 ministered to their sufferings.

The third American redoubt lay farther down the river at
Billingsport.

It will be recalled that Howe, with his English regulars and
Hessians, spent the winter of 1776-77 in New York with occasional
forays from that point. In July, 1777, after a trial of wits with
Washington in northern New Jersey, he embarked his troops and set
sail to the south. Washington’s uneasiness as to the whereabouts of
his foe was set at rest after three weeks by hearing of the landing
of Howe at the head of the Chesapeake Bay. There then ensued the
battle of the Brandywine and that series of skirmishes which ended
in Howe’s taking possession of Philadelphia, then the capital of
the country, with the removal of the American official papers to
York.

To secure his position and keep his lines open in Philadelphia,
however, it was necessary for Howe to take the American positions
at Billingsport, at Fort Mercer and at Fort Mifflin. The works at
Billingsport fell quickly before a surprise attack, and it now
remained to take Mifflin and Mercer.

The garrison at Mercer consisted of two Rhode Island regiments
under Colonel Christopher Greene. At Mifflin there was about the
same number of the Maryland line under Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel
Smith. The American fleet in the river consisted chiefly of galleys
and floating batteries, and was anchored off the present League
Island. It was under the command of Commodore Hazlewood.

Count Donop, with 1200 picked Hessians, was sent by Howe to take
Fort Mercer. On the morning of October 24, he appeared before the
little fort. Though the Americans had only 400 men with fourteen
cannon they were not dismayed but stood to their arms. The battle
commenced at four o’clock in the afternoon and raged with great
fierceness. It resulted in the repulse of the assailants and the
death of their commander, Count Donop, to whom a monument has been
erected at Fort Mercer Park.

The firing of the first gun against Fort Mercer was the signal for
the British fleet to open upon Fort M