General Howe, rather than moving against New…

General Howe, rather than moving against New York, had withdrawn his army to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and regrouped while transports full of British troops, shipped from bases around Europe and intended for New York, began gathering at Halifax.

In June he sets sail for New York with the nine thousand men assembled there, before all of the transports arrive.

German troops, primarily from Hesse-Kassel, as well as British troops from Henry Clinton's ultimately unsuccessful expedition to the Carolinas, are to meet with Howe's fleet when it reaches New York.

General Howe's brother, Admiral Lord Howe, arrives at Halifax with further transports after the general sailed, and immediately follows.