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.[1]
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
- ↑ Washington, vol. iv. p. 264.
