worst sight of all, was to behold his men cut down and bayoneted by
the Hessians while begging quarter. It is said so completely to have
overcome him, that he wept with the tenderness of a child."

"Seeing the flag go into the fort from Knyphausen's division, and
surmising it to be a summons to surrender, he wrote a note to Magaw,
telling him if he could hold out until evening and the place could
not be maintained, he would endeavor to bring off the garrison in the
night. Capt. Gooch, of Boston, a brave and daring man, offered to be
the bearer of the note. He ran down to the river, jumped into a small
boat, pushed over the river, landed under the bank, ran up to the fort
and delivered the message, came out, ran and jumped over the broken
ground, dodging the Hessians, some of whom struck at him with their
pieces and others attempted to thrust him with their bayonets;
escaping through them, he got to his boat and returned to Fort Lee."

* * *

Up and down the valley of the Hudson the contending
armies surged like the ebbing and flowing of the tides.

_William Wait._

* * *

Washington's message arrived too late. "The fort was so crowded by
the garrison and the troops which had retreated into it, that it was
difficult to move about. The enemy, too, were in possession of the
little redoubts around, and could have poured in showers of shells and
ricochet balls that would have made dreadful slaughter." It was no