At first, they, " [the Hessians,] "fell back; but, rallying again, immediately, and the" [right] " column of British troops having advanced " upon our " [General Spencer's] "left, it became necessary" [for him] "to retire;" 10 taking the opportunity, " occasionally/ 7 to form behind the stone walls, on the line of his retreat, and to annoy those who pursued him 11 -- it has been said, however, that the flight of that large detachment was hastened by the appearance, on its front, of the British Light Dragoons ; la and that the retreat was not such an one as reflected credit on its discipline, as soldiers, or on its bravery, as men. 13 A large portion, if not the whole, of the detachment, terror-stricken and without any appearance of order, sought " the ford " -- a shallow portion of the Bronx-river, apparently a short distance below the present railroad-bridge, between Hartsdale and the White Plains -- closely pursued by Colonel Rail, with the Brigade, composed of the Regiments of Lossberg, Knyphausen, and Rail, whom he commanded ; u and, having passed the little stream, the cowardly fugitives found refuge in the neighboring

" North of White-Plains, November 1, 1776," we have already made extracts, stated that the command of General Spencer, on the occasion under notice, "consisted, in the whole of five or six hundred men;" but, on the third of November, five days 'after the engagement, the same Regiments reported an aggregate strength of four thousand, seven hundred, and ninety-six, of whom five hundred and sixty Officers, non-commissioned Officers, and Musicians, and two thousand and seventy-six Privates "fit for duty," were present. (General Beturnqf the Army in the service of the United States, November 3, 1776.) We have determined, therefore, that the effective strength of the Regiments, on the occasion under notice, before they were met by the enemy, was not far from twenty-six hundred men, as we have said in the text.