144 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



inents under Washington. During the day the Rangers as usual dis- 

 tinguished themselves, and when the army resumed its march towards 

 Sandy Hook thoy had the honor of forming its rear guard. The army 

 arrived at Sandy Hook on the 5th of July and there embarked for New 

 York, and Siracoe could boast that in the whole of the arduous march 

 from l*hiladelphia he had not lost one man by desertion. 



III. 



After tlie return of the British army to New York, the Rangers 

 were encamped at King's Bridge, on the Harlem River, and with them 

 were Eramerick's corps of Chasseurs and the three Provincial corps of 

 Hovenden, James and Sandford, most of whom afterwards were affiliated 

 with Tarleton's I^egion. The Rangers had previously been supplied with 

 a gun, a three-pounder, and now an Amuzette and three artillery men 

 were added, so that the corps had become a miniature army consisting 

 of horses, foot and artillery. The post they occupied was a very exten- 

 sive one, much exposed and liable to attack, and as Washington's army 

 was encamped at White Plains, the Rangers had full employment. The 

 American advance corps under General Scott, occupied from Phillip's 

 Creek on the north to New Rochelle on the East River, and sometimes 

 they came in force to Valentine's Hill, which was not more than two 

 miles from Simcoe's camp. The Rangers ambuscaded one of these parties 

 of the enemy and caused them some loss, and there was hardly a day in 

 which they were not actively engaged. Tarleton took command of 

 Hovenden's and James' Provincial corps and became an active colleague 

 of Simcoe in the operations around King's Bridge. Early in August 

 the Rangers and cavaliy of Tarleton's Legion penetrated several miles 

 into the enemy's lines, and at Mamaronec captured the guard there, two 

 or three commissaries who were in a fishing party, and forty horses, and 

 returned without accident. This, like most of the Rangers' affairs, was 

 a night attack, and although the results seem small there was no bolder 

 or more remarkable operation in the whole war. 



At this time the American? were joined by a party of sixty Stock- 

 bridge Indians and they speedily made their presence known by an 

 attack on one of Emmerick's patrols beyond King's Bridge. Simcoe 

 rightly judged that the Indians and American light troops would be 

 likely to make another attack next day and he resolved to lie in ambush 

 for them. His idea was that as the enemy moved forward he would be 

 able to gain the heights in their rear and attack them. In pursuance of 

 these intentions, Lieut.-Col. Emmerick was detached with his Chasseurs 

 and ordered to post himself in a house designated, but he unfortunately 



