THE BATTLE OF WHITE PLAINS

By General William Heath.

THE first of these two letters, which give the best extant eye-witness description of the Battle of White Plains, was written by General Heath, one of the American commanders in that engagement, October 27, 1776; and the second letter, dated from White Plains, N. Y., November 1, 1776, and evidently written by a soldier in the American ranks, was printed in the Pennsylvania Evening Post of November 14, 1776.

Heath, who refers to himself in the third person, had been made a major-general shortly before the White Plains engagement, and subsequently was in command of the Hudson River posts. The position which the Americans first occupied at White Plains was Chatterton Hill, from which General McDougall was forced to withdraw. Lord Howe delayed his attack on the main American army, and on the evening of November 31 Washington took up an unassailable position at North Castle. Clouds were rapidly darkening the American outlook at this time.

IN THE forenoon [October 27, 17761 a heavy cannonade was heard towards Fort Washington. Thirteen Hessians and two or three British soldiers were sent in on this day.

From the American camp to the southwest there appeared to be a very commanding height, worthy of attention. The Commander-in-Chief ordered the general officers who were off duty to attend him, to reconnoitre this ground, on this morning. When arrived at the ground, although very commanding, it did not appear so much so as other grounds to the north, and almost parallel with the left of the army as it was then formed. "Yonder," says Major-General Lee, pointing to the grounds just mentioned, "is the ground we ought to occupy."

"Let us, then, go and view it," replied the Commander-in-Chief. When on the way, a Light-Horseman came up in full gallop, his horse almost out of breath, and addressed General Washington, "The British are on the camp, sir." The General observed, "Gentlemen, we have now other business than reconnoitring, putting his horse in full gallop for the camp, and followed by the other officers. When arrived at headquarters, the Adjutant-General, (Reed,) who had remained at camp, informed the Commander-in-Chief that the guards had been all beat in, and the whole American army were now at their respective posts, in order of battle. The Commander-in-Chief turned round to the officers, and only said, "Gentlemen, you will repair to your respective posts, and do the best you can." General Heath, on arriving at his own division, found them all in the lines; and, from the height of his post, found that the first attack was directed against the Americans on Chaderton's hill. The little river Brunx, which ran between the American right and this hill, after running round its north side, turned and ran down on the east and southeast. The British advanced in two columns.

At this instant, the cannonade was brisk on both sides, directed by the British across the hollow and Brunx, against the Americans on the hill, and by them returned. Almost at the same instant, the right column, composed of British troops, preceded by about twenty Light-Horse, in full gallop, and brandishing their swords, appeared on the road leading to the Court-House, and now directly in front of General Heath's division. The Light-Horse leaped the fence of a wheat-field at the foot of the hill, on which Colonel Malcom's regiment was posted, of which the Light-Horse were not aware, until a shot from Lieutenant Fenno's field-piece gave them notice, by striking in the midst of them, and a horseman pitching from his horse. They then wheeled short about, galloped out of the field as fast they came in, rode behind a little hill in the road, and faced about, the tops of their caps only being visible to General Heath where he stood. The column came no further up the road, but wheeled to the left by platoons, as they came up, and, passing through a bar or gateway, directed their head towards the troops on Chaderton's hill, now engaged. When the head of the column had got nearly across the lot, their front got out of sight; nor could the extent of their rear be now discovered.

The sun shone bright, their arms glittered, and perhaps troops never were shown to more advantage than these now appeared. The whole now halted, and, for a few minutes, the men all sat down in the same order in which they stood, no one appearing to move out of his place. The cannonade continued brisk across the Brunx. A part of the left column, composed of British and Hessians, forded the river, and marched along, under the cover of the hill, until they had gained sufficient ground to the left of the Americans, when, by facing to the left, their column became a line parallel with the Americans. When they briskly ascended the hill, the first column resumed a quick march. As the troops which were advancing to the attack ascended the hill, the cannonade on the side of the British ceased, as their own men became exposed to their fire if continued. The fire of small-arms was now very heavy, and without. any distinction of sounds. This led some American officers who were looking on to observe that the British were worsted, as their cannon had ceased firing; but a few minutes evinced that the Americans were giving way. They moved off the hill in a great body, neither running nor observing the best order. The British ascended the hill very slowly, and when arrived at its summit, formed and dressed their line, without the least attempt to pursue the Americans. The loss on the side of the Americans was inconsiderable; that of the British was not then known. The British having got possession of this hill, it gave them a vast advantage of the American lines, almost down to the center.

