Washington Saves Army After Battle of Long Island (August 1776)
[The following are excerpts from General Washington’s letter to Congress on his night-time evacuation after the Battle of Long Island. His secret retreat saved both the army and supplies from the British. For further reading, please visit the Hathi Trust Digital Library to view The Writings of George Washington. This highlight is part of our ongoing Legacies of Liberty series, where we celebrate Washington and Lee’s Revolutionary founders.]
(Battle of Long Island | Source: Library of Congress)
To the President of Congress
New York, 31 August 1776
Sir,
Inclination as well as duty would have induced me to give Congress the earliest information of my removal, and that of the troops, from Long Island and its dependencies, to this city the night before last; but the extreme fatigue, which myself and family have undergone, as much from the weather since, as the engagement on the 27th, rendered me and them entirely unfit to take pen in hand. Since Monday, scarce any of us have been out of the lines till our passage across the East River was effected yesterday morning; and, for forty-eight hours preceding that, I had hardly been off my horse and never closed my eyes; so that I was quite unfit to write or dictate till this morning.
Our retreat was made without any loss of men or ammunition, and in better order than I expected from troops in the situation ours were. We brought of all our canon and stores, except a few heavy pieces, which in the condition the earth was, by a long-continued rain, we found upon trial impracticable; the wheels of the carriages sinking up to the hobs rendered it impossible for our whole force to drag them. We left but little provisions on the island, except some cattle, which had been driven within our lines, and which after many attempts to force across the water, we found it impossible to effect, circumstanced as we were. I have enclosed a copy of the council of war held previous to the retreat, to which I beg leave to refer Congress for the reasons, or many of them, that led to the adoption of that measure. Yesterday evening and last night, a party of our men were employed in bringing our stores, cannon, and tents, from Governor’s Island, which they nearly completed. Some of the heavy cannon remain there still, but I expect they will be got away today.
In the engagement on the 27th, Generals Sullivan and Stirling were made prisoners. The former has been permitted, on his parole, to return for a little time. From my Lord Stirling I had a letter by General Sullivan, a copy of which I have the honor to transmit, that contains his information of the engagement with his brigade. It is not so full and certain as I could wish; he was hurried most probably, as his letter was unfinished; nor have I been yet able to obtain an exact account of our loss; we suppose it from seven hundred to a thousand killed and taken. General Sullivan says Lord Howe is extremely desirous of seeing some of the members of Congress; for which purpose he was allowed to come out, and to communicate to them what has passed between him and his lordship. I have consented to his going to Philadelphia, as I do not mean, or conceive it right, to withhold or prevent him from giving such information as he possesses in this instance. I am much hurried and engaged in arranging and masking new dispositions of our forces; the movements of the enemy requiring them to be immediately had; and therefore, I have only time to add, that I am, with my best regards to Congress, &c.