Howland and Bristol ferries already had been fortified, and, to prevent further incursions through the main entrance to the Bay, old Fort George, now called Fort Liberty, was immediately reconstructed; a stronger earthwork was erected upon Brenton's Point; and the battery on North Point was enlarged and armed with thirteen of the guns captured at Nassau by Commodore Hopkins (see Plate I, Fig. 1). These defended Newport harbor and the middle entrance to the Bay; but the west passage was without fortifications.

The British Army, March 17, 1776, had been driven by Washington from Boston; or, as the Earl of Suffolk absurdly spoke of this inglorious retreat in the House of Lords: "General Howe thought proper to shift his position in order, in the first place to protect Halifax, and after that object was secured, to penetrate by that way into the interior country.”

It now became necessary for the fleet of England to possess some more secure and capacious roadstead. No place offered such great advantages as Narraganset Bay, where her ships could ride at anchor within its land-locked waters; and no safer base was to be found for the lodgement of her army than the sea-girt isle of Rhode Island. Once in possession of this natural fortress, Britain, with her army and navy, could menace every Atlantic port, and almost bid defiance to the United Colonies.

Accordingly, December 7, 1776, while Washington was in the Jerseys with most of the American army, Sir Peter Parker, with a British fleet of eleven vessels of war (seven line-of-battle ships and four frigates), convoying seventy transports having on board six thousand troops, passed unobstructed through the west passage into Narraganset Bay and rounded the north end of Conanicut. On the following day the British and Hessian troops, under command of Sir Henry Clinton, disembarked on Rhode Island and marched into Newport. Consternation spread on every side; the islanders fled, with their effects, to the main land; every defensible point on Narraganset Bay was occupied by American troops; and the entire State of Rhode Island became a vast camp confronting the enemy.

Brigadier General Mulmedy, a French officer, reported at Providence, December 13, 1776, as Chief Engineer and Director of the American Forces, and was vested by the assembly with. plenary powers "to erect such works and at such places as he shall think proper."

Journal 3.

Howland and Bristol ferries already had been fortified, and, to prevent further incursions through the main entrance to the Bay, old Fort George, now called Fort Liberty, was immediately reconstructed; a stronger earthwork was erected upon Brenton's Point; and the battery on North Point was enlarged and armed with thirteen of the guns captured at Nassau by Commodore Hopkins (see Plate I, Fig. 1). These defended Newport harbor and the middle entrance to the Bay; but the west passage was without fortifications.

The British Army, March 17, 1776, had been driven by Washington from Boston; or, as the Earl of Suffolk absurdly spoke of this inglorious retreat in the House of Lords: "General Howe thought proper to shift his position in order, in the first place to protect Halifax, and after that object was secured, to penetrate by way into the interior country."

that

It now became necessary for the fleet of England to possess some more secure and capacious roadstead. No place offered such great advantages as Narraganset Bay, where her ships could ride at anchor within its land-locked waters; and no safer base was to be found for the lodgement of her army than the sea-girt isle of Rhode Island. Once in possession of this natural fortress, Britain, with her army and navy, could menace every Atlantic port, and almost bid defiance to the United Colonies.

Accordingly, December 7, 1776, while Washington was in the Jerseys with most of the American army, Sir Peter Parker, with a British fleet of eleven vessels of war (seven line-of-battle ships and four frigates), convoying seventy transports having on board six thousand troops, passed unobstructed through the west passage into Narraganset Bay and rounded the north end of Conanicut. On the following day the British and Hessian troops, under command of Sir Henry Clinton, disembarked on Rhode Island and marched into Newport. Consternation spread on every side; the islanders fled, with their effects, to the main land; every defensible point on Narraganset Bay was occupied by American troops; and the entire State of Rhode Island became a vast camp confronting the enemy.

Brigadier-General Mulmedy, a French officer, reported at Providence, December 13, 1776, as Chief Engineer and Director of the American Forces, and was vested by the assembly with plenary powers "to erect such works and at such places as he shall think proper."

Journal 8.