The British commenced landing on the 21st of August. Overpowering as were their numbers they found it necessary to fight every step of their way. The rattle of musketry and the thunder of artillery, during this almost continuous battle of seven days’ duration, rolled their echoes over the city of New York, creating intense solicitude there. There were some scenes of awful slaughter when the outnumbering Hessians plied the bayonet with the fury of demons. There were glorious victories and awful defeats. As Washington gazed upon one of these scenes, where a detachment of his heroic troops was literally butchered by the plunges of Hessian bayonets, he wrung his hands in agony, exclaiming, “O good God, what brave fellows I must this day lose.”[132] In this engagement fifteen thousand British troops attacked five thousand Americans. The Americans lost in killed, wounded and captured, about twelve hundred. General Sullivan and Lord Stirling were among the prisoners. On the 28th the British army encamped within a mile of the American lines on the Heights. Their number and armament were such, that there was no doubt of their being able to carry the works. The British fleet had entire command of the water, so as apparently to preclude the possibility of escape. There were nine thousand American soldiers on the Heights. The broad flood of East River flowed between them and New York. The British sentries were so near that they could hear every blow of the pickax. How was escape possible! Chance, says the atheist, God, says the Christian, sent a fog, so dense that no object was visible at the distance of a boat’s length. The rain fell dismally. At the same time a gentle breeze sprang up to waft the boats across to the New York shore. To add to the wonder, the atmosphere was clear on the New York side of the river. Aided by the darkness of the night and the fog, the troops were all embarked, with the guns and ammunition, and before the morning dawned they were safe on the New York shore. Scarcely a musket or a cartridge was left behind. Their escape was like that of the Israelites, across the Red Sea, pursued by the enslaving hosts of Pharaoh. This extraordinary retreat was one of the most signal achievements of the war. Exceeding great was the surprise and mortification of the British, in finding that the Americans had thus escaped them. Though British sentries were within a few yards of the American lines, the last boat was crossing the river before the retreat was discovered.[133]