“… the enemy entered the upper work at the barrier at the same time I did.”

“… the enemy entered the upper work at the barrier at the same time I did.”. . , Here, by the innermost abatis, a British eight-inch howitzer – an artillery weapon that could hurl a 45-pound explosive shell a distance of 1900 yards – was aimed towards the shallow waters of Haverstraw Bay to guard the southern flank of Stony Point. However, the main American assault column captured the weapon before it could be loaded or fired., Lieutenant John Roberts of the Royal Artillery arrived at this battery just as it fell into American hands:, “ … I concluded that the enemy were in possession of the Howitzer Battery and were pushing for the upper work, upon which I bent my steps that way but fell over a log of wood, and several people fell over me before I recovered myself. I have great reason to believe that the enemy entered the upper work at the barrier at the same time I did.”, These men were the vanguard of the American south column which had waded through the bay and around the outward abatis. Their advance might have been stopped by the small British gunboat assigned to protect the area, but it was absent from its post. The remainder of the column swept around the summit and approached the Upper Works from the rear. At approximately the same time, on the other side of Stony Point, the north column of Light Infantry was entering the inner abatis and meeting fierce resistance from its defenders.