253 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.

As we have already seen, the whole British naval and military force which had been concentrated in the Bay of New York and on Staten Island before the 13th of July, gave, as yet, no indication of the course or manner of their intended attack. Their movements seemed alternately to indicate an immediate readiness, and then a certain indecision. At this time, also, dispatches were received from England, announcing an important change in the French ministry, and the prospect of a general continental war, in which England would be involved. The conjecture that the tenor of these dispatches rendered the British commanders exceedingly cautious, and even anxious for a reconciliation, was further strengthened by the arrival, on the of 17th of August, of a flag of truce from the British fleet. It was borne by Lord Drummond, who had already twice violated his parole given to the American general while engaged in similar diplomatic errands, and the conciliatory overtures which he presented were indignantly spurned by Washington, who availed himself of the opportunity to administer his lordship a severe rebuke for his former duplicity.

Washington, meanwhile, lost no time in providing against every

much relative to our Revolutionary period that history will not willingly let die, but whose description and maps of localities are too vague to be entirely satisfactory. The industrious Furman, who possessed the inborn antiquarian spirit of accuracy in details, has preserved, in manuscript, much interesting material relative to these points, which we have very freely drawn upon in the compilation of this history.

That these defences were by no means despicable, is sufficiently evidenced by the fact that some of them were retained and strengthened by the British during their subsequent occupation of the island. Major Holland, of the British engineers, testified that they were well and solidly made, and according to the rules of fortification, and that they could have been held by a sufficient force for a long time, but that they had not been entirely completed, We also hive the following direct testimony of Lieut. Anbury, on experienced British officer, published in his Travels in North America (vol. ii. 540): “At a small distance from the town (Brooklyn) are some considerable heights, commanding the city of New York. On these is erected a strong regular fort (now Fort Greene) with four bastions. To describe the works thrown up by the Americans on this Island, would be bestowing more attention on the subject than it deserves, as they actually cover the whole. They are not only on grounds and situations that are extremely advantageous and commanding, but works of great strength, that I am at a low to account for their so hastily abandoning them, as they were certain by such a step to give up New York. I am induced to believe that Gen. Washington thought the Americans were so panic-struck after the engagement, as our troops pursued themclose to their lines, that they would not stand an assault; and if his lines were carried he was sensible there was no place of retreat, and that his army must Inevitably have been destroyed.”