 In late 1775 , Benjamin Church , the Director General , assigned McKnight to the Putnam House building , one of six hospitals of the army 's Hospital Department in Cambridge , Massachusetts . He remained in that division , which supported Washington 's army , until , during a period of great scarcity of medical and surgical supplies for the sick and wounded , McKnight went with other surgeons and physicians to North Castle , New York with Washington 's army when the Battle of White Plains began in October 1776 . The Continental Army lost the battle , and the British took Fort Washington and Fort Lee , which pushed Washington 's ragged army south toward New Jersey in December 1776 , which set the stage for the Battle of Trenton . 
