_Certificate from Isaac Jennings and Andrew Wakeman_. Being requested
by Samuel Rowland, Esq., to give information relative to the
evacuation of New-York, in the year 1776, by the American army, we,
the subscribers, then acting, one in the capacity of a lieutenant, and
the other as a private, in the brigade commanded by the late General
Silliman, now deceased, do certify, That on the fifteenth day of
September (being on the Lord's day), the British landed on the east
side of the island, about four miles above the city. The American
troops retreated the same day to Harlem heights. By some
misapprehension of the orders, or from other causes unknown to us, our
brigade was left, and was taken by General Knox to Bunker's Hill, [1]
a small fort (so called) about a mile from town. The fort was scarcely
able to hold us all. We had but just got into the fort, when Aaron
Burr, then aid-de-camp to General Putnam, rode up and inquired who
commanded there. General Knox presented himself, and Burr (then called
Major Burr) asked the general what he did there? And why he did not
retreat with the army? The general replied, that it was impossible to
retreat, as the enemy were across the island, and that he meant to
defend that fort. Major Burr ridiculed the idea of defending the
place, being, as he said, without provisions, or water, or bomb-proof;
and that, with one mortar, or one howitzer, the enemy would take the
place in four hours, or in some very short time, and again urged
General Knox to retreat to Harlem heights; but General Knox said it
would be madness to attempt it. A smart debate ensued, the general
adhering to his opinion. Burr addressed himself to the men, and told
them that, if they remained there, they would before night be all
prisoners, and crammed into a dungeon, or hung like dogs. He engaged
to lead them off, and observed that it would be better that one half
should be killed in fighting, than all be sacrificed in that cowardly