HISTORY OF BROOKLYN. 279

The generous thought was followed by heroic action. Quickly changing his front, and leaving the main body in conflict with General Grant, Stirling placed himself at the head of Smallwood’s regiment, and forming hurriedly (in the vicinity of the present Fifth avenue and Tenth street), the column moved along the Gowanus road, in face of a storm of fire from cannon, musketry, and rifles. Driving the enemy's advance back upon the stone house, from the windows of which the bullets rattled mercilessly into their ranks, they pushed unfalteringly forward, until checked by a fire of canister and grape from a couple of guns which the British hurriedly wheeled into position near the building. Even then they closed up their wasted ranks and endeavored to face the storm, and again were repulsed. Thrice again these brave young Marylanders charged upon the house, once driving the gunners from their pieces within its shadow; but numbers overwhelmed them, and for twenty minutes the fight was terrible. Washington, Putnam, and the other general officers who witnessed it from the ramparts of Ponkiesbergh Fort, saw the overwhelming force with which their brave compatriots were contending, and held their breath in suspense and fear. As they saw the gallant Marylanders attempt to cut their way through the surrounding host, Washington wrung his hands, in the intensity of his emotion, and exclaimed, “Good God, what brave fellows I must this day lose!” Driven back into a neighboring cornfield, some were captured, some were bayoneted, while a few escaped across the Gowanus marsh. While Stirling was thus keeping Cornwallis in check, a large portion of those whom he had left fighting with Grant had found safety by wading or swimming across Gowanus Creek, which they did with difficulty, it is true; but they finally reached the lines, carrying with them the tattered colors of Smallwood's regiment and over twenty prisoners. A few were lost, either in the creek or on its marshy margin.1 Less fortunate than those whom his intrepidity had saved, Stirling found escape impossible. Deprived of nearly

1 The statement—founded partially on General Howe’s official dispatches, and partly on the local traditions of the neighborhood—that large numbers were drowned in attempting to crose the marsh, is probably somewhat exaggerated. Colonel Hazlet, of the Delaware regiment, states that the retreat “was effected in good order, with the lose of one man drowned in passing.” Colonel Smallwood, who covered the retreat. Instances only seven, two of whom were Hessian prisoners.