Orders were given to drive back the enemy, and General Robert Swartwout's brigade dashed into the woods and routed the British advance, which fell back upon the main body. The brigade of General {155}Leonard Covington supported Swartwout's, attacking the British right while Swartwout attacked the left. It was a cold, raw day, and part of the time there was snow and sleet in the air. There were charges and counter-charges, the contending columns alternately advancing and retiring across ploughed fields, where the men were often up to their knees in mud. All the romance of war was lacking, while all its disagreeable elements were present in full force. There were wounds enough, and death enough, and misery enough, and, as it proved, no decisive or profitable victory for either side. The Americans had the greater number of men, but this advantage was fully counterbalanced by the fact that they were, the attacking party, and there were several deep ravines which they could not cross with their artillery to bring it into use, while the British used their own guns throughout the action. The attack was spirited and determined, and seemed likely to succeed; but after a while the American right wing found its ammunition exhausted, and about the same time the left was discouraged and thrown into some confusion by the fall of General Covington, mortally wounded. The enemy now massed troops on his right wing, and pressed forward heavily, so that he captured one of the American guns; a charge of cavalry under Adjutant{156}General Walbach, and the coolness and bravery of Captain Armstrong Irvine, being all that prevented him from seizing the others. For two hours longer the contest swayed to and fro across the miry fields for the distance of a mile, till the Americans brought up a reserve of six hundred men under Lieutenant-Colonel Upham, by which order was restored and the line firmly established, to await the next onset of the enemy. But no further assault was made, and in the night the Americans retired unmolested to their boats. This action is sometimes called the battle of Williamsburg, sometimes the battle of Chrysler's Field. Both sides claimed the victory, and there has been much dispute both as to the number of men engaged and as to the losses. The British probably had a thousand men, including Indians; the Americans seventeen hundred. General Wilkinson reported a loss of one hundred and two killed, and two hundred and thirty-seven wounded--one man in five. The British loss was reported at one hundred and eighty-eight killed, wounded, or missing--nearly one in five. Among the American officers who distinguished themselves on this field was Lieutenant William J. Worth, who afterward rose to eminence as a major-general.