The royal army held the two points of land that commanded
the southern entrance of the river into the mountains; but all the
remaining passes were guarded by the Americans.
We have already stated that the pickets of the continental army were
sometimes pushed low into the country, and that the hamlet of the White
Plains was occasionally maintained by parties of its troops. At other
times, the advanced guards were withdrawn to the northern extremity of
the country, and, as has been shown, the intermediate country was
abandoned to the ravages of the miscreants who plundered between both
armies, serving neither.
The road taken by our party was not the one that communicates between
the two principal cities of the states, but was a retired and
unfrequented pass, that to this hour is but little known, and which,
entering the hills near the eastern boundary, emerges into the plain
above, many miles from the Hudson.
It would have been impossible for the tired steeds of Mr. Wharton to
drag the heavy chariot up the lengthened and steep ascents which now lay
before them; and a pair of country horses were procured, with but little
regard to their owner's wishes, by the two dragoons who still continued
to accompany the party. With their assistance, Caesar was enabled to
advance, by slow and toilsome steps, into the bosom of the hills.
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