and forgotten to look behind him, until, coming within
a hundred yards of the redoubt, he found himself
exposed to a sharp fire, which wounded some of his
volunteers. He then looked round and found that his
whole force consisted of one lieutenant and seven men.
With these he threw himself upon the bridge, hardly
forty yards from the redoubt, and dodged behind the
stone parapet. He hoped that more of his party would
come to the rescue, but it turned out that General
Matthews had commanded the column to halt, as he
did not wish to sacrifice lives unnecessarily. Ewald's
seven chasseurs kept firing at the embrasures of the
redoubt, and their fire was hotly answered, but no one
on their side was hit. In less than a quarter of an
hour they had the pleasure of hearing brisk firing
beyond the redoubt, which had been taken in its rear by
Cornwallis. The garrison abandoned the work, and
Ewald, with his lieutenant and seven men, proceeded
to take possession, and captured twelve prisoners into
the bargain. “But,” says Ewald, “it was through my
error that Lord Cornwallis took only one hundred and
fifty prisoners and two cannon, instead of a thousand
men. For the enemy were awakened by the firing of
the redoubt, and got time to escape, together with
General Lincoln.”[1]
Here is another of Ewald's anecdotes, concerning this campaign: “When we were posted at New Bruns-
- ↑ Ewald's “Belehrungen,” vol. ii. p. 122.—The date was April 13th, 1777. Lincoln had about five hundred men in Boundbrook.—Bancroft, vol. ix. p. 346. The Americans lost two lieutenants and about twenty men, and two guns. The British stayed about an hour and a half and then returned to Brunswick, and General Lincoln took his post again.—Washington, vol, iv. p. 391 n.
