Page:The Hessians and the other German auxiliaries of Great Britain in the revolutionary war.djvu/129

 Rh in Jersey, in the beginning of the year 1777, during the American war, I had charge of the outermost end of the picket line near Raritan Landing, on the Boundbrook road. This post could only be held through great watchfulness, and on account of the love and good-will of the chasseurs to myself. We were daily skirmishing with the Americans, for we were only about a mile apart. One morning towards spring, the Americans, under cover of a thick fog, crept so near to one of my outposts that they reached one of my pickets at the same moment with a patrol I had sent out, and routed it. They rushed in on me so quickly as to get within about two hundred yards of me. Fortunately, there was a sunken road between us, into which I threw myself with sixteen chasseurs, calling to Lieutenant Hinrichs to cover my right flank with the rest of the men until Captain Wreeden could come up with his company. Just as I reached the sunken road I received the brisk fire of a regiment of light infantry, under Colonel Buttlar, whereupon my men, who were usually brave fellows, lost their heads and ran away. Astonished, as you may readily believe, I called after them, ‘You may run to the devil, but I'll stay here alone.’ At this moment I perceived that one man, Jäger Bauer, had stayed by me. He answered, ‘No, you shall not stay alone,’ and he called after the chasseurs that were making off: ‘Boys! stop! a scoundrel runs away.’ After he had shouted out these words a few times they all came back and fought like brave fellows. The Americans, who had kept up a continual fire all this time, had not been aware of this frightful scrape I had been in. Captain Wreeden, and the light infantry