Greene, in reply (Nov. 9th), adhered with tenacity to the policy of maintaining Fort Washington. “The enemy,” said he, “must invest it with double the number of men required for its defence. They must keep troops at King’s Bridge, to cut off all communication with the country, and in considerable force, for fear of an attack.” He did not consider the fort in immediate danger. Colonel Magaw thought it would take the enemy until the end of December to carry it. In the mean time, the garrison could at any time be brought off, and even the stores removed, should matters grow desperate. If the enemy should not find it an object of importance, they would not trouble themselves about it; if they should, it would be a proof that they felt an injury from its being maintained. The giving it up would open for them a free communication with the country by the way of King’s Bridge.[126] It is doubtful when or where Washington received this letter, as he left the camp at Northcastle at eleven o’clock of the following morning. There being still considerable uncertainty as to the intentions of the enemy, all his arrangements were made accordingly. All the troops belonging to the States west of the Hudson, were to be stationed in the Jerseys, under command of General Putnam. Lord Stirling had already been sent forward with the Maryland and Virginia troops to Peekskill, to cross the river at King’s Ferry. Another division composed of Connecticut and Massachusetts troops, under General Heath, was to co-operate with the brigade of New York militia under General George Clinton, in securing the Highland posts on both sides of the river.