In short, as soon as ever the day declined, and the dusk of the
evening began to shelter the designs of the men, they dropped away
from us one by one; and at last in such numbers, that if we had stayed
till the morning, we had not had fifty men left; out of 1200 horse and
dragoons.
When I saw how it was, consulting with some of the officers, we all
went to my Lord Holland, and pressed him to retreat, before the enemy
should discern the flight of our men; so he drew us off, and we came
to the camp the next morning, in the shamefullest condition that ever
poor men could do. And this was the end of the worst expedition ever I
made in my life.
To fight and be beaten is a casualty common to a soldier, and I have
since had enough of it; but to run away at the sight of an enemy,
and neither strike or be stricken, this is the very shame of the
profession, and no man that has done it ought to show his face
again in the field, unless disadvantages of place or number make it
tolerable, neither of which was our case.
My Lord Holland made another march a few days after, in hopes to
retrieve this miscarriage; but I had enough of it, so I kept in my
quarters.
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