THE AMERICANS DEFEA TED. 1 39 



Without being a military critic, it appears 

 to me that Wooster was too precipitate. He 

 should have allowed the British to come up 

 against Arnold's defences, and thus brought 

 them between two fires. Instead of adopting 

 such cautious tactics, he pursued them impetu- 

 ously, so that, although they were not in a 

 fighting mood, but only anxious to secure 

 their retreat, they faced about and whipped 

 this detachment of the Continentals, mortally 

 wounding Gen. Wooster in the engagement. 



Turning about again, they came up with 

 Gen. Arnold, whose small force was unable to 

 stop them unaided by the assistance that 

 Arnold had counted upon, although he and his 

 men resisted courageously till all hope was 

 lost. The British then made their way 

 through Ridgefield to their boats, harassed 

 but not seriously impeded by sharpshooters, 

 who peppered them as opportunity offered. 



As usual, American and British accounts 

 differ enormously as to the number of killed 

 and wounded on their respective sides ; but 

 the desolation of Danbury bore witness to the 

 fact that the object of the raid had been 

 accomplished. Gen. Wooster was brought 

 back to one of the few houses remaining, and 



