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The Continental Congress was debating on if they should declare independence, they also raised armies, directed strategy, appointed diplomats, and made formal treaties. In 1776 the 13 delegations from colonies already joined in the revolution were joined by delegations from Quebec and the Bahamas. They believed foreign powers would hesitate to make alliances with them if they were still colonies of the British Empire. Congress approved a resolution of independence and crafted a formal explanation of the decision, The United Stated Declaration of Independence, which they approved on July 4. While Congress was busy declaring war the British were making moves. General Howe arrived on the shores of Staten Island with 10,000 men on July 2 then he waited for more troops to come. In August they moved 22,000 troops to Long Island on August 27 they laid siege to the fortifications on Brooklynn Heights but Washington led a nighttime retreat to Manhattan Island. In September Howe sent a message to Congress to attempt to negotiate and though they doubted it would work they also thought an outright rejection would be viewed as hostile so they sent a committee to Staten Island the conference came to nothing. There also occurred a spectacular, and outrageously lucky, event occurred off Governors Island around midnight on September 6. A small submersible designed by David Bushnell which he had been working on for years was put in the water and conducted its only successful attempt on an actual target, though some accounts don’t even give it credit for that since records of the event and the craft itself are spotty at best. Sargent Ezra Lee piloted the craft out and made it to his target, though he struggled due to the complicated nature of the Turtle and the very limited air supply, he managed to attach the explosive device he called a torpedo to his target. That night he achieved something that would not be done for a long time after that. Sargent Ezra Lee was the first man to use a submersible to sink a ship the HMS Eagle the flagship of the blockade on the harbor, though it would have no impact on the blockade.