troops taken by Howe been treated in like manner, but now through this
cruelty we shall get another army."

The Hon. William Smith, learning how the British used the prisoners,
and concluding it would operate to that end by enraging the Americans,
applied to the committee of New York State for leave to go into the
city and remonstrate with the British upon such cruel treatment, which
he doubted not but that he should put a stop to. The committee,
however, either from knowing what effect the cruelties would have in
strengthening the opposition to Britain, or from jealousies of his
being in some other way of disservice to the American cause or from
these united, would not grant his request.

Washington, at the beginning of 1777, determined to have the army
inoculated for the smallpox, which had made fearful ravages in the
ranks. It was carried forward as secretly and carefully as possible,
and the hospital physicians in Philadelphia were ordered at the same
time to inoculate all the soldiers who passed through that city on
their way to join the army. The same precautions were taken in the
other military stations, and thus the army was relieved from an evil
which would have materially interfered with the success of the ensuing
campaign. The example of the soldiery proved a signal benefit to the
entire population, the practice of inoculation became general, and, by
little and little, this fatal malady disappeared almost entirely.

In the hope that something might be effected at New York, Washington
ordered General Heath, who was in command in the Highlands, to move
down towards the city with a considerable force. Heath did so, and in a
rather grandiloquent summons called upon Fort Independence to
surrender. The enemy, however, stood their ground, and Heath, after a