eleven at night
Night was beginning to fall . They had not seen the Prussians . Prince Alexander of Hesse sent a party out to reconnoitre . The party came back towards eleven at night , after having fired a few shots at the Prussians at two hours ' journey from Aschaffenburg . A peasant who had crossed the pass at the same time as the Prussians , said that they were nearly five or six thousand strong , and that they had stopped because they were waiting for a body of seven or eight thousand men which was late . The numbers promised to be nearly equal . It was found necessary to defend the passage of the Main and to protect Frankfort and Darmstadt by gaining the victory .