HISTORY OF BROOKLYN. 265

in order to secure the passes between that place and Jamaica, and to turn, if possible, the American left.

Accordingly, late on the afternoon of the 26th, De Heister and his Hessians took post at Flatbush, and relieved Lord Cornwallis, who withdrew his division (leaving only the 42d Regiment) to Flatlands, about two miles southeast of Flatbush. At about 9 o’clock of the same evening the vanguard of the right of the army, consisting of a brigade of light infantry and the light dragoons, under command of Gen. Sir Henry Clinton, moved eastward on the road to New Lotts. He was followed by Lord Percy, with the artillery and grenadiers, and Lord Cornwallis, with a reserve, the 71st Regiment, and fourteen field-pieces, accompanied by the commander-in-chief, Lord Howe. The troops were withdrawn under cover of the darkness, and with great caution, from their respective encampments, in which the tents were left standing, the fires burning, and every appearance of actual occupation maintained. The intended route of march was known only to a few of the principal officers, and, guided by a resident Tory, the army moved over the country, through fields and by-ways, so silently that their footfalls could scarcely be heard at ten rods' distance,1 moving slowly, in order to give time for the light troops in the advance to secure and occupy all the points of the anticipated attack. Passing thus noiselessly along, irresistibly sweeping into its grasp every human being that it met who might give information to the enemy, the head of the column reached the vicinity of Schoonmaker.'s Bridge, which spans the head of a little creek near the village of New Lotts, and a short distance southwest of the present East New York.2 Here was a point of defence of which the British commander expected the Americans would avail themselves, and he made his dispositions accordingly—throwing out skirmishers, and taking such other precautions as seemed necessary.

1 They were seen by Captain Cornelius Vanderveer, who stated that although he was near the fence fronting his house, on the road, he could warmly hear them.—Strong’s Flatbush, p. 145.

2 The exact route taken by the British army on this eventful morning, is a matter of much dispute among those who have most carefully examined the subject. J. C. Brevoort doubts whether the enemy crossed Schoonmaker’s Bridge, the approach to which Is through deep sand. In which opinion he is sustained by Ward and others.