Page:The Hessians and the other German auxiliaries of Great Britain in the revolutionary war.djvu/301

 Rh and the general received intelligence that Lafayette was marching to attack him. This was what Cornwallis wished, as he had a good position and a much larger number of regular soldiers than Lafayette.

On the afternoon of the 6th of July Lafayette drew near, uncertain whether the main army of Lord Cornwallis was on the left bank of the James, or only the rear guard. The Americans came on cautiously. Wayne attacked with about five hundred men. The British pickets had received orders to make a stubborn resistance and then fall back. Encouraged by this, Wayne brought the rest of his brigade into action, having thus more than one thousand men in line. The remaining Continentals of the army formed a reserve. It seemed to Cornwallis that the moment to strike had come. His army was drawn up in two lines. The first consisted of about twenty-five hundred men. The second, in which was the Regiment von Bose, was about one thousand strong. Wayne and Lafayette discovered their error, and saw that it could best be redeemed by boldness. Wayne advanced with his brigade. This checked the British. The hostile lines halted about seventy yards apart, and a brisk fire was kept up for fifteen minutes. Then, as the British were beginning to outflank them, the Americans fell back. Two cannon, taken from the Brunswickers at Bennington, were left on the field, their horses having been shot. The loss of the Americans was reported at one hundred and thirty-nine, that of the British at seventy-five.