General Howe came ashore at two p.m. and made his way inland to Inclenberg, a hilltop estate dotted with orchards and soaring hardwoods. Here Clinton had halted his grenadiers after severing the post road. He lacked field guns, and the commanding general’s written orders required him to protect the East River bridgehead before advancing. Had the regulars continued another mile or so to the Hudson, bisecting the island, Putnam’s division would have been trapped in lower Manhattan. Instead, Howe spent the next three hours bringing his second lift ashore—over six brigades with another 9,000
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