rent places on the opposite side of the river, under General
Heath, from which fatigue parties crossed daily to work on the
fortifications.

This strong disposition of the American forces checked Sir Henry's
designs against the Highlands. Contenting himself, therefore, for the
present, with the acquisition of Stony and Verplanck's Points, he
returned to New York, where he soon set on foot a desolating
expedition along the seaboard of Connecticut. That State, while it
furnished the American armies with provisions and recruits, and
infested the sea with privateers, had hitherto experienced nothing of
the horrors of war within its borders. Sir Henry, in compliance with
his instructions from government, was now about to give it a scourging
lesson. General (late Governor) Tryon, was the officer selected by Sir
Henry for this inglorious, but apparently congenial service. About the
beginning of July he embarked with two thousand six hundred men, in a
fleet of transports and tenders, and was convoyed up the Sound by Sir
George Collier with two ships-of-war.

On the 5th of July the troops landed near New Haven, in two divisions,
one led by Tryon, the other by Brigadier-general Garth, his
lieutenant. They came upon the neighborhood by surprise; yet the
militia assembled in haste, and made a resolute though ineffectual
opposition. The British captured the town, dismantled the fort, and
took or destroyed all the vessels in the harbor; with all the
artillery, ammunition, and public stores. Several private houses were
plundered. They next proceeded to Fairfield; where, meeting with
greater resistance, they thought the moment arrived for a wholesome
example of severity. Accordingly, they not merely ravaged and
destroyed the public stores and the vessels in the harbor, but laid
the town itself in ashes. The exact return of this salutary lesson
gives the destruction of ninety-seven dwelling-houses, sixty-seven
barns and stables, forty-eight store-houses, three places of worship,
a court-house, a jail, and two school-houses.

At Norwalk, where they landed on the 11th of July, they burnt one
hundred and thirty dwelling-houses, eighty-seven barns, twenty-two
store-houses, seventeen shops, four mills, two places of worship, and
five vessels which were in the harbor. The loss of the British
throughout the whole expedition amounted, according to their own
accounts, to twenty killed, ninety-six wounded, and thirty-two
missing. It was inten