George and Champlain, by Colonel Brown, who had been detached by
General Lincoln, who is also in General Burgoyne's rear, with a
strong body of troops. Surrounded, as it is on all sides, with little
prospect of safe retreat, and a strong army in front, growing stronger
every day by reinforcements, we hope, ere long, to give you
information of definitive success over the British army in that
quarter. An Aid of General Gates, who brought us these last accounts,
says, that by the concurring testimony of prisoners, deserters, and
some of our own people, who escaped from the enemy, their loss could
not be less than one thousand, or twelve hundred men, in killed,
wounded, and missing; and that General Burgoyne himself was wounded in
the shoulder by a rifle ball.

In the middle department, the war has been less favorable to us, as
you will see by what follows. About the middle of August, the British
fleet appeared in the Chesapeake Bay, and landed General Howe's army
at the head of Elk, about fifty miles from Philadelphia. General
Washington's army, which had crossed the Delaware on the embarkation
of the British troops, and the appearance of the fleet off the Capes
of that river, now proceeded to meet the enemy, and came up with them
near Wilmington. After various skirmishes and manoeuvres, a general
engagement took place at Chad's Ford, over the Brandywine, on the 11th
of September last. This battle terminated in our leaving the enemy in
possession of the field, with nine pieces of our artillery. Our loss
in killed, wounded, and missing, did not exceed six hundred; that of
the enemy, as far as we have been able to get information, was near
two thousand. An orderly, taken from them since the battle, makes it
nineteen hundred.[44]

General Washington retreated across the Schuylkill, and, having
refreshed his army, recrossed that river in two days after the former
battle, with design to attack the enemy, who remained close by the
field of action until he came up with them again. To be the better
prepared for battle, and to be guarded against the consequences of
defeat, our army marched without baggage, and left their tents behind.
In this situation, and just in the moment of beginning an attack upon
the enemy, a heavy, long continued, and cold rain, with high wind,
came on and prevented it. The ammunition in the cartridge boxes was
all rendered unfit for use, the arms injured, and the troops a good
deal hurt and dispirited.