HISTORY OF BROOKLYN 281

American lines, out of range of their musketry, and encamped for the night.1

The strength of the American force engaged in this memorable conflict was about 5,000, while that of the British was fully treble that number. The precise loss of the former, on this occasion, was never known, owing to the capture of Generals Sullivan and Stirling, and the consequent absence of reliable returns from their divisions.2 It was estimated, in General Howe’s official dispatches,

1 Reliable reports say that General Von Heister learned, from the troops who pursued the retreating Americans to their lines, that the left part of the camp of the enemy near the river wag open for a distance of several hundred paces. Accordingly, when the wings had again united with the centre, he reported the fact to General Howe and made a proposition to profit by the confusion of the enemy and the valor of the troops, to attack the camp forthwith, at this weak point; but Howe manifested a number of scruples, and so mimed the golden opportunity of completing his victory.”—Von Elkin’s Account.

2 The prisoners comprised three generals, Stirling, Sullivan, and Woodhull, three colonels, four lieutenant-colonels, three majors, eighteen captains, forty-three lieutenants, one aid, eleven ensigns, and 1,011 men. In addition to these were taken fifteen cannon, one howitzer, some stands of colors, ammunition-wagons, Pioneers’ tools, etc. The Hessians alone took one stand of colors, five guns, and five hundred prisoners, among them General Sullivan and thirty-five officers.—Howe’s Return of Prisoners; Onderdonk, see. 821; and Hessian account in Von Elkin’s work, which furthermore says: “Amongst the prisoners are many, so-called, colonels, lieut.-CoIonels, and majors, and other officers, who have all previously been tailors, shoemakers, barbers, etc. Some of them have been badly beaten by our men, because the latter did not consider them real officers. I did not find among the captured officers a single one who had been in foreign service before. They are all rebels and settled citizens. My Lord Stirling is nothing but an ‘echappe de familles.’ He resembles my Lord Granby as one egg the other. General Putnam is a butcher by profession. The rebels desert frequently. It is not uncommon to see colonels, lieutenant-colonels, and majors coming into our lines with a number of men. The captured colors, made of red damask, with the motto ‘Liberty,’ came with sixty men to the regiment Rall; they carried their muskets upside down, their hats under their arms, fell upon their knees, and begged for quarter. Not a single regiment is regularly uniformed or armed; every one has his private musket, just as the Hessian citizens march out on Whitsuntide, except Stirling’s regiment, which had a blue and red uniform, was three battalions strong, and consisted mostly of Germans enlisted in Pennsylvania. They were tall, fine men, and had very fine English muskets, with bayonets.“It was this regiment which was mistaken by the second battallon of grenadiers as Hessians. (See ante, pp. 273, 278.) “The rebels’ artillery is poor, their cannons being mostly of iron, and mounted on naval gun-carriages.” Bancroft, Hist. U. S., ix. 95, says: “The total lose of the Americans, including officers, was, after careful inquiry, found to be less than a thousand, of whom three-fourths were prisoners. This is the account always given by Washington, alike in his official report and in his most private letters. Its accuracy is confirmed by the special returns from those regiments which were the chief sufferers. More than half of this loss fell upon Stirling's command; more than a fourth on the Maryland regiment alone.” In