In his post-battle report to Lord George Germain, Secretary of State for the Colonies, Clinton claimed he had conducted a successful operation to redeploy his army in the face of a superior force. The counter-attack was, he reported, a diversion intended to protect the baggage train and was ended on his own terms, though in private correspondence he conceded that he had also hoped to inflict a decisive defeat on Washington. Having marched his army through the heart of enemy territory without the loss of a single wagon, he congratulated his officers on the "long and difficult retreat in the face of a greatly superior army without being tarnished by the smallest affront." While some of his officers showed a grudging respect for the Continental Army, their doubts were rooted not in the battlefield but in the realisation that the entry of France into the conflict had swung the strategic balance against Great Britain.