ot,
Neal, and General Mercer.

After following the retiring and demoralized British for a few miles,
Washington determined to abandon the pursuit. The men were exhausted
by their long and fatiguing marches, and were in no condition to make
the long march to New Brunswick; most of them were still ill equipped
and entirely unfitted for the fatigue and exposure of a further winter
campaign,--even those iron men must have rest at last. The flying
British must have informed Leslie's troops, six miles away, of the
situation; they would soon be upon them, and they might expect
Cornwallis with his whole force at any time. He drew off his troops,
therefore, and, leaving a strong party to break down the bridge over
Stony Brook and impede the advance of the English as much as possible,
he pushed on towards Pluckamin and Morristown, officers and men
thoroughly satisfied with their brilliant achievements.

Early in the morning the pickets of Cornwallis' army discovered that
something was wrong in the American camp; the guard had been withdrawn,
the fires had been allowed to die away, and the place was as still as
death. A few adventurous spirits, cautiously crossing the bridge,
found that the guns mounted in front of it were only "quakers," and
that the whole camp was empty,--the army had decamped silently, and
stolen away before their eyes! My Lord Cornwallis, rudely disturbed
from those rosy dreams of conquest with which a mocking spirit had
beguiled his slumber, would not credit the first report of his
astonished officers; but investigation showed him that the "old fox"
was gone, and he would not be bagged that morning--nor on any other
morning, either! But where had he gone? For a time the perplexed and
chagrined commander could not ascertain.

The Americans had vanished--disappeared--leaving absolutely no trace
behind them, and it was not until he heard the heavy booming of cannon
from the northeast, borne upon the frosty air of the cold morning about
sunrise, that he divined the brilliant plan of his wily antagonist and
discovered his whereabouts. He had been outfought, outmanoeuvred,
outflanked, and outgeneralled! The disgusted British were sent back
over the familiar road to Princeton, now in hotter haste than before.
His rear-guard menaced, perhaps overwhelmed, his stores and supplies in
danger, Cornwallis pushed on for life this time. The English officer
conceived a healthy respect for Washington at this junct