Charles Lee, Horatio Gates, and Richard Montgomery were three important officers of the regular British army who fought on the American side.

Montgomery had been killed at Quebec; the defects of Gates were not yet conspicuous; and Lee was next to Washington the most trusted American general.

The names Washington and Lee of the twin forts on opposite sides of the Hudson show how the two generals stood in the public mind.

While disaster was overtaking Washington, Lee had seven thousand men at North Castle on the east bank of the Hudson, a few miles above Fort Washington, blocking Howe's advance farther up the river.

On the day after the fall of Fort Washington, Lee received positive orders to cross the Hudson at once.