on the twenty-ninth, when it was paraded, and ordered to exercise in platoon-firing. This whimsical and dangerous manœuvre, in the presence of the enemy, which under other circumstances might have caused a general alarm and movement of the American forces, was productive of one good result, in exhibiting the fact that, in consequence of the rain, the ammunition was nearly ruined, and the guns so fouled as to be useless until cleaned.

This military exercise, continued until dusk, was not participated in by all the regiment; for long before that hour, numbers of the soldiers, to escape exposure to the showers, had straggled away to such shelter as the country afforded, and, unfortunately for themselves, had been successful in their search. The narrator of these incidents himself visited a barn, at the distance of half a mile from the camp, to procure some straw to protect him while lying on the wet ground; and was hailed from the top of the hay-mow, which nearly filled the building, by some of his comrades. After ascertaining his name, they exhibited an indolent curiosity regarding the engagement of their own regiment with the enemy, which the platoon firing had led them to believe must have taken place. From the dangers of this supposed battle, they had carefully sheltered themselves, with a prudence which their previous daring would scarcely have led us to anticipate.

CHAPTER VII.

THE RETREAT.

Night came at last, to close the long, gloomy twentyninth of August. With grim tenacity, amid hunger, exposure, and defeat, the American army still held the lines of entrenchment around the village of Brooklyn. Still fell the rain in frequent showers, as on the preceding day; and still continued the skirmishing, along the line of entrenchments, now rising to the roar of battle, and now declining to the scattering fire of a picket guard. All day the heavy discharges from the battery in the British redoubt were sustained; concerning the effects of which on Fort Putnam, at which they were principally directed, our patriot countrymen preserve their usual reticence. As evening drew on, and the gloom of the beclouded day deepened into the darkness of a stormy night, the noise of conflict ceased; but another sound, less alarming to the. ear of the novice, but more ominous of approaching danger to experienced soldiers, broke upon the stillness. It was the heavy muffled clang of the enemy's entrenching tools, breaking the earth across the Brooklyn farms at a little distance in front of the entrenchments, and heaping it into a wall of circumvallation around the land side of the devoted town. It was remarked that the sounds of the besiegers' labor on their parallels, seemed much nearer than on the previous night. No better evidence was

needed of the confidence felt by the enemy in the hopelessness of the situation of their destined victims. Instead of assaulting their lines, to anticipate their possible escape, the British were only solicitous to hem them in with an impenetrable wall.

Thus ended the third day of the siege of Brooklyn. It

was now evident that a few hours would decide the conflict. And, while the forces on either side pause inactive, let us glance at some of the obscurer causes which affected the minds of their commanders, and influenced their respective determinations.

Not the least among the sources of the demoralizing influences affecting the American troops, was the method by which their officers received their appointment. The various Committees of Safety, who recommended the officers for promotion, based their recommendations upon information obtained by an occasional visit to the camp, whose gossip and scandal were then as potent in making heroes or destroying hard-earned reputations, as are the newspaper reports of our day. The popular origin of these revolutionary tribunals, compelled their members to listen with open ears to the whimpering tales of cowardly stragglers. Not unfrequently the ex parte statements of skulkers from the duty of the camp, and the dangers of the battlefield, were the only trial which a brave and meritorious officer was permitted, before the infliction of a stinging rebuke from his State Committee, or the severer punishment of witnessing the promotion of some unworthy favorite over his head. An instance, not without interest to us, both

'See Reed, note, p. 241; also Graydon's Memoirs.

on account of its fine illustration of the manners of the time, and of its relation to the occurrences on the battlefield, is narrated by Capt. Graydon.

A dancing master of Philadelphia, named Menzies, had by virtue of his skill promoted himself in the social rank to fencing master; and the Committee of Safety, conceiving that his management of the sword eminently fitted him. for the office, had made him adjutant of one of the Pennsylvania regiments. Engaged in the combat on the Flatbush hills, with what credit to himself or service to the republic we are not informed, when the fatal lines of Hessian infantry and British grenadiers had fully enclosed his broken and retreating regiment, this officer found all the avenues for escape completely barred. The dreadful massacre of his comrades had begun, and on every side he saw only an infuriated and merciless foe. By extraordinary good fortune and adroitness, he was enabled to secrete himself in a thicket of the forest, until darkness prevented the betrayal of his nationality by his uniform. On crawling from his concealment, he was enabled to answer the challenges of the Hessian sentinels, and the queries of their comrades - thanks to his Pennsylvania Dutch parentage-in German. Thus allaying their suspicions, by excellent address, and equal fortune, he was enabled to elude the sentries, and to rejoin his surviving comrades within the Brooklyn entrenchments. His skill in the management of his feet had perhaps contributed to make him a fencer, and his adroitness with his hands had given him the rank of lieutenant; and now this fortunate use of his tongue was considered a warrant for his promotion over all the line officers to the rank of

major. Thus rewarded for his good fortune in being neither killed or captured, he served with credit, and proved a worthy officer; but his good conduct did not exculpate the Committee from gross injustice to the meritorious officers whom their favoritism had deprived of due promotion. And to the unfitness of many of the subordinate officers must be attributed the inefficiency of their troops.

The behavior of the Pennsylvania regiments, however, throughout the week of skirmishes and the day of defeat, was in striking contrast to the insubordination, and even poltroonery, of some of the New England troops, and to the unreliable character of the Long Island militia. The roll of officers, whose services at this time deserved honorable mention, included many names of Pennsylvanians. The brave Col. Hand, who commanded the riflemen that were engaged in four severe skirmishes at Flatbush; the equally brave though less fortunate Col. Atlee, commanding Stirling's advanced guard at Gowanus, where he was taken prisoner; Cols. Shee and Magaw, and Lieut. Col. Cadwallader - these are only a few of the names of Pennsylvanians who deserve the grateful remembrance of their countrymen.

Nothing, however, relating to the affairs of the Revolution, affects us with such astonishment, as does the conjuncture of three events, that seem inexplicable: the neglect of Lord Howe to use the great armada he commanded in aiding his brother's movements on land; the omission of Gen. Howe to secure the results of his great victory, by carrying the American entrenchments in an immediate assault; and, lastly, after the delay of Washington to