By constant excursions of this kind, on a larger or smaller scale, the regiment was prepared for the very arduous duty that lay before it. On the 18th June, at 3 A.M., the evacuation of Philadelphia was begun, and by 10 A.M. the whole British army had crossed the Delaware at the point of its junction with the Schuylkill. It then advanced up the left bank, on a road running parallel to the river, as far as Cornell’s Ferry, where it left the line of the Delaware and turned off on the road to Sandy Hook. Up to the 27th June the British, though constantly watched by small parties of the enemy, were allowed to pursue their march through this difficult country without molestation; but on that day an advanced corps of 5000 Americans appeared close in rear, with the main army of Washington but three miles behind it, while other smaller bodies came up on each flank. On [Sidenote: 28th June.] the 28th, Clinton, expecting an attack, divided his army into two parts, the first of which he sent off at daybreak in charge of the baggage (which was so abundant that the column was twelve miles long), leading off the second, under his personal command, at 8 A.M. The Seventeenth was attached to the baggage column, and must have marched with it for some eight or nine hours, when it was hurriedly sent for to join the rear-guard under General Clinton. The rear column had just come down from the [Sidenote: 1778.] high ground into a plain about three miles long by one mile wide, when the Americans appeared in force in the rear and on both flanks. Their first attempt was made on the right flank, and was likely to have been serious, had it not been checked, to use Clinton’s words, by the resolute bearing and firm front of the Seventeenth. The Americans had not lost their respect for the Light Dragoons. From that point the regiment was swiftly moved to others; and the general impression left on the mind by Clinton’s rather confused description is, that the Seventeenth were kept manœuvring round the column, frequently under Clinton’s immediate direction, wherever the Americans threatened most danger. The 16th Light Dragoons, more fortunate than the Seventeenth, had a chance of charging the American cavalry, and made admirable use of it; but they lost a great number of horses, which was a serious matter considering the weakness of the British mounted force. Finally Clinton made his dispositions for a pitched battle in the plain; but the Americans knew better than to accept it, and retired to the hills from which they had originally come down. Clinton thereupon attacked them with the infantry and drove them back. They retreated to a second position. Again Clinton attacked, and after hard fighting forced them out. They then fell back on a third position, where, Clinton feeling by this time assured of the safety of his baggage, thought best to leave them. And so ended the very hard day’s work which takes its