Crossing the Hudson--The retreat--Views of the British--Strange conduct of Lee--His capture--Crossing the Delaware--Battle of Trenton--Heroic march upon Princeton--Discomfiture of the British--Increasing renown of Washington--Barbarism of the British--Foreign Volunteers--Movements of the fleet--Lafayette--Movements of Burgoyne--The murder of Jane McCrea--Battle of Fort Schuyler--Starks’ Victory at Bennington--Battle of the Brandywine--Its effects. Washington removed the most of his army across the Hudson, a little below Stony Point, that he might seek refuge for them among the Highlands. General Heath was entrusted with the command. As the troops crossed the river, three of the British men-of-war were seen a few miles below, at anchor in Haverstraw Bay. Fort Lee, on the Jersey shore, was now useless, and was promptly abandoned. On the 20th the British army crossed the river in two hundred boats. It is remarkable that their fears were such that they took the precaution of crossing, as it were by stealth, in a dark and rainy night. A corps of six thousand men under Cornwallis, was marshaled about six miles above the fort, under the towering Palisades. The troops, retreating from Fort Lee, about three thousand in number, were at Hackensack, without tents or baggage, and exceedingly disheartened. Still the British were in great strength on the east of the Hudson. They could concentrate their forces and make a resistless raid into New England, or, with their solid battalions march upon Philadelphia and the opulent towns in that region. It soon became evident that the British were aiming at Philadelphia. Washington endeavored to concentrate as many as possible of his suffering troops at Brunswick. It makes one blush with indignation to remember that a loud clamor was raised against Washington for his continual retreat. It would have been the act of a madman to pursue any course different from that which Washington was pursuing. His feelings were very keenly wounded, by seeing indications of this spirit of ignorant censure, on the part of some whom he had esteemed his firmest friends. There were others, however, and among them many of the very noblest in the land, who appreciated the grandeur of Washington’s character and the consummate ability with which he was conducting as difficult a campaign as was ever intrusted to mortal guidance. Washington, with a feeble, disheartened band, in a state of fearful destitution, lingered at Brunswick until the 1st of December. The haughty foe, in solid columns was marching proudly through the country, with infantry, artillery and cavalry, impressing horses, wagons, sheep, cattle and every thing which could add to the comfort of his warmly clad and well fed hosts.[140]