 But even worse than that, Washington had lost over 3,000 men. His army was cut into a fraction of what it was, and they had lost a ton of muskets and cannon to the British. It actually took a daring escape from Manhattan at the dead of night in late August to prevent his army's complete annihilation. So the Patriots began the long retreat in the snow into New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and Washington faced an impossible situation. Now, the humiliation was bad enough. Some of his men didn't even fight.