e over during the forenoon,
besides Douglas's regiment, were Sage's and Selden's, which, with
Douglas, completed Wadsworth's brigade on that side; Charles Webb's,
of McDougall's brigade; and Scott, with Malcom and Humphrey's men, or
the rest of his brigade.]

Last of all, where were Parsons and Atlee? Had they been holding that
hill in Greenwood all the morning, with a tenacity worthy of veterans,
only to be swallowed up in the defeat and confusion of the day? Such
was to be their fate. For some unexplained reason, when Stirling fell
back, he failed to inform Parsons of his move. Both Parsons and Atlee
state that no word reached them to join the general, and that it was
greatly to their surprise when they found the line, whose flank they
had been protecting, no longer there. Whatever the mistake, there was
no time to lose, for the enemy were now pressing on this little force,
and it must retreat as Stirling had done. But it soon found itself
more effectually hemmed in than any party in the field. Cornwallis,
after driving the Marylanders back, had complete command of the road,
and as Parsons and Atlee came along they found it impossible even to
reach the marsh. Some escaped, but the greater part turned into the
woods and were all taken. Atlee, with twenty-three men, avoided
capture until five o'clock in the afternoon; while Parsons, more
fortunate, hid in a swamp, having escaped from the action and pursuit
"as by a miracle," and with seven men made his way into our lines at
daylight next morning.[156]

[Footnote 156: "Colonel Huntington's and the Maryland regiment
suffered the most. General Parsons says that some of our men fought
through the enemy not less than 7 or 8 times that day. He lay out
himself part of the night concealed in a swamp, from whence he made
his escape with 7 men to our lines about break of day the next
morning."--_Letter from an Officer, Conn. Journal_, September 18th,
1776. "I came in with 7 men yesterday morning, much fatigued."--_General
Parsons_, August 29th, 1776.]

* * * * *

The battle was over. It had continued at intervals, at one point or
another, over a range of five miles, from three o'clock in the morning
until nearly two in the afternoon. Less than five thousand Americans
at the passes, including Stirling's command and all others who had
marched out during the morning, had been swept up or swept back by
nearly twenty thousand British and Hessians. F