This movement had been made without any knowledge of the intention of General Washington to change his position, or any design of contesting the passage of the Schuylkill; but the troops had been posted in the manner already mentioned for the sole purpose of covering the foraging party.
Washington apprehended, from his first intelligence, that General Howe had taken the field in full force.

He therefore recalled the troops already on the west side, and moved rather higher up the river, for the purpose of understanding the real situation, force, and designs of the enemy.

The next day Lord Cornwallis returned to Philadelphia; and, in the course of the night, the American army crossed the river.
[Sidenote: General Washington goes into winter quarters.] Here the Commander-in-chief communicated to his army, in general orders, the manner in which he intended to dispose of them during the winter.

He expressed, in strong terms, his approbation of their conduct, presented them with an encouraging state of the future prospects of their country, exhorted them to bear with continuing fortitude the hardships inseparable from the position they were about to take, and endeavoured to convince their judgments that those hardships were not imposed on them by unfeeling caprice, but were necessary for the good of their country.
The winter had set in with great severity, and the sufferings of the army were extreme.

In a few days, however, these sufferings were considerably diminished by the erection of logged huts, filled up with mortar, which, after being dried, formed comfortable habitations, and gave content to men long unused to the conveniences of life.