Untouched Redoubt

“We find ourselves very unexpectedly upon very advantageous ground,” wrote Jonathan Trumbull, Washington’s aide, on 30 September. “At night our troops begin to throw up some works and to take advantage of the enemy’s evacuated labors.” For besieging troops, the abandoned redoubts gave them a covered and concealed position from which to begin the laborious task of digging the trenches to protect laborers building covered positions for the artillery. Everything in a siege revolved around acquiring superior positions for artillery where they could fire at vulnerable positions in the enemy lines while not being exposed to the massed fire of the enemy’s batteries.