t least in
part responsible. Sullivan, on the other hand, according to Brodhead,
blamed Miles for the defeat, as Parsons did. When these officers
wrote, they wrote to defend their own conduct, and their testimony is
necessarily incomplete so far as others are concerned.

In brief, the case seems to be this: On the night of the 26th we had
all the roads guarded. On the morning of the 27th Putnam promptly
reinforced the guards on the lower road when the enemy were announced.
The arrangements were such that if an attack was made at any of the
other points he and Sullivan were to have word of it in ample time. No
word came in time from the left, for the reason that those who were to
bring it were captured, or surprised, or failed of their duty. Hence
the disaster. The dispositions on Long Island were quite as complete
as those at Brandywine more than a year later, where we suffered
nearly a similar surprise and as heavy a loss. Suppose the very small
patrols sent out by Washington and Sullivan to gain information before
that battle had been captured, as at Long Island--we should have
sustained a greater disaster than at Long Island.

Under this state of facts, to charge Putnam with the defeat of the
27th, in the terms which some writers have employed, is both unjust
and unhistorical. That misfortune is not to be clouded with the
additional reflection, that it was due to the gross neglect and
general incapacity of the officer in command. No facts or inferences
justify the charge. No one hinted it at the time; nor did Washington
in the least withdraw his confidence from Putnam during the remainder
of the campaign.]

What has been said of other defeats may be said with equal truth of
this one: if it was a disaster, it was not a disgrace. Even the
surprise upon the left discloses no criminal misconduct. In the
actual fighting of the day our soldiers stood their ground.
Necessarily we suffered heavily in prisoners, but otherwise our loss
was inconsiderable. All the light that we have to-day goes to
establish the very important fact, originally credited and reported by
Washington himself, but which hardly a single historical writer has
since ventured to repeat, that at the battle of Long Island _the
British and Hessians suffered a loss in killed and wounded equal to
that inflicted upon the Americans_.[158] Howe reported his total
casualties at three hundred and sixty-seven officers and soldiers. On
the side of the Americans t