to
watch the movements of the garrison, and pressing on with the column in
pursuit of the flying enemy. But the sages of the army, at the head of
whom was Major-General Knox, repulsed at once the idea of leaving a
fortified enemy in the rear, as contrary to the usages of war and the
most approved military authorities.

"At this period of the action the fog had become so dense that objects
could scarcely be distinguished at a few yards' distance. We had
penetrated the enemy's camp even to their second line, which was drawn
up to receive us about the centre of Germantown. The ammunition of the
right wing, including the Maryland brigades, became exhausted, the
soldiers holding up their empty cartridge boxes, when their officers
called on them to rally and face the enemy. The extended line of
operations, which embraced nearly two miles, the unfavorable nature
of the ground in the environs of Germantown for the operations of the
troops, a large portion of whom were undisciplined, the ground being
much cut up, and intersected by stone fences and enclosures of various
sorts, the delay of the left wing under Greene in getting into
action--all these causes, combined with an atmosphere so dense from
fog and smoke as to make it impossible to distinguish friend from foe,
produced a retreat in our army at the moment when victory seemed to be
within its grasp.

"Washington was among the foremost in his endeavors to restore the
fallen fortunes of the day, and, while exerting himself to rally his
broken columns, the exposure of his person became so imminent, that his
officers, after affectionately remonstrating with him in vain, seized
the bridle of his horse. The retreat, under all circumstances, was quite
as favorable as could be expected. The whole of the artillery was saved,
and as many of the wounded as could be removed. The ninth Virginia
regiment, under Colonel Mathews, having penetrated so far as to be
without support, after a desperate resistance, surrendered its remnant
of a hundred men, including its colonel, who had received several
bayonet wounds. The British pursued but two or three miles, making
prisoners of the worn-out soldiers, who, after a night-march of fifteen
miles and an action of three hours, were found exhausted and asleep in
the fields and along the road.

"I made a narrow escape from being taken by a party of dragoons. They
were nearly upon a small body of us that had got separated from our
division, bef