arrangement was to pass over the highest walls at Cape Diamond. Here
there was a bastion. This was at a distance of about half a mile from
any succour; but being considered, in some measure, impregnable, the
least resistance might be anticipated in that quarter. Subsequent
events tended to prove the soundness of this opinion. In pursuance of
the second plan, Major Livingston, with a detachment under his
command, made a feint upon Cape Diamond; but, for about half an hour,
with all the noise and alarm that he and his men could create, he was
unable to attract the slightest notice from the enemy, so completely
unprepared were they at this point.

While the first was the favourite plan of attack, Burr requested
General Montgomery to give him the command of a small forlorn hope,
which request was granted, and forty men allotted to him. Ladders were
prepared, and these men kept in constant drill, until they could
ascend them (standing almost perpendicular), with their muskets and
accoutrements, with nearly the same facility that they could mount an
ordinary staircase. In the success of this plan of attack Burr had
entire confidence; but, when it was changed, he entertained strong
apprehensions of the result. He was in the habit, every night, of
visiting and reconnoitring the ground about Cape Diamond, until he
became perfectly familiarized with every inch adjacent to, or in the
vicinity of, the intended point of assault.

When the attack was about to be commenced, Captain Burr, and other
officers near General Montgomery, endeavoured to dissuade him from
leading in the advance; remarking that, as commander-in-chief, it was
not his place. But all argument was ineffectual and unavailing. The
attack was made on the morning of the 31st of December, 1775, before
daylight, in the midst of a violent snow-storm. The New-York troops