During several hours was the young aid forced to remain inactive, and regarding this time, and the movements which were being made, the details can best be described by quoting from an article in Harper's Magazine, 1878:
"June 28th was the Sabbath.... The day was the hottest of the year. At dawn General Knyphausen began to march with the first division of the British army, which included the German troops, the 'Hessians,' and the Pennsylvania and Maryland Loyalists. Clinton with the other division—the flower of the army—did not move until eight o'clock, for General Lee was so tardy in obeying the order of Washington that the enemy had ample time to prepare for battle.
"When Dickinson gave notice of Knyphausen's movement the main body of the Americans began to move immediately. Colonel Grayson, with his own regiment leading the brigades of Scott and Varnum, had passed the Freehold meeting-house, nearly three miles from Monmouth Court House, before he received orders from Lee to push forward and attack the enemy. The aid who brought the order advised Grayson to halt, for he had heard on the way that the main body of the British army were moving to attack the Americans. General Dickinson had received the same information, which he communicated to Lee, when the latter pushed forward with his staff across a narrow causeway near the parsonage, and joined Dickinson upon the height close by. While he was endeavoring to unravel the conflicting intelligence, Lafayette arrived at the head of the advanced troops.
"Lee's whole command, exclusive of Morgan's sharpshooters and the New Jersey militia, now numbered about four thousand men. The broken country was heavily wooded up to the elevated plain of Monmouth. Lee, satisfied that no important force of the enemy was on either flank, pressed forward under cover of the forest, and formed a portion of his line for action near some open fields. Then, with Wayne and others, he reconnoitered the enemy. They saw what they supposed to be a covering party of the British about two thousand strong. Wayne was detached with seven hundred men and two field-pieces to attack their rear. Meanwhile Lee, with a stronger force, endeavored, by a short road leading to the left, to gain the front of the party, while small detachments, concealed in the woods, annoyed their flanks.
"It was now nine o'clock in the morning. Just as Wayne was preparing to make the attack, a party of American light-horsemen, advancing, were directed to make a feigned assault upon some British dragoons seen upon an eminence, and, by retreating, draw them into a position to be received by Wayne. The maneuver was partially successful. The dragoons followed until fired upon by a party under Colonel Butler, ambushed on the edge of a wood, when they wheeled and fled toward the main army. Wayne ordered Colonel Oswald, who was in command of his field-pieces, to cross a morass, plant them on an eminence, and open fire on the retreating dragoons, while he should press forward and attack them with the bayonet. Wayne was prosecuting the maneuver with vigor at a point about three-fourths of a mile eastward of the courthouse, with a prospect of full success, when he received an order from Lee to make only a feigned attack, and not to press on too precipitately, as it might frustrate his plan for cutting off the covering party. Wayne was exasperated; but he obeyed, only to be disappointed, for Lee really did nothing.
"At that moment Clinton was informed that the Americans were marching on both his flanks to capture his baggage-train. To avert the danger he changed the front of his army, and prepared to attack Wayne with so much vigor that the armies on the British flanks would be compelled to fly to the succor of that officer. A large body of royal troops approached Lee's right, when Lafayette, perceiving that a good opportunity was offered to gain the rear of the enemy, rode quickly up to Lee, and asked his permission to attempt the maneuver. Lee replied:
"'Sir, you do not know British soldiers; we cannot stand against them. We shall certainly be driven back at first, and we must be cautious.'
"The marquis replied:
"'That may be, general; but British soldiers have been beaten, and they may be beaten again; I am disposed to make the trial.'
"Lee so far yielded as to order Lafayette to wheel his column and attack the enemy's left. At the same time he weakened Wayne's detachment on the left by ordering the regiments of Wesson, Stewart, and Livingston to support the right. Then he rode to Oswald's battery to reconnoiter, when he saw a large portion of the British army marching back on the Middletown road toward the courthouse. Apparently disconcerted, he ordered his right to fall back. The brigades of Scott and Maxwell on the left were already moving forward toward the right of the royal forces, who were pushing steadily on in solid phalanx toward the position occupied by Lee, with the apparent design of gaining Wayne's rear and attacking the American right at the same time.