twelve
o'clock
Lee delayed the preparations as much as possible , and , when all was ready , ordered a change in the command , giving it to Lieutenant Middleton , a young man of so tender a disposition that he would no doubt treat Champe leniently should he catch him . `` Champe , however , was not caught . These delays had given him an hour 's start of his pursuers . It was a bright starry night and past twelve o'clock when Middleton and his men mounted their horses and spurred after him . `` Lossing tells us that the horses of Lee 's regiment were all shod by a farrier attached to the corps , and every shoe , alike in form , had a private mark put upon it ; so the footprints of Champe 's horse were easily recognized ; for a fall of rain at sunset had effaced other tracks , and often before it was light enough to see them readily , a trooper would dismount and examine them . Ascending a hill near the village of Bergen , they saw from its summit their deserting sergeant not more than half a mile away . Champe saw them at the same moment , and both he and they spurred on as rapidly as possible .