Head Quarters White plains 29 Octr. 1776
[Extract] Dear Sir:
Your Express did not call Yesterday or I overlooked him in the Hurry of the Day. If I had seen him I should have informed you that the Cannonade you heard was at Mount Washington and not at this Place ー Two Frigates came up and anchored alittle below the Forts to stop the Passage at Bourdet's Ferry, but one of them soon got such a Dose from a Battery of 2 18 Pounders that she was obliged to cut and run having received 26 Shot thro' her Hull. She was towed off by her own Boats and those of her Consort with Pumps constantly going2 They at the same Time attacked our Lines at Harlem Heights but were repulsed....
Wm Duer Esqr of the [New York] Committee [of] Correspondence Fishkills
1. Sabine, ed., Memoirs of William Smith, II, 33-34. In transcribing this letter into his memoirs, Smith called the writer "James Tilghman" in error.
2. H.M.S. Pearl and H.M.S. Repulse.
