ned
castle in the rear. His objection unluckily prevailed. A flag sent
with a summons to surrender was fired upon. The house was now
cannonaded, but the artillery was too light to have the desired
effect. An attempt was made to set fire to the basement. He who
attempted it was shot dead from a grated cellar window. At length a
regiment was left to keep guard upon the mansion and hold its garrison
in check, and the rear division again pressed forward.

This half hour's delay, however, of nearly one-half of the army,
disconcerted the action. The divisions and brigades thus separated
from each other by the skirmishing attack upon Chew's House, could not
be re-united. The fog and smoke rendered all objects indistinct at
thirty yards' distance; the different parts of the army knew nothing
of the position or movements of each other, and the commander-in-chief
could take no view nor gain any information of the situation of the
whole. The original plan of attack was only effectively carried into
operation in the centre. Still the action, though disconnected,
irregular and partial, was animated in various quarters. Sullivan,
being reinforced by Nash's North Carolina troops and Conway's brigade,
pushed on a mile beyond Chew's House, where the left wing of the enemy
gave way before him.

Greene and Stephen, with their divisions, having had to make a
circuit, were late in coming into action, and became separated from
each other, part of Stephen's division being arrested by a heavy fire
from Chew's House and pausing to return it. Greene, however, with his
division, pressed rapidly forward, drove an advance regiment of
light-infantry before him, took a number of prisoners, and made his
way quite to the market-house in the centre of the village, where he
encountered the right wing of the British drawn up to receive him. The
impetuosity of his attack had an evident effect upon the enemy, who
began to waver. Forman and Smallwood, with the Jersey and Maryland
militia, were just showing themselves on the right flank of the enemy,
and our troops seemed on the point of carrying the whole encampment.
At this moment a singular panic seized our army. Various causes are
assigned for it. Sullivan alleges that his troops had expended all
their cartridges, and were alarmed by seeing the enemy gathering on
their left, and by the cry of a light-horseman, that the enemy were
getting round them. Wayne's division, which had pushed the enemy
nearly t