Three clear choices faced George Washington in late August 1776. As commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, he had just lost to the British at the battle of Long Island, the latest major skirmish in the American Revolutionary War.
Washington could have carried on fighting, but this would have been a woefully misguided decision bearing in mind the superiority of the British, both in terms of personnel numbers and strategic strongholds around the New York archipelago. He could have surrendered along with his Patriot troops, but this would have meant the war was effectively over – and a dent would have
