Page:The Hessians and the other German auxiliaries of Great Britain in the revolutionary war.djvu/125

 Rh at their enemy, and the event seemed doubtful. The British general determined to delay the attack until the following day. Washington did not venture to stake the fate of America on the resistance of his undisciplined militia. The night was cold and the roads in good condition for the passage of artillery. Wood was piled on the American watch-fires, and a guard left to replenish them. Meanwhile, the American army, passing round Lord Cornwallis's left flank, marched away through the clear January night, and at nine in the morning attacked three English regiments of foot and three companies of horse at Princeton. These the Americans routed, killing and wounding about two hundred men and taking two hundred and thirty prisoners, of whom fourteen were British officers. The American loss of men was small, but of officers heavy, owing to a check at the beginning of the affair. This victory at Princeton was the last engagement of the campaign which deserves the name of a battle. The British abandoned the greater part of New Jersey, retaining only New Brunswick, Amboy, and Paulus Hook. But the outposts of the two armies kept up a skirmishing warfare throughout the winter. Thus, on the 5th of January, 1777, a party of about fifty Waldeckers was attacked by a body of militia, “not superior in numbers,” who killed eight or ten and made prisoners of the remainder, including two officers.

In this skirmishing kind of warfare, the leading part, in so far as the Hessians were concerned, was taken by the jägers, or chasseurs, as the English and Americans called them. These were trained marksmen, recruited