Reed and Lieutenant Tilghman, who had also been
writing private letters describing Sunday's panic, and other members
of the staff, went to the front about the same time. Knowlton's men
had not yet come in, and their fire was distinctly heard from the
Point of Rocks, where the commander-in-chief was now surveying the
situation. Anxious to learn whether the British were approaching in
force on the Bloomingdale Heights, no attack being threatened from the
plains, Colonel Reed received permission to go "down to our most
advanced guard," namely, to the Rangers, whom he found making a
momentary halt on their retreat. The enemy soon came up again in
large numbers, and the Rangers continued to retire. Colonel Reed,
describing his experience at this point, states that the British
advanced so rapidly that he had not quitted a house (which may have
been Vandewater's) five minutes before they were in possession of it.
"Finding how things were going," to use Reed's words, he returned to
Washington "to get some support for the brave fellows who had behaved
so well." Knowlton, however, fell back to our lines, and the enemy
halted in their pursuit on the north-east edge of Bloomingdale
Heights, opposite the Point of Rocks, where a part of them appeared in
open sight, and "in the most insulting manner" sounded their
bugle-horns as if on a fox chase. "I never felt such a sensation
before," says Reed; "it seemed to crown our disgrace." But the chase
was not yet over.

Learning from Knowlton that the British Infantry who had followed him
in were about three hundred strong, and knowing that they were some
distance from their main army, Washington determined, if possible, to
effect their capture. Knowlton's men, who had done nobly, were ready
for another brush, and there were troops at hand who could be depended
upon to behave well under any circumstances. The opportunity for a
brisk and successful skirmish presented itself, and the general
proposed to improve it. Accordingly he formed the plan of engaging the
enemy's attention in their front, while a flanking party should
attempt to get into their rear and cut off their escape. The troops
that were stationed nearest to the Point of Rocks at this time appear
to have been Nixon's brigade, of Greene's division, Weedon's newly
arrived regiment of Virginians, General Beall's Marylanders, Colonel
Sargent's eastern brigade, Clinton's and Scott's brigades, and other
regiments belonging to Putnam'