Chapter VI

A Perilous Service

Writing of these events afterward, Captain
Hull said, "It was evident that the superior force
of the British would soon give them possession
of New York. The Commander-in-chief, therefore,
took a position at Fort Washington at the
other end of the island. To ascertain the further
object of the enemy was now a subject of anxious
inquiry with General Washington."

In a letter to General Heath at this crisis Washington
wrote as follows: "As everything in a
manner depends upon obtaining intelligence of the
enemy's motions, I do most earnestly entreat you
and General Clinton to exert yourselves to accomplish
this most desirable end. Leave no stone
unturned, nor do not stick at expense, to bring this
to pass, as I never was more uneasy than on account
of my want of knowledge on this score."

Johnston, in his valuable "Life of Nathan Hale,"
says: "If he [Washington] had been anxious to
fathom Howe's plans before the latter began the

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v?