was inconsiderable, being not one-fourth so great as Howe could bring
against us. We had no army at hand to have relieved the garrison, had
we shut ourselves up and stood on our defence. Our ammunition, light
artillery, and the best part of our stores, had been removed, on the
apprehension that Howe would endeavor to penetrate the Jerseys, in
which case Fort Lee could be of no use to us; for it must occur to
every thinking man, whether in the army or not, that these kind of
field forts are only for temporary purposes, and last in use no
longer than the enemy directs his force against the particular object
which such forts are raised to defend. Such was our situation and
condition at Fort Lee on the morning of the 20th of November, when an
officer arrived with information that the enemy with 200 boats had
landed about seven miles above; Major General [Nathaniel] Green, who
commanded the garrison, immediately ordered them under arms, and sent
express to General Washington at the town of Hackensack, distant by
the way of the ferry = six miles. Our first object was to secure the
bridge over the Hackensack, which laid up the river between the enemy
and us, about six miles from us, and three from them. General
Washington arrived in about three-quarters of an hour, and marched at
the head of the troops towards the bridge, which place I expected we
should have a brush for; however, they did not choose to dispute it
with us, and the greatest part of our troops went over the bridge,
the rest over the ferry, except some which passed at a mill on a
small creek, between the bridge and the ferry, and made their way
through some marshy grounds up to the town of Hackensack, and there
passed the river. We brought off as much baggage as the wagons could
contain, the rest was lost. The simple object was to bring off the
garrison, and march them on till they could be strengthened by the
Jersey or Pennsylvania militia, so as to be enabled to make a stand.
We staid four days at Newark, collected our out-posts with some of