The hottest of the conflict occurred near the spot where Monckton fell. Very few of the Americans were killed on the west side of the morass, but many were slain in the field with Monckton, and lay among the slaughtered grenadiers of the enemy. The Americans lost, in killed, six officers, and sixty-one non-commissioned officers and privates. The wounded were twenty-four officers, and one hundred and thirty-six non-commissioned officers and privates, in all two hundred and twenty-eight. The missing amounted to one hundred and thirty; but many of them, having dropped down through fatigue, soon joined the army. *** Among * Sir Henry Clinton, in his official dispatch to Lord George Germaine, wrote, "Having reposed the troops until ten at night to avoid the excessive heat of the day, I took advantage of the moonlight to rejoin General Knyphausen, who had advanced to Nut Swamp, near Middletown." This assertion was the cause of much merriment in America, for it was known that the event took place about the time of new moon. Poor Will's Almanac, printed at Philadelphia by Joseph Cruikshank, indicates the occurrence of the new moon on the 24th of June, and that on the night of the battle being only four days old, it set at fifty-five minutes past ten. Trumbull, in his M'Fingal, alluding to this, says, "He formed his camp with great parade, While evening spreads the world in shade, Then still, like some endanger'd spark, Steals off on tiptoe in the dark; Yet writes his king in boasting tone, How grand he march'd by light of moon! Go on, great general, nor regard The scoffs of every scribbling bard, Who sings how gods, that fearful night, Aided by miracle your night; As once they used in Homer's day, To help weak heroes run away; Tells how the hours, at this sad trial, Went back, as erst on Ahaz' dial, While British Joshua stay'd the moon On Monmouth's plain for Abalon. Heed not their sneers or gibes so arch, Because she set before you march." * Ramsay; Gordon; Marshall; Sparks; D'Auberteuil; Stedman, &c. *** The enemy suffered more from the heat than the Americans, on account of their woolen uniform, and being encumbered with their knapsacks, while the Americans were half disrobed. The Americans buried the slain which were found on the battle-field in shallow graves. In their retreat, the British left many of their wounded, with surgeons and nurses, in the houses at Freehold, and every room in the court-house was filled with the maimed and dying on the morning after the battle. A pit was dug on the site of the present residence of Dr. Throckmorton, of Freehold, wherein the wounded were thrown and buried as fast as they expired. It is said that nearly six hundred young men of Clinton's army, who had formed tender attachments during the winter cantonment in Philadelphia, deserted during the march through New Jersey, and returned to that city.