Word: fleets
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...clock in the morning on the 29th of June, sentinels posted on the roof of the Kennedy House at No. 1 Broad Way suddenly noted warning signals fluttering on Staten Island. Major General Sir William Howe's invasion fleet, two weeks out of Halifax, had at last arrived in force at the entrance to New York's outer harbor...
...time, as the fleet continued to gather near Sandy Hook, the city was calm. But on July 2, when British ships headed up the Narrows, New York was aroused. Soon, from St. Paul's Church at the city's northern edge to the Bowling Green, drummers began beating out the long ominous roll that calls soldiers to assembly. In the hazy heat, Continentals and militia, some in blue coats and buckskin breeches, some in brown hunting shirts, formed up, shouldered arms, then clattered over durable Dutch cobblestones to man sod redoubts recently thrown up at the foot...
...soon clear, however, that after months of waiting, anxious New York citizens and soldiery faced more waiting still. As the British fleet came on, the lead ships, instead of continuing north for a quick assault on Manhattan, turned toward Staten Island. Clouds of canvas blossomed in the lower harbor -more frigates and transports (130 vessels carrying 9,300 troops) than anyone in the Colonies had ever before seen assembled. When at last the fleet was anchored and its sails were struck, the bare masts reminded one Continental soldier of a "wood of pine trees trimmed." Noted Private Daniel McCurtin...
...fears with an already wavering public. Washington's aides would neither confirm nor deny the dramatic rumor that Sir William Howe has thus far delayed his attack only because he is expecting the imminent arrival (probably this week) of his brother Admiral Lord Howe with another vast fleet-about 150 vessels and some 10,000 men. Also expected are the Hessian mercenaries whom King George is known to have hired. As Washington has said, "We may expect a very bloody summer in New York...
...point of tediousness, heavy-browed and large-nosed, he is known in the Navy as "Black Dick" Howe, partly because his face has darkened from 30 years of quarter-deck weather, partly because an air of somber resolution has surrounded him ever since he boldly pursued the French fleet among the rocks of QuiberonBay...