Lord Stirling had intelligence that the enemy had a force of about 1,000 men, with the main body in huts near the Watering Place Redoubts. These were three British circular redoubts, double-abatised, with about 200 men each, located at present-day Fort Hill Circle in St. George, just north of Tompkinsville. Around midnight on January 14, loaded with cannon and 1,500–3,000 troops, American forces crossed over the frozen ice of the Kill Van Kull waterway from Elizabethtown Point on 500 sleds. It was a starry night, and Loyalist spies had warned the British of the American approach. As a result, the Americans found the British on the posts and alert. With the element of surprise gone, and conditions extremely cold, the raid was aborted. American troops suffered minor frostbite injuries but brought back 17 prisoners, as well as some horses and camp supplies.