Though running at double timing had caused the column to string out a little, the transition to battle line took less than a minute. The officers stood to the front. Swords drawn, they stood with their arms outstretched directing where we would form the line. We stood shoulder to shoulder and the sergeants, behind us, pressed the shaft of their pikes against our backs to make the line straight.

We stood at attention, awaiting orders. Then came the command, “FIX”. Each man reached behind his right hip and grasped his bayonet. We paused just a moment, then “BAYONETS” was called out. With practiced ease we removed the bayonets from their scabbards and put 16 inches of cold steel on the muzzle. One boy, three files down from me, fumbled his bayonet and dropped it onto the earth. “Pick it up, lad”, the sergeant said in a unusually gentle and quiet tone. And the soldier stooped and set it on his musket.

We watched the Hessians come rolling out of the eastern edge of the town, and into the field in front of us.