From Diary of the American Revolution, Vol II. Compiled by Frank Moore and published in 1859.
Last Sunday evening [January 30?] a party consisting of thirteen mounted refugees went from Staten Island, and in the vicinity of Elizabethtown, New Jersey, surprised Mr. Wynantz, a lieutenant of the rebel militia, and eight private men of Colonel Jacques’ regiment. Few republicans on this continent are more remarkable for their implacable opposition to his Majesty’s government than some of these prisoners; they were all the same evening securely lodged on Staten Island. They were found at a fandango, or merry-making, with a party of lasses, who became planet struck at the sudden separation from their Damons. The further trophies of this successful excursion are three handsome sleighs, with ten good horses, all of which were yesterday driven to New York over the ice from Staten Island, an enterprise never yet attempted since the first settlement of this country.1
1 Gaine’s Mercury, February 7.