On this day Aug. 8, 1776: “For the sever

On this day Aug. 8, 1776: “For the several posts on New York, Long, and Governor’s Island, and Paulus Hook, the army consisted of only seventeen thousand two hundred and twenty-five men, of whom three thousand six hundred and sixty-eight were sick,” Washington reports in a letter to the Continental Congress. “Under every disadvantage, my utmost exertions shall be employed to bring about the great end we have in view; and, so far as I can judge from the professions and apparent dispositions of my troops, I shall have their support.” http://ow.ly/i/eD67G