Note 88 — THE RISE, PROGRESS, AND CONCLUSION OF THE NORTH AMERICAN REVOLUTION. (continued 10)

In the London Gazette Extraordinary, Aug. 24, 1778, Sir Henry Clinton is represented as writing in his official letter—“Having reposed the troops till ten at night, to avoid the excessive heat of the day, I took advantage of the moon-light to rejoin lieut. gen. Knyphausen.” Poor Will’s Almanack, printed at Philadelphia, by Joseph Crukshank, tells the public that the new moon was on June 24th, at ten in the morning, and that on the 28th of June it set 55 minutes after ten at night. Sir Henry could have had little advantage from the light of the moon but four days old, and that was to set in an hour’s time, had he marched off his troops precisely at ten; but if at about twelve, as gen. Washington writes, and which is most likely to have been the case, the moon light, below the horizon, could not have been of any advantage.