noon all the enemy's advanced parties were drove back to their works by the light infantry and chasseurs, and the army formed with the right upon the road from Mamaroneck to the White Plains about a mile from the centre of their lines; and the left to the Bronx, near the same distance from the right flank of their entrenchments. A corps of the enemy was formed on a commanding ground, separated from the right flank of their entrenchments by the Bronx, which also, by changing its course nearly at right angles, separated this corps from the left of the King's army. Colonel Raille[3] who commanded a brigade of Hessians on the left, observing this position of the enemy and seeing a height on the other side of the Bronx unoccupied by them, from which their flank might be galled, took possession of it with great alacrity, to the approbation of Lieutenant-General Heister, who was acquainted with this movement by Sir William Erskine. Upon viewing the situation, orders were given for a battalion of Hessians to pass the Bronx and attack this detached corps, supported by the second brigade of British, under the command of Brigadier-General Leslie, and the Hessian grenadiers sent from the right, commanded by Colonel Donop; giving directions at the same time for Colonel Raille to charge the enemy's flank as the Hessian battalion advanced to them in front; but there being some difficulty in passing the Bronx the 28th and 35th regiments, who were the first to support, passed it in a place most practicable and formed on the opposite side, though under the enemy's fire, with the greatest

Pages