Rawlings maintained his ground with firmness, and his riflemen did vast execution.

A three gun battery also played on Knyphausen with great effect.

At length, the Hessian columns gained the summit of the hill; after which, Colonel Rawlings, who perceived the danger which threatened his rear, retreated under the guns of the fort.
[Sidenote: The lines of Fort Washington carried by the enemy, and the garrison made prisoners.] Having carried the lines, and all the strong ground adjoining them, the British general again summoned Colonel Magaw to surrender.

While the capitulation was in a course of arrangement, General Washington sent him a billet, requesting him to hold out until the evening, when means should be attempted to bring off the garrison.

But Magaw had proceeded too far to retreat; and it is probable the place could not have resisted an assault from so formidable a force as threatened it.
The greatest difficulties had been overcome; the fort was too small to contain all the men; and their ammunition was nearly exhausted.