On this day 250 years ago, Brig. Gen. Stirling’s Continental Army brigade crossed to the west side of the Hudson River at King’s Ferry, New York. Gen. Washington explained to Maj. Gen. Israel Putnam that he was ordering his division of the Continental Army to follow Stirling:
From the Accts given by the two Deserters last Evening I think not a Moments time should be lost in throwing your Men over upon the Jersey shore, & advancing them down the River towards Dobbss Ferry. this shd be done if they are obliged to go without their Baggage. The Brigade which Marched under Lord Sterling & the Maryland Brigade may be got over first. In that case the Jersey Brigade may halt at Pecks kiln till the next Brigade comes, but be getting their Baggage over, and so on, till the whole which are intended to cross the River are over. Remember that there is an Important Pass on the West Side of the River to Secure. . . .
Communicate by Express (so soon as you get up to the Ferry) to Genl Green, that the Enemy by the Acct of the last Nights Deserters mean to bring Boats up the River for Transportation of them across—these People say the Boats were to come from New York, but possibly they may be brought through Harlem River. A strict watch should be kept, & if possible, opposition given
Unfortunately, the garrison of Fort Washington was not included in the forces who Washington ordered to New Jersey because Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene could “not conceive the Garrison to be in any great danger” and mistakenly believed that “the men can be brought off at any time.”
Sources: “George Washington to Major General Israel Putnam, 9 November 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-07-02-0091. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 7, 21 October 1776–5 January 1777, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1997, pp. 128–129.]; “George Washington to Major General Nathanael Greene, 9 November 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-07-02-0084. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 7, 21 October 1776–5 January 1777, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1997, p. 119.]; “Major General Nathanael Greene to George Washington, 9 November 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-07-02-0085. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 7, 21 October 1776–5 January 1777, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1997, pp. 119–121.]
