the forts on that river was terminated.

The preparations of Sir William Howe being completed, a large battery
on Province Island of twenty-four and thirty-two pounders and two
howitzers of eight inches each opened, early in the morning of the 10th
of November, upon Fort Mifflin, at the distance of 500 yards, and kept
up an incessant fire for several successive days. The blockhouses were
reduced to a heap of ruins; the palisades were beaten down, and most of
the guns dismounted and otherwise disabled. The barracks were battered
in every part, so that the troops could not remain in them. They were
under the necessity of working and watching the whole night to repair
the damages of the day, and to guard against a storm, of which they
were in perpetual apprehension. If, in the days, a few moments were
allowed for repose, it was taken on the wet earth, which, in
consequence of heavy rains, had become a soft mud. The garrison was
relieved by General Varnum every forty-eight hours, but his brigade was
so weak that half the men were constantly on duty.

Colonel Smith was decidedly of opinion, and General Varnum concurred
with him, that the garrison could not repel an assault, and ought to be
withdrawn; but Washington still cherished the hope that the place might
be maintained until he should be reinforced from the northern army.
Believing that an assault would not be attempted until the works were
battered down, he recommended that the whole night should be employed
in making repairs. His orders were that the place should be defended to
the last extremity; and never were orders more faithfully executed.

Several of the garrison were killed and among them Captain Treat, a
gallant officer, who commanded the artillery. Colonel Smith received a
contusion on his hip and arm which compelled him to give up the command