The Cabinet members and other dignified spectators were swept along in the rout.
Commodore Joshua Barney and his four hundred weather-beaten bluejackets declined to join this speed contest.

They were used to rolling decks and had no aptitude for sprinting, besides which they held the simple-minded notion that their duty was to fight.

Up to this time they had been held back by orders and now arrived just as the American lines broke in wild confusion.

With them were five guns which they dragged into position across the main highway and speedily unlimbered.

The British were hastening to overtake the fleeing enemy when they encountered this awkward obstacle.