1777.

CHAP. II. sense of common danger, in a war, on the event of which the all of each was staked; and the intention of retaining continental regiments for local defence was abandoned, though with some reluctance. The burden, however, of calling militia from their domestic avocations, at every threat of invasion, and of watching the different stations of the enemy with men whose principal pursuit was the cultivation of the soil, began to be so intolerable, that the people cast about for other expedients to relieve themselves from its weight. The plan of raising regular corps, to be exclusively under state authority, to serve in the state only, and thus be a perpetual substitute for the yeomanry of the country, presented itself as the most effectual mode of protecting the coasts from the insults of small bodies of the enemy, without too much interrupting domestic economy, by perpetually harassing the husbandman, and calling him from his plough.

Against this plan also, general Washington felt the necessity of remonstrating. While the regiments in the service of the United States were unfilled, it was apparent that its tendency must be to impede the progress of their completion; and he deemed all measures of partial defence impolitic, which served in diminishing the common strength. All his influence could only suspend a measure, of the mischievous consequences of which he entertained such

serious fears; and, after the new regiments had CHAP. II. been ordered to take the field, though they

were far from being full, the inconvenience of relying on militia only for security against even sudden invasion, was so strongly felt, that the states generally resolved to raise particular corps of regular troops for individual defence.

As the spring began to open, and the season for more active operations to approach, the first attentions of general Howe were directed to the destruction of the scanty resources prepared by the Americans for the ensuing campaign.

During the winter, magazines of provisions and other stores had been laid up in the highlands, as a place of security, from whence the garrisons, and other troops stationed on the Hudson, might draw their supplies. About fifty miles above New York, on the river, was a small unimportant place called Peck's-Kill, which had served as a kind of post, where mills had been erected, and where a small body of troops were generally stationed. This was usually the residence of the officer commanding in the highlands. It was a place intended for the reception of stores, from whence they were distributed into the neighbouring posts, as occasion might require. From this post also, parties were occasionally detached towards New York to forage, and to cover the country. General Heath had commanded at it, but hav

1777.

CHAP. II ing been directed to succeed general Ward at 1777. Boston, who had resigned his commission, the command had devolved on general M'Dougal.

March 23.

The strength of this post, like that of all others depending for defence on militia, was subject to great fluctuation. At some times it had amounted to three or four thousand men, and at other times it was reduced to as many hundred. General Howe had understood it to be a much more considerable depot of stores than it really was, and as soon as the ice was out of the river, took advantage of the occasional weakness of M'Dougal, to plan an expedition against it, for the purpose of either destroying, or bringing away the stores there deposited.f

Colonel Bird was detached up the river on this service, with about five hundred men, under convoy of a frigate and some armed vessels. General M'Dougal, whose numbers did not, at that time, exceed two hundred and fifty men, received timely notice of his approach, and exerted himself for the removal of the stores into the strong country in his rear. Destruction Before this could be effected the enemy apPeck's-Kill. peared; and finding himself unable to oppose them, he set fire to the remaining magazines, and to the barracks, and retired about two miles into the strong grounds back of Peck's

of stores at

f Annual Register.

Kill, The conflagration was completed by the CHAP. II. enemy, who then returned to New York. 1777. During their short stay, a piquet guard was attacked by colonel Willet, and driven in with the loss of a few men; a circumstance believed by general M'Dougal to have hastened the re-embarkation of the detachment. The quantity of stores in the magazines was not so considerable as had been expected, and of consequence, the injury done in this expedition was much less than had been counted on by the British general when he directed it. A re-enforcement of about two thousand militia had been ordered from Connecticut; and, not long after the destruction of Peck's-Kill, about half that number actually arrived.

At Danbury on the western frontier of Con- At Danbury. necticut, not far from the highlands of New York, military stores, to a considerable amount had likewise been deposited. Although this place was not more than twenty miles from the sound, yet the intervening country was so rough; the troops from the eastward were so frequently passing through the town; and the zeal of the neighbouring militia so much relied on; that the magazines collected at it, were believed to be secure against any sudden attack from the enemy. In addition to the means of defence which have been stated, general Washington had ordered as many of the draughts made by the state of Connecticut to fill up their

CHAP. II. continental regiments, as the place was capable 1777. of accommodating, to be assembled there for the

double purpose of being inoculated, and of furnishing a guard to the stores. But under this order, only fifty men had been collected. Against Danbury, however, an expedition was projected, and two thousand men under the command of governor Tryon, major general of the provincials in the British service, assisted by brigadiers Agnew and sir William Erskine, were employed in it.

On the 25th of April the fleet appeared off the coast of Connecticut, and in the evening, landed the troops, without opposition, at Campo, between Fairfield and Norwalk. General Silliman, who was then in that part of the country, immediately dispatched expresses to alarm and call out the militia. In the mean time, the enemy proceeded almost undisturbed, to Danbury, which they reached about two o'clock the next day; and which place, with the magazines it contained, they set on fire and destroyed. Colonel Huntington who had occupied the town with one hundred and fifty militia and continental troops, retired on their approach, to a neighbouring height, where he waited the re-enforcements which were assembling from the country. General Arnold was also in the neighbourhood, superintending the recruiting service. He joined general Silliman at Reading, where that officer had collected