The column was again brought to a sudden and unexpected halt ; and a longcontinued and well-sustained fire was kept up, by each of the belligerent parties -- it is saidthat seventeen volleys were fired by the Americans ; and that the enemy's line was broken, " several times, once, in " particular, so far that a soldier of Colonel Shep- " ard's" [Regiment] " leaped over a wall, and took a " hat and canteen off of a Captain that lay dead on " the ground they retreated from."

But the disparity of numbers between the opposing forces was so very great that prudence dictated a retreat of the two Regiments who had so successfully held the enemy in check ; and Colonel Glover ordered them to fall back and re-form and rest on their arms, in the rear of the third line of the ambuscade, behind which the Regiment commanded by Colonel Baldwin was concealed.

The advancing column of the enemy was again put in motion ; but the record of the events of the day make no mention of any mere waste of ammunition nor of any shouts of exultant success ; and it is evident that it moved forward, soberly and cautiously, as was becoming, in view of the heavy losses which it had already sustained and of those to which it was predestined. It had not proceeded far before Colonel Baldwin and his command arose from their concealment, behind the third line of the ambuscade ; and, suddenly and unexpectedly, they delivered a destructive fire, into the head of the column. It is said, however, that, in this instance, the ground was much in favor of the enemy, enabling him to bring his artillery to bear on the Americans ; and that the opposition of the latter was, in consequence of those disadvantages, neither as spirited nor as effective as that which had been made by Colonels Read and Sheperd.