coln, but the action ceased and the enemy had retired before we could arrive.
We lay on the ground we then occupied till after midnight, when we advanced further down towards Morrisonia. At the dawn of day we were in close neighbourhood with a British redoubt, and saw a single horseman of the enemy reconnoitering us; we sent a platoon of men around a hill to cut of his retreat, but mistrusting our scheme he kept off out of our reach, although he was seen near us the greater part of the day, "cutting his capers." As soon as it was fairly light we halted, and remained there all day and the night following.—The next morning we were joined by the French army from Rhode-Island. Between us and the British redoubt there was a large deep gully. Our officers gave leave to as many as chose, of our men, to go over the gully and skirmish with the small parties of horsemen and footmen that kept patroling from the redoubt to the gully, watching that none of us took shelter there to annoy them. Accordingly, a number of us kept disturbing their tranquillity all day; sometimes only four or five of us, sometimes ten or twelve; sometimes we would drive them into the redoubt, when they would reinforce and sally out and drive us all over the gully. We kept up this sport till late in the afternoon, when myself and two others of our non-commissioned officers went down near the creek that makes the island upon which New-York is situated. The two other men that were with we stopped under an apple tree that stood in a small gully. I saw four or five British horsemen on their horses a considerable distance from me, on the island. When they saw me they hallooed to me, calling me, "a white livered son of a b—h," (I was dressed in a white hunting shirt, or was without my coat, the latter, I think, as it was warm, and I wore a white under dress.) We then became quite sociable; they advised me to come over to their side and they would give me roast turkeys. I told them that they must wait till we left the coast clear, ere they could get into the country to steal them, as they used to do. They then said they would give me pork and lasses; and then inquired what execution some cannon had done, just before fired from the island, if they had not killed and wounded some of our men; and if
