How little of the
horrors of either have we known! Fire or the sword have scarce left a
trace among us. We may be truly called a favoured people.
I have been not so engaged as common for a short time past, and have
liberty of remaining, for three or four days, about two miles from
camp, from whence I now write you, a little more at leisure; but I am
now within drumcall.
Your nephew,
A. BURR.
After the abandonment of Manhattan Island by the American army, and
some fighting in Westchester, General Washington crossed the North
river with a part of the troops, and retreated through New-Jersey. The
movements of Lord Cornwallis left no doubt that the object of the
British general was Philadelphia. He advanced rapidly from Brunswick
upon Princeton, hoping, by forced marches, to get in the rear of the
Americans. On the 8th of December, 1776, Washington crossed the
Delaware, secured the boats, and broke down the bridges. Great
apprehension and alarm for the safety of Philadelphia now existed.
Judge Marshall, in his Life of Washington, says,
"In consequence of this state of things, the general advised that
lines of defence should be drawn from the Schuylkill, about the
heights of Springatsbury, eastward to the Delaware, and General Putnam
was ordered to superintend them." Major Burr was now actively engaged
as the aid-de-camp of General Putnam, whose esteem and unbounded
confidence he continued to enjoy.
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