Letter_, September 6th, 1776.]

[Footnote 175: Washington's aids were most of them quite young men.]

As soon as possible the army was reorganized and stationed to meet the
new phase of the situation. Several changes were made in the brigades,
and the whole divided into three grand divisions, under Putnam,
Spencer, and Heath. Putnam's, consisting of five brigades, remained in
the city and guarded the East River above as far as Fifteenth Street;
Spencer's, of six brigades, took up the line from that point to Horn's
Hook and Harlem; and Heath with two brigades watched King's Bridge and
the Westchester shore. Greene had not sufficiently recovered from his
illness, and his old troops, under Nixon and Heard, were temporarily
doing duty with Spencer's command.[176] This disposition was effected
by the 2d of September, and by it our army again occupied an extended
line, endeavoring to protect every point on the east side from the
battery to King's Bridge, or the entire length of the island, a
distance of fourteen and a half miles.

[Footnote 176: A large number of changes were made in the organization
of the army after the retreat. The Connecticut militia were divided up
and formed into brigades with the levies under General Wadsworth,
Colonel Silliman, Colonel Douglas, and Colonel Chester. A brigade was
given also to Colonel Sargent, of Massachusetts. Putnam's division
included Parsons', Scott's, James Clinton's (Glover's), Fellows', and
Silliman's brigades; Spencer's and Greene's divisions included
Nixon's, Heard's, McDougall's, Wadsworth's, Douglas', Chester's and
Sargent's brigades; while Heath had his former brigades, with a change
of some regiments, under Mifflin and George Clinton.]

The question of abandoning New York and all that part of the island
below Harlem Heights was, meanwhile, under consideration. The city
would obviously be untenable under a bombardment, and the island
equally so if the British crossed into Westchester County. Yet
Washington, strangely, we may say, expressed the conviction that he
could hold both provided his troops could be depended upon.[177] Among
his generals, Greene earnestly opposed any such attempt, and advocated
the evacuation and destruction of the place. "The City and Island of
New York," he wrote to his chief, September 5th, "are no objects for
us; we are not to bring them into competition with the general
interests of America.... The sacrifice of the vast property of New
York