ms,
and fled precipitately through the woods. The Virginia line received the
enemy with more firmness, but the greater part of them were compelled to
retreat, which was accelerated by the fall of General Stevens, who was
wounded in the thigh. The struggle between the enemy and the
continentals was stoutly contested, but the second Maryland regiment
unexpectedly giving way, Greene was compelled to retreat. Cornwallis
pursued but a short distance. The American loss in killed and wounded
amounted to thirty officers and four hundred privates. The British loss
amounted to five hundred and thirty-two, including several valuable
officers. Lieutenant-Colonel Stuart of the guards was killed; Colonel
Webster mortally wounded. The total number of Greene's army was
forty-five hundred, of whom thirty hundred were actually engaged.
Cornwallis' force, according to American accounts, numbered two
thousand; according to his statement, to only fourteen hundred and
forty-five. After this disastrous victory Lord Cornwallis found it
necessary to retire toward Wilmington.

In the mean while Arnold's anxiety for his safety at Portsmouth was
relieved by the arrival[719:A] of a re-enforcement under General
Phillips. This accomplished and able but proud and passionate officer,
exasperated by a tedious captivity, upon his exchange had been indulged
by Sir Henry Clinton in a desire to invade Virginia, and wreak his
vengeance on a State where he had been so long detained (unjustly as he,
not without some reason, believed) a prisoner of war. Having united
Arnold's force with his own, Phillips left Portsmouth,[719:B] and on the
following day the army landed at Burwell's Ferry, from which the militia
fled. Phillips, with the main body, marched upon Williamsburg, and
entered it without serious opposition. Simcoe, with a small party of
cavalry, early next morning surprised a few artillery-men at Yorktown,
(the rest escaping across the river in a boat,) and burnt "a range of
the rebel barracks." The British sloop, Bonetta, anchored off the town.
How little did the parties engaged in this little episode anticipate the
great event which was destined soon to make that ground classic! The
Bonetta, too, was destined to return to that picturesque place to play
her part in the closing scene. Phillips, embarking at Barret's Ferry,
near the mouth of the Chickahominy, issued "the strictest orders to
prevent privateers, the bane and disgrace of the country which em