llis marched to Elkton (the Head of Elk), and thence issued the
proclamation referred to. The next day his advance-guard occupied Gray's
Hill, two miles to the east.

The two armies therefore confronted each other at a distance of some
fifteen to eighteen miles, and the unhappy people between sustained the
usual penalties of such a situation. The American "light-horse," part of
which was the famous command of Harry Lee, scoured the country, annoying
the British outposts and capturing numbers of prisoners. On the 28th
they secured thirty or forty, and the next day twenty-nine were
reported, besides twenty deserters who had come in, eight of them from
the fleet. General Collins, with his Delaware militia, hung upon the
right flank of the British, commanded by Knyphausen, and preserved the
lower section of New Castle county from being despoiled. Numerous
skirmishes occurred, and amongst them one which, upon the scale of other
Revolutionary encounters, almost rises to the dignity of a battle.
Should we call it by that name, it was the only battle ever fought in
Delaware during the struggle, unless we except some bloody local fights
between the Whigs and the Tories of Sussex. This affair took place on
the 3d of September. The British were then advancing slowly eastward,
and their vanguard, composed of German yagers, supported by light
infantry, encountered at Cooch's Bridge, a crossing of the White Clay
Creek, the riflemen of Maxwell and some of the Delaware militia.
Maxwell's men, posted thinly and under cover, poured a deadly fire into
the British ranks as they advanced, but were presently forced back by
their superior numbers across the stream. The Americans admitted a loss
of forty killed and wounded, and while the casualties on the other side
were not known, a woman who came the next day from the British camp
declared she had seen nine wagonloads of wounded brought in.

Meanwhile, the American commanders had been choosing a position in which
to meet the advance of the enemy. During the rains of the 26th,
Washington himself rode down nearly to the British front, and Greene and
Weeden, reconnoitring carefully, had selected the high ground of Iron
Hill, near the British lines on Gray's Hill, as a strong position. A
council of general officers, however, decided against this location,
choosing instead an advance of five or six miles out of Wilmington to
the east side of Red Clay Creek. To the position thus chosen on
Septemb