November, 1776, to September, 1783 157 



front at " Upper Cortlandt's." Heath ordered the cannonade 

 of the Valentine house, if the guard there resisted, and sent 

 two hundred and fifty men into the valley between the house 

 and the fort to cut off the guard in case they tried to retreat 

 to the fort. Two mounted British pickets came unexpectedly 

 upon the head of Wooster's column at the Gun Hill Road near 

 Williamsbridge, and fled to give the alarm. One was dis- 

 mounted by a shot from a field-piece and captured; but the 

 other escaped, shouting: "The rebels! the rebels!" and alarm- 

 ing all the British outposts and pickets, who at once dropped 

 everything and ran for the fort. The garrisons of Valentine's 

 and the Negro Fort fled toward Fort Independence and were 

 fired upon by the pursuing Americans, and one of them was 

 taken prisoner. 



Heath then advanced upon the fort and demanded its sur- 

 render, which was refused. The garrison consisted of a body 

 of Hessians and the Queen's Rangers. Two field-pieces were 

 then sent to a hill south of the fort not far from Farmers' 

 Bridge and they began a cannonade upon a battalion of Hes- 

 sians on the other side of the Harlem, near Hyatt's tavern. In 

 order to get a better shot at the Hessians, one of the pieces was 

 lowered down the side of the hill to the water's edge; when, to 

 the surprise of the Americans, the redoubt near the bridge 

 opened fire on them from cannon which they did not suspect 

 were there; and they were compelled to scramble up the hill, 

 dragging their gun behind them, to a lively accompaniment of 

 cannon-balls from the British redoubt. Heath says : 



"This success at the outposts flew through the country and 

 was soon magnified into a reduction of the fort, and capture 

 of the garrison." Washington so reported it to Congress 

 before receiving the official report, and great disappointment 

 followed subsequently when the final results were known. 