LAST Monday we received intelligence that the enemy, with their whole body, were advancing towards us. The army were immediately alarmed, and part of General Wadsworth's brigade, with some other regiments under the command of General Spencer, consisting in the whole of five or six hundred men, were sent out as an advance party, to skirmish with the enemy, and harass them in their march. We marched on to a hill about one mile and a half from our lines, with an artillery company and two field-pieces, and placed ourselves behind walls and fences, in the best manner we could, to give the enemy trouble. About half after nine o'clock, our advance parties all came in, retreating before the enemy ; and the light parties of the enemy, with their advanced guard, consisting of two or three thousand, came in sight, and marched on briskly towards us, keeping the high grounds ; and the light horse pranced on a little in the rear, making a very martial appearance.

As our light parties came on to the hills and discovered where we were, the enemy began to cannonade us, and to fling shells from their hobits and small mortars. Their light parties soon came on, and we firing upon them from the walls and fences, broke and scattered them at once; but they would run from our front and get round upon our wings to flank us, and as soon as our fire discovered where we were, the enemy's artillery would at once begin to play upon us in the most furious manner. We kept the walls until the enemy were just ready to surround us, and then we would retreat from one wall and hill to another, and maintain our ground there in the same manner, till numbers were just ready to surround us. Once the Hessian grenadiers came up in front of Colonel Douglas's regiment, and we fired a general volley upon them, at about twenty rods distance, and scattered them like leaves in a whirlwind; and they ran off so far that some of the regiment ran out to the ground where they were when we fired upon them, and brought off their arms and accoutrements, and rum, that the men who fell had with them, which we had time to drink round with before they came on again. They formed at a distance, and waited until their artillery and main body came on, when they advanced in solid columns upon us, and were gathering all around us, ten to our one. Colonel Douglass's and Silliman's regiments fired four or five times on them, as they were advancing and then retreated, but not until the enemy began to fire on their flanks. Colonels Silliman, Douglass, and Arnold behaved nobly, and the men gained much applause. Colonels Webb's, Silliman's, and Douglass's regiments had the principal share in the action. Colonel Webb had four killed, and eight or ten wounded; Colonel Silliman lost six, and had ten or twelve wounded; Colonel Douglass had three killed, and six wounded. Colonels Brooks's, Smallwood's, and Ritzma's regiments, who were drawn up on the hill near the lines, suffered considerably. Our loss in the whole may be seventy or eighty killed or wounded. It is said by all the deserters and captains, who agree in their stories, that the enemy had about three hundred killed and wounded.

The scene was grand and solemn; all the adjacent hills smoked as though on fire, and bellowed and trembled with a perpetual cannonade and fire of field-pieces, hobits, and mortars. The air groaned with streams of cannon and musket shot; the hills smoked and echoed terribly with the bursting of shells; the fences and walls were knocked down and torn to pieces, and men's legs, arms, and bodies, mangled with cannon and grape-shot all around us. I was in the action, and under as good advantages as any one man, perhaps, to observe all that passed, and write these particulars of the action from my own observation.

No general action was designed on our part, and I believe one thousand men were never, at one time, engaged with the enemy. They came on to the hills opposite our lines, and halted ; and after cannonading part of the lines a short time, they became very still and quiet.

Yesterday, (October 31st,) it was observed that they had near finished four or five batteries which they had erected against us; and as our ground, near the center of the town at White Plains, was not good, being overlooked by neighboring hills, the generals, last night, drew off most of the troops from the lines there, and this morning the guards and sentries burned the town and forage all around it, and came off about nine o'clock.

We carried off all our stores, and planted our artillery on the hills about a mile and a half back of the center of the town. The enemy advanced, this forenoon, on to the ground we left, but as soon as they came over the hill, we saluted them with our cannon and field-pieces, and they advanced no further.