"So do I," said Ben Foster.



Chapter XVI

The Battle of Long Island


Down on the Narrows Road, General Stirling's force was holding its own
against the British. The patriot soldiers were steady and calm, and
loaded and fired regularly and with considerable effect, and had
fortune gone well with Sullivan's division, the Continental soldiers
would probably have won the battle. But General Sullivan, stationed on
the hills south of Bedford, was attacked fiercely in front by a strong
force of British, and another force under Generals Howe and
Cornwallis, having marched around to the north of this position, by
way of the Jamaica Road, attacked Sullivan from the rear, and his
force, thus caught between two fires, was driven back and forth among
the trees, with disastrous results.

General Putnam, watching the battle from the Heights, through his
glass, saw that Sullivan was in difficulties and in danger of capture,
and he decided to send a message to Stirling, warning him of this
fact, and ordering him to retreat toward the Heights as quickly as
possible-for as soon as Sullivan's force was overpowered, the British
would sweep on across the fields and fall upon the rear of Stirling's
force and capture it. So, having written a brief note, General Putnam
summoned Dick Dare.