of his centries
exposed him to a surprize from a large body of the enemy, by which he
lost a few men killed or taken; nevertheless, by a spirited exertion he
obliged them to retreat, leaving behind them some prisoners and several
killed and wounded.

The sixth brigade, commanded by Brigadier Agnew, was moved the 22d to
sustain the post of Mamaroneck. On the same day Lieutenant-General
Knyphausen, with the second division of Hessians and regiment of
Waldeckers, having arrived the 18th at New York, landed at Rochelle, was
ordered to remain there to cover the disembarkation of the stores and
provisions. Upon the movement of the army to Frog's Neck the enemy
detached a corps to White Plains, and quitted their position about
King's Bridge with some precipitation, leaving two thousand men for the
defence of Fort Washington, extending their force behind the Bronx, from
Valentine's Hill to White Plains, in detached camps every where
entrenched. Their left by this means covering an upper communication
with Connecticut, as well as the road along the North River, it was
judged expedient to move to White Plains and endeavour to bring them to
action.

Lieutenant-General Heister, with his corps, having orders to join on the
march, the army moved in two columns on the the 25th, and took a position
with the Bronx in front, the right of the line being at the distance of
four miles from the White Plains; upon which the rebels immediately quitted
their detached camps between King's Bridge and White Plains, assembling
their whole force at the latter place, behind entrenchments that had been
thrown up by the advanced corps. The army marched by the right in two
columns toward White Plains, early on the 28th, Lieutenant-General Clinton
leading the right and Lieutenant-General Heister the left column. Before
noon all the enemy's advanced parties were drove back to their works by
the light infantry and chasseurs, and the army formed with the right upon
the road from Mamaroneck to the White Plains about a mile from the centre
of their lines; and the left to the Bronx, near the same distance from the
right flank of their entrenchments. A corps of the enemy was formed on a
commanding ground, separated from the right flank of their entrenchments
by the Bronx, which also, by changing its course nearly at right angles,
separated this corps from the left of the King's army. Colonel Raille[3]
who commanded a brigade of Hessians on the left, observing