In communicating to congress the appearance of the British fleet off the Hook, General Washington observed, “a very alarming scene may shortly open, and it will be happy for us if we shall be able to steer clear of some serious misfortune in this quarter.  I hope the period has not yet arrived, which will convince the different states by fatal experience, that some of them have mistaken the true situation of this country.  I flatter myself, however, that we may still retrieve our affairs if we have but a just sense of them, and are actuated by a spirit of liberal policy and exertion equal to the emergency.  Could we once see this spirit generally prevailing, I should not despair of a prosperous issue of the campaign.  But there is no time to be lost.  The danger is imminent and pressing; the obstacles to be surmounted are great and numerous; and our efforts must be instant, unreserved, and universal.”

On the arrival of Sir Henry Clinton, the design of acting offensively in the Jerseys was resumed; but, to divide the American army, demonstrations were made of an intention to seize West Point.  To be in readiness for either object, General Greene was left at Springfield with two brigades of continental troops, and with the Jersey militia; while, with the greater part of his army, General Washington proceeded slowly towards Pompton, watching attentively the movements of the British, and apparently unwilling to separate himself too far from Greene.  He had not marched farther than Rockaway, eleven miles beyond Morristown, when the British army advanced from Elizabethtown towards Springfield in great force.  General Washington detached a brigade to hang on their right flank, and returned with the residue of his army five or six miles, in order to be in a situation to support Greene.

[Sidenote:  June.]

[Sidenote:  Skirmish at Springfield.]

Early in the morning of the 23d, the British army moved in two columns, with great rapidity, towards Springfield.  Major Lee was advanced on the Vauxhall road, which was taken by the right column; and Colonel Dayton on the direct road, which was taken by the left.  Both these corps made every possible exertion to check the advancing enemy, while General Greene concentrated his little army at Springfield.  Scarcely had he made his dispositions, when the British front appeared, and a cannonade commenced between their van and the American artillery which defended a bridge over Rahway, a small river running east of the town, which was guarded by Colonel Angel with less than two hundred men.  Colonel Shreve was posted at a second bridge, also over a branch of the Rahway, in order to cover the retreat of Angel from the first.  Major Lee with his dragoons and the piquets under Captain Walker, supported by Colonel Ogden, was directed to defend a bridge on the Vauxhall road.  The residue of the continental troops were drawn up on high ground, in the rear of the town, with the militia on their flanks.