the right wing, finding that the English had
penetrated to the rear, gave orders for a retreat, and to secure it,
boldly attacked the division under Lord Cornwallis; but being assailed
in his course by General Grant, he was repulsed and taken prisoner. The
dispersed troops fled to the fortified lines and camp at Brooklyn; but
they left 2000 slain on the field, or drowned in a morass into which
they were driven at Gowan's Cove; and about half that number, with
Generals Sullivan and Udell, with ten other field-officers were taken
prisoners. The loss of the British was comparatively trifling: seventy
were slain and about 200 wounded. The ardour of the British troops was
such that they followed the fugitives almost to the foot of their works,
and they were with difficulty prevented from making an assault on their
lines. Had they been permitted it seems clear that they might have
easily carried them; but General Howe, conceiving that the lines must
become his by regular approaches without much sacrifice of life, he
ordered them back to a hollow out of the reach of the fire of the enemy.
By this order the troops which had fled were saved. Washington, who had
passed over from New York during the battle, in the midst of his extreme
anguish at the fate of so many of his troops and the critical situation
of the remainder, suddenly saw a gleam of hope bursting through the
surrounding gloom. On that night the British army encamped in front of
the American lines, and on the following morning the British general
commenced his regular approaches; breaking ground about six hundred
yards from one of the redoubts. But while the troops were digging their
trenches on one side, Washington was smuggling his forces out on the
other, and ferrying them over East River to the city of New York. His
masterly retreat was effected by night in such order, secrecy, and
silence that the English were not aware of it till the rising sun showed
them that the enemy was out of the reach of danger: But for this the
half of Washington's army which he had exposed on Long Island would have
been lost, and the war might have been virtually ended. But even after
his escape Washington found himself in no very enviable position. A
superior and victorious force was in front of him, while all around him
the country was hostile to his cause. The success of the British arms
indeed, caused the anti-revolutionists to lift up their heads on every
hand, and in great numbers.