April, 1775, to September, 1776 125 



borhood of Kingsbridge and inspected the ground. Realizing 

 the importance of the place, he selected seven sites for redoubts, 

 two of which — the Cock Hill fort overlooking the mouth of 

 Spuyten Duyvil Creek, and a fort on Marble Hill, afterwards 

 called by the British, Fort Prince Charles — were on the island 

 of Manhattan; the remaining five were in the Borough. He 

 immediately set two Pennsylvania regiments to work on the 

 forts, and also various bodies of militia as they reported for 

 duty; for by this time General Howe had arrived off New 

 York and was threatening the city, so that reinforcements for 

 the Americans were coming in from all directions. In orders 

 of July second, Washington placed General Mifflin in direct 

 command of the Kingsbridge neighborhood with instructions 

 to complete the works as rapidly as possible, so that work was 

 carried on night and day. 



Admiral Lord Howe arrived off New York in command of 

 the fleet on the twelfth of July and anchored in the Lower 

 Bay. The point of debarkation of the British forces was, of 

 course, a matter of conjecture on the part of the Americans; 

 but Mifflin believed they would land near Yonkers and throw 

 a line of strong entrenchments from the Hudson River to the 

 Harlem, thus shutting the Americans up in New York and 

 preventing their escape by way of Kingsbridge. Therefore, 

 while the Howes were attempting to negotiate with Washing- 

 ton for a cessation of hostilities under the instructions of King 

 George, which empowered them to act as commissioners for 

 the purpose, the work of fortifying Kingsbridge went rapidly 

 forward. 



These posts, which fell into the hands of the British in Octo- 

 ber and were further strengthened by them, were located as 

 follows: 



Numbers One, Two, and Three (we use the British nomen- 



