After having described the retreat of the detachment of Americans and the pursuit by the Brigade of Hessians, the rush of the former for the ford and the anxiety of the fugitives to pass the river, he said, " They," [the Americans,] " immediately entered the river and ascended "the hill; while I, being in the rear and mounted on "horseback, endeavored to hasten the last of our " troops, the Hessians being then within musket- " shot. When I reached the bank of the river, and " was about to enter it, our Chaplain, the Rev. Dr. " Trumbull, sprang up, behind me, on my horse, with " such force as to carry me, with my accoutrements, " together with himself, headlong into the river. This " so disconcerted me, that, by the time I reached the " opposite bank of the river, the Hessian troops were " about to enter it, and considered me their prisoner," in which, however, they reckoned without their host, since he watched for an opportunity, and escaped, by
1 Indeed, they were among those hills as soon as they had passed the Bronx, at the ford ; and, there, they found safety, for a few days, as we shall see, hereafter.
Irving facetiously remarked, (Life of George Washington, ii., 393,) they " scattered themselves among the hills, but afterwards returned to "Head-quarters."
! It is amusing to see Connecticut-men claim that these poltroons were those who fought the Battle and defended Chatterton's hill, without alluding to any other troops, unless without giving them credit for having done anything worthy of notice. (Letter from a Gentleman in ' the Army, " Camp neab the Mills, about three miles North from the "White Plains, November 1,1776;" Hinman's Historical Collection, of the part taken by Connecticut, during the War of the Revolution, 91 ; etc.