rear of the retreating troops from Kip's Bay, the generals met where two
roads crossed, close by where Broadway now crosses Forty-third Street.
Washington instructed Putnam to hurry his 4,000 on before they were
irretrievably cut off from the main army. They did hurry on. They drew
near the Murray house; they formed a line two miles long that moved
silently over the road that led them to within half a mile of where the
British soldiers were feasting. The line passed this point. Scarcely had
the last man gone by when the British were on the move, half an hour too
late for the capture of 4,000 prisoners.

Now the American forces were all together in a solid mass, moving toward
the upper end of the island; plodding through pouring rain, almost
dropping from the exhaustion of their long march--but safe.

This same night a division of the British soldiers occupied New York.
The others, close on the heels of the American army, waited for the
morning.




CHAPTER XXVII

THE BATTLE of HARLEM HEIGHTS


When the sun rose next morning (it was September 16th), the American
army and the British army lay encamped each on a highland close beside
one another separated by a valley.