1777.] IirSTOKY OF DELAWARE COUNTY. 323 



repair, as much as possible, the damages of the day ; and being 

 under a constant apprehension of an attack by a storming party, 

 little opportunity was afforded for repose, and but for the relief 

 afforded by Gen. Varnum, the duties would have been too 

 arduous to bear. 



It was the opinion of both Col. Smith and Gen. Varnum, that 

 the garrison could not withstand an assault, and Gen. Washing- 

 ton believing that none would be made until the works were bat- 

 tered down, gave orders for the defence of the place to the last 

 extremity, which were literally obeyed. These orders, which 

 have the api)earance of being severe under the circumstances, 

 were prol)ably induced by the report of Major Feury, a French 

 Engineer, who believed the place was still defensible. Col. 

 Smith was wounded on the second day of the siege, when the 

 command devolved upon Col. Russell and subsequently upon 

 Major Thayer. 



On the 14th a floating battery of the enemy was silenced, but 

 on the 15th " the assailants brought up their ships as far as the 

 obstructions in the river permitted, and added their fire to that 

 of the batteries, which was the more fatal, as the cover for the 

 troops had been greatly impaired. The brave garrison still 

 maintained their ground with unshaken firmness. In the midst 

 of this stubborn conflict, the Vigilant and a sloop of war were 

 brought up the inner channel, between Mud and Province and 

 Carpenter Islands, which had, unobserved by the besieged, been 

 deepened by the current in consequence of the obstructions in 

 the main channel ; and taking a station within one hundred 

 yards of the works, not only kept up a destructive cannonade, 

 but threw hand grenades into them, while the musquetsers from 

 the round-top of the Vigilant killed every man that appeared 

 on the platform."' 



An effort was made by the galleys to drive these vessels away, 

 but it could not be accomplished on account of the batteries on 

 the Pennsylvania shore. With these vessels in the inner chan- 

 nel, it was" impossible to continue the defence of the fort, and 

 accordingly, about eleven o'clock on the night of the 15th, 

 it was evacuated, the garrison retiring to Red Bank. Before 

 leaving they set fire to the barracks, and moved off the cannon 

 and stores. No troops ever behaved with more firmness — the 

 fort being perfectly riddled before it was evacuated.* 



The loss at the fort is not officially reported, but it was not 

 considerable before the last day of the conflict. It is reported 

 that Lord Cornwallis confessed that the enemy '' lost a great 



1 Marshall's Life of Washington, i. 178. 



2 The mark of a cannon ball having passed through an old brick house one mUe 

 from the fort, supposed to be Guyer's house, is still visible. 



