By this time British ships were throwing shells among the Americans.

Charlestown was burning.

The great column of black smoke, the incessant roar of cannon, and the dreadful scenes of carnage had affected the defenders.

They wavered; and on the third British charge, having exhausted their ammunition, they fled from the hill in confusion back to the narrow neck of land half a mile away, swept now by a British floating battery.

General Burgoyne wrote that, in the third attack, the discipline and courage of the British private soldiers also broke down and that when the redoubt was carried the officers of some corps were almost alone.