The Game
From June 18 to June 24, Clinton made every effort to give the appearance that his army was headed to the
Raritan at Amboy. From Allentown, he detached a contingent that moved north towards nearby Hightstown. On the
morning of the 24th, Continental scouts observed the British Army making a sudden turn east, along the Shrewsbury Road and
towards the coast.
As soon as Washington learns of this unexpected turn, he orders his troops to make a series of two marches
a day in a determined effort to close the gap between the British Army and the Continentals. Orders are given to the
New Jersey militia to try to gain the front of the British column and stop them, or at least slow them down. Along the
byways of south Jersey, British troops see peices of paper tacked to trees, with the prophetic warning, "Burgoyned."
Only recently has history revealed Clinton's strategy. In a biography of British General Gray, there
is a letter he wrote to Lord Shelburne from Philadelphia prior to the evacuation. In the letter, he bitterly denounces
Clinton's plans to move the army to Sandy Hook.
The second source is from British engineer Archibald Robertson's diary. Once the British Army is safely
evacuated to Sandy Hook, he wrote in his diary that the strategy to race to the Hook was his, and that he had recommended
it to General Howe and then to General Clinton. Clinton, wrote Robertson, embraced his idea and made it the General's
own.
