r left they advanced one
howitzer to within three hundred yards of Stirling's right, and in
front of his left they opened with another piece at a distance of six
hundred yards, and until about eleven o'clock the cannonading was
vigorously sustained. Here was an engagement begun, and for four hours
Stirling's men were encouraged with the belief that they were holding
back the invaders. Their general inspired them with his own resolution
and bravery, both by word and example; and their good conduct in this
their first experience under fire, exposed without cover to cannon and
musket shot, indicated that Grant could not have pushed them back
without suffering severely. The casualties had not been large, but the
nerves of the men were none the less tested by the ordeal. Among the
Marylanders, Captain Edward Veazey, who commanded one of the
independent companies, doing duty with Smallwood's regiment, fell
"early in the engagement;" and either here, or on the retreat at a
later hour, also fell Captain Carpenter, whose battery had been doing
good work on Stirling's line. Of the Delawares, Major MacDonough and
Lieutenants Anderson and Course were slightly wounded. Accounts agree
that few of the men in either Smallwood's, Haslet's, or Kachlein's
battalions were killed or wounded while holding this position.

The three regiments immediately under Stirling thus not only appeared
to be doing well, but had actually proved themselves the best of
soldiers, both by keeping an unwavering line when the British light
troops advanced, as if to be followed by the main column, and in
maintaining their ranks and discipline when subjected to the
subsequent fire of the artillery.

Nor were these the only men who did themselves credit. That little
party composed of Atlee's and Huntington's battalions, under General
Parsons, which had gone into the woods to protect Stirling's left,
must not be forgotten. Our published accounts heretofore fail to
particularize the service it did; but it was of no small account, as
Parson's and Atlee's independent testimony and the returns of the
British losses clearly show. The party, not much over three hundred
strong, filed off to the left, and soon came in sight of "a hill of
clear ground" about three hundred yards distant, which was judged to
be the proper situation from which to watch the enemy.[143] The
direction Parsons' men took, the distances mentioned, and the fact
that tradition associates the site wi