Page:The Hessians and the other German auxiliaries of Great Britain in the revolutionary war.djvu/235

 ability to march. They were the regiments that had mutinied at Ochsenfurth.

From the 14th to the 18th of June, 1778, the English and Hessians were evacuating Philadelphia. In spite of the fact that much baggage had been sent off by sea, the train numbered about fifteen hundred wagons. Ships at the wharves and on the stocks were burned. The Americans did not interfere with these preparations, nor seriously harass the departing troops. On the 18th of June the march of the army began. The way lay by Haddonfield, Mount Holly, Monmouth Court House, and the Neversink Hills to Sandy Hook. Parties of Americans destroyed the bridges in front of the British, and hung on the flanks and rear. The heat was terrible; many men were killed by sunstroke. The New Jersey mosquitoes did their work so thoroughly that the soldiers' faces were swollen past recognition. On the 25th of June nearly a third of the Hessians were overcome by the heat, and lay by the roadside. There were many desertions. It seems extraordinary, in view of all these difficulties, that the Americans did not succeed in embarrassing the retreat very seriously. Many of Washington's subordinates considered it unwise to attack the retreating enemy. This opinion was principally enforced by Charles Lee, who, as senior major-general, was able