He assisted at the
evacuation of Fort Lee (now rendered useless by the loss of its sister
fort across the river), and piloted the commander and his friends to his
camp at Hackensack.
British troops under Lord Cornwallis had landed above Fort Lee at the
base of the Palisades, and were now coming down to attempt to cut off
the Americans before they could extricate themselves from the marshes
lying between the Hudson and the Hackensack rivers. The latter left so
precipitately that their fires were burning, with camp kettles over
them, and tents still standing, when the British reached Fort Lee.
Parallel with the Hackensack River runs the Passaic, and across country
between the two Washington was compelled to hasten, lest he be hemmed in
again by the pursuing enemy. It was now late in November, the weather
was cold, and gloomy were these "dark days of the Revolution," when the
militia left the army by hundreds, their terms of enlistment having
expired, and no others took their places. While the little army of less
than four thousand men was constantly depleted, it seemed as if its foes
increased, in that country of loyalists and British sympathizers.
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