This attempt, though unsuccessful, gave an opportunity to a large part of the detachment to save themselves by crossing the creek.
The loss sustained by the American army in this battle could not be accurately ascertained by either party.

Numbers were supposed to have been drowned in the creek, or suffocated in the marsh, whose bodies were never found; and exact accounts from the militia are seldom to be obtained, as the list of the missing is always swelled by those who return to their homes.

General Washington did not admit it to exceed a thousand men; but in this estimate he must have included only the regular troops.

In the letter written by General Howe, the amount of prisoners is stated at one thousand and ninety-seven; among whom were Major General Sullivan, and Brigadiers Lord Stirling and Woodhull, by him named Udell.

He computes the loss of the Americans at three thousand three hundred men; but his computation is probably excessive.
He supposes, too, that the troops engaged on the heights, amounted to ten thousand; but they could not have much exceeded half that number.
His own loss is stated at twenty-one officers, and three hundred and forty-six privates; killed, wounded, and taken.
As the action became warm, General Washington passed over to the camp at Brooklyn, where he saw, with inexpressible anguish, the destruction in which his best troops were involved, and from which it was impossible to extricate them.