drove them back from their post, burnt 2 stacks of hay, and
it was thought killed some of them--this about 12 O'clock
at Night. Our troops attacked them at their station near
Flatb. [Flatbush], routed and drove them back ij^ mile.

One of the facts most perplexing to General
Washington was what appeared to be Sir William
Howe's delay in making an attack. Indeed, to an
outsider unfamiliar with military tactics, Howe's
conduct resembles the cruel pleasure a cat sometimes
takes in tormenting a mouse that it knows
cannot escape. The uncertainty as to what the
next British move might be caused much anxiety.
Remembering that Howe's force had arrived the
last of June, one sees how leisurely must have been
his preparations for attack, and how assured his
hope of victory.

The expected attack occurred on August 27.
The Americans were defeated and driven within
their works, their losses being great, especially in
prisoners. The Nineteenth Regiment was held in
reserve, but Captain Hull wrote that they were
near enough to witness the carnage among their
fellow-soldiers.

The night after the battle the enemy encamped
within a few hundred yards of the defeated Americans.
On the 29th Washington decided upon a
retreat to New York, and it was effected that

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