In the meanwhile General Wooster who had been joined by a few additional volunteers and by one hun-dred and forty Continental recruits from Massachusetts under Lieutenant Colonel Smith, hastened forward in pursuit of the foe at the head of a force which had now attained a numer-ical strength of about three hundred and fifty. It was be-tween eleven o'clock and midday, when he overtook the enemy between Ridgebury and Ridgefield. They were retir-ing from Keeler's Mills where they had halted for the purpose of destroying a large quantity of flour and Indian Corn belonging to the United States. The American commander instantly attacked the British rear-guard, and captured sev-eral prisoners. Following the retreating force, he continued to skirmish with them for nearly an hour, leading forward in person, his inexperienced followers, and constantly exposing himself to the hostile fire. At length the British were so closely pressed that their rear-guard halted upon some rising ground about a mile and a half from Ridgefield, and facing about stood at bay. They were now waiting apparently for a close attack and meanwhile with three pieces of cannon played upon their pursuers. Wooster perceived a good opportun-ity of capturing one of the British field-pieces by a rapid move-ment. He thereupon addressed in words of encouragement his foremost men; pointed out the feasibility of the enter-prise, and ended a short harangue by calling upon every brave American to follow him. His horse at that moment

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was shot but he instantly mounted another, belonging to one of his aides and rode along the highway, sword in hand, followed with alacrity by those to whom he had appealed. The veteran leader was now in the sixty-eighth year of his age. As he approached the end of his career, it seemed as though his life had coursed through time in a circle, and that having completed one revolution, he had now entered upon a second, with the ardor that belongs to the morning of existence.