Îhannay] history of THE QUEEN'S RANGERS 143 



Washington's army was following, the German Yagers, the Queen's 

 Eangers, Light infantry and Dragoons formed its rear guard. That day 

 after the troops had encamped, Simcoe and Lieut. Wickham, while out 

 patrolling, fell in with two Americans, who, deceived by their green 

 clothes, took them for fellow-countrymen. Wickham pretended to be an 

 American officer and introduced Simcoe as Col. Lee. One of the Ameri- 

 <jans was very glad to see him and said he had a son in his corps, and 

 gave him a full account of the movements of the American army, from 

 which Simcoe said he had been detached for two days. The other man 

 proved to be a committee man from New Jersey. They pointed out the 

 encampment of the British army and were completely deceived, until 

 having told all they knew, and the committee man having said, " I 

 wonder what Clinton is about," Simcoe replied, " You shall ask him for 

 yourself, for we are British." The next day the army marched to Mon- 

 mouth, and on arriving there the Rangers covered headquarters while 

 the army halted for a day and foraged. 



On the 27th June, Colonel Simcoe, with twenty of his Hussars and 

 the grenadier company of infantry, under Captain Armstrong, was or- 

 dered to try to cut oiï a reconnoitering party of the enemy, supposed to 

 be under the command of Lafayette, While advancing Simcoe fell in 

 with a large body of the enemy, who, after firing a volley, fled in a panic, 

 the Baron Steuben who was with them losing his hat in the confusion. 

 A second body of the enemy advanced in force under the command of a 

 general officer, but they were checked and two prisoners taken. Colonel 

 Simcoe received a painful wound in the arm and three of the infantry 

 and two of the Hussars were also wounded, one of the latter mortally. 

 The force that was thus handsomely defeated by sixty of the Rangers 

 consisted of eight hundred New Jersey militia, under General Dicken- 

 son. As Simcoe observes, " The American war shows no instance of a 

 larger body of men being discomfited by so small a number." 



On the following day the battle of Monmouth was fought. Simcoe 

 being disabled and unabile to lead his men, the Queen's Rangers was 

 commanded on that famous day by Capt. Commandant Ross, who had 

 been an officer of the 35 th Regiment. He was detached with the Light 

 Infantry under Col. Abercrombie to turn the enemy's left ; went through 

 the whole fatigue of that hot day, and although the corps had been under 

 arms all the preceding night, it there gave a striking and singular proof 

 of the vast advantages of its severe training at Philadelphia, by not 

 having a man missing or any that fell out of the ranks through fatigue, 

 yet on that day more than fifty British soldiers died of the heat without 

 receiving a wound. At Monmouth the Americans were badly defeated 

 and only saved from a great disaster by the timely arrival of reinforce- 



