Quote from ttanner on Mar 11^th, 2009, 3:21pm:

 
 
This really isn't my area of interest so I don't have any details, but I always thought Washington was compelled to defend New York by Congress and that it wasn't his choice.

It may be that Congress never gave the order, but that doesn't mean Washington did not make the decision because he knew that they thought it was necessary.
 
Talk about Operation Shock and Awe, that was the arrival of the British. It reads like a terrifying experience seeing them come, especially considering the condition of the American army. But for some reason, the American soldiers were not terrified. Those guys must have been crazy. But what did Washington think. Were his decisions based on lack of experience, or just knowing that he had to pull off the impossible? Maybe both.
 
I'm reading a chronicle of the war now. It's interesting just how many mistakes both sides made, but the British commanders were highly educated and experienced. It seems both sides suffered from a lack of confidence at key moments. For the British, did that come from the New England experience -- not just having to withdraw from Boston due to the amazing feat of the Americans bringing in their canons, but the losses suffered by the British in the fighting before the siege, which were beyond their expectations, and which demonstrated an amazing capacity for the American fighters. Or maybe, the British just didn't see the cause as worth dying for.
 
However, another thing that must have affected Washington's decisions is, the severe lack of supplies and equipment, being out numbered, and just not having resources like the British had. So -- I'm still thinking a lot of qualifications have to be made in evaluating Washington, that I do not know historians are properly doing.