So effectually did he perform the latter that his
aggregate of prisoners taken during the winter exceeded the number
captured by Washington at Trenton, and his captures of wagons laden
with provisions for the enemy were highly important.
CHAPTER XVI
DEFENDING THE HUDSON HIGHLANDS
Snugly and safely entrenched in the Morristown hill-country, Washington
left to Putnam the post he so dearly loved, that of real danger, within
fifteen miles of New Brunswick, where the enemy lay in strength. At
Princeton, thirty miles from headquarters, Putnam remained until May,
when he was detached and sent into the Hudson Highlands. The British had
lost fewer men at Trenton and Princeton than the Americans had lost at
Fort Washington, yet the former were singularly dispirited. With the
Commander-in-Chief withdrawn to the hills, the road to Philadelphia lay
open to the enemy, and only Old Put opposing them, like a lion in the
path; but for some reason they did not avail themselves of the
situation.
Putnam's division formed the right wing of the American army in
cantonment that winter, with the center at Morristown and the left wing
on the Hudson.
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