Monday, September 16, brought the rebels a modest measure of redemption and self-respect. Washington had planned three roughly parallel defensive lines north of the craggy Harlem Heights bluffs, with the new, pentagonal Fort Washington even farther up the island. About ten thousand fit-to-fight men crowded these wooded uplands, hacking at the ground with picks and spades; another six thousand occupied King’s Bridge and crossings into Westchester County.
