field from whence he
could best see and direct the conflict, and nothing but a successful
charge of the enemy upon them could have moved him to retire.

A few of the cooler-headed men among the Hessians had rallied some of
the Lossburg regiment, and two guns had been run out into the street
and pointed up toward the place where Washington stood, to form a
battery, which might, could it have been served, have held the American
army in check until such time as the startled Germans could recover
their wits and make a stand. General Washington pointed them out to
the officer of the advance guard, which had already done such good
service, with a wave of his sword. The little handful of men, led by
Captain Washington and Lieutenant Monroe, charged down upon the guns,
which the party had not had time to load. A scattering volley received
them. Captain Washington and Monroe and one of the men were wounded,
another fell dead; the men hesitated. Talbot sprang to the head of the
column, in obedience to the general's nod, and they rallied, advanced
on the run, and the guns were immediately captured.

Meanwhile the fire of Stark's riflemen could be heard at the other end
of the town. St. Clair's brigade held the bridge; the regiment Von
Knyphausen lost a few precious moments endeavoring to extricate its
guns, which had become mired in the morass near the bridge, and then
charged upon St. Clair. But it was too late; Von Dechow was seriously
wounded, and when the regiment saw itself taken in the flank by
Sargeant's brigade, it retired in disorder, though some few men escaped
by the fords.

At this juncture Rahl re-formed his scattered troops in the apple
orchard. He seems to have had an idea of retreating toward Princeton
at first, with the two regiments still under his command; at any rate,
he also lost precious moments by hesitation. It was even then too late
to effect a successful retreat, for Washington, foreseeing the
possibility, had promptly sent Hand's Pennsylvania riflemen along the
Pennington road back of the town to check any move in that direction.
As fast as the other brigades of Greene's column came up, they were
sent down through the streets of the town, until Stirling, in the lead,
joined Sullivan's men. Rahl's brigade was practically surrounded,
though he did not know it. The commander completely lost his head,
though he was a courageous man, brave to rashness, and a veteran
soldier who had hitherto dist