Towson's three guns made a gallant fight, but could effect little against the nine guns of the enemy, which were served rapidly and skilfully. The British left was east of the road that skirted {241}the river, and was separated from the rest of the line by a space of two hundred yards, which was filled with brushwood. Jesup's and Brady's commands, partly hidden by this brushwood in the twilight, attacked the detached wing, and after considerable fighting forced it back upon the centre, capturing General Riall and several officers of his staff, after which Jesup and Brady resumed their place in the line. At the same time, the British right wing, which was longer than the American left, was thrown forward in an attempt to envelop it. To meet this danger, Scott sent McNeil's battalion against it, and after severe fighting, with heavy losses, the enemy's flanking movement was frustrated. Both the messenger sent back by Scott and the sound of the guns announced to General Brown what was going on, and he ordered Ripley's brigade and Porter's volunteers to advance and join in the action. At the report of the first gun, Ripley had put his men in marching order, and when the word came to move they moved without a minute's delay. General Brown rode before them to the battle-field, and by the time of their arrival it was dark. About the same time, the enemy also was reënforced. Ripley's brigade formed on Scott's right, and joined in the battle, which had not in the least {242}abated at the departure of daylight. He soon saw that the strength of the enemy lay in the destructive battery that crowned the hill in the centre, and called upon Colonel James Miller, of the Twenty-first Regiment, to take it. "I'll try, Sir," was the now famous answer of Miller, who at once put his men in motion toward the battery. They crept silently up to a fence at the foot of the slope, put their muskets softly through it, took deliberate aim at the gunners, who had lighted matches in their hands, and at a whispered command fired in volley, shooting down every one of them. Miller's men then rose, pushed the fence flat upon the ground, rushed forward, and cleared the hill of the enemy. Meanwhile Scott's men, obstinately holding their first position, had kept on steadily firing, receiving as constant a fire in return, and both inflicted and suffered heavy loss. McNeil's battalion, having lost its commander and every one of its captains, and fired away all its ammunition, retired from the field; and a little later, Colonel Brady being disabled, his regiment also retired for a similar reason. But a considerable number of the men of these two commands joined themselves to the regiments that still stood firm, and reentered the fight.