over against Long Island. The ships of war came
within range of the shore and pointed their cannon at
the beach. At eight in the morning the whole coast
swarmed with boats. At half-past eight the admiral
hoisted the red flag, and in a moment all the boats
reached the shore. The English and Scotch, with the
artillery, were first disembarked, and then the brigade
of Colonel von Donop (the only Hessians there). Not
a soul opposed our landing. This was the second
blunder of the rebels since I have been in America.
Their first mistake was when we disembarked on Staten
Island, for they might then have destroyed a good
many of our people with two six-pounders, and now
they might have made it very nasty for us. We
marched on, equally undisturbed, through Gravesend,
and reached Flatbush towards evening. Three
hundred riflemen had been there a little while before us.
We sent a few cannon shots after them, set out our
pickets, and slept quietly all night. I got two horses
as booty, one of which I sent to the colonel and gave
the other to my St. Martin for a pack-horse.
“August 23.—This morning early we were attacked on the right wing of the advanced guard. We brought up a cannon and drove them back. It rained bullets. Captain Congreve and one Constable were wounded by my side, and an Englishman was shot through. In the afternoon they attacked on the left side of the village and set fire to several houses, and we drew back into the village. Lieutenant von Donop, who stood on the left wing, was wounded in the breast; the ball glanced from his rib. I advanced on the right wing, where I occupied a big garden, with one hundred and
