and they were commanded by two brothers, william howell and robert howell. william howell commanded the navy. and it was the largest projection of sea board power over a longer distance than any other than in the modern period. it was also the largest force that britain put into the field during the entire span of the war, which lasted longer than the civil war combined. eight years. washington's job under orders from the continental congress was to defend new york city, which he really felt to be indefensible, particularly as the british commanded the sea. what followed was a total disaster for american arms. absolutely everything went wrong. one thing that went wrong was the health of the army. there was no camp discipline. in the civil war for every soldier killed at battle, one died of disease. in world war i, it was about one to one. in the american revolution, the ratio was 8 to 1. 8 deaths from disease to 1 in combat. and that was for the british armies and the americans were much worse and washington's army began to waste away in the summer of 1776. a