To protect the village of Newtown, about 600 Native American warriors, 200 loyalists, and a handful of British soldiers erected and camouflaged a half-mile-long breastwork of logs overlooking a creek, hoping to surprise Sullivan's men as they advanced. Lookouts were posted atop the mountain behind the breastworks to attack Sullivan's army if the opportunity arose, but Sullivan's scouts detected the trap. Sullivan then sent two brigades under Generals Enoch Poor and James Clinton on a long sweeping march to capture the mountain and cut off their enemies' retreat. Poor's men rushed to the summit, fired, and scattered the lookouts. Meanwhile, Sullivan's artillery and the threat of encirclement caused the loyalists and warriors to abandon the breastwork and withdraw to the mountain, where somewhere below the summit they collided with the left wing of Poor's brigade in the battle's fiercest fighting. A running fight continued for more than a mile along the mountain as the loyalists and Native Americans escaped. Newtown's defenders included roughly 600 Seneca, Cayuga, and other Native American warriors, about 200 loyalist rangers, and a few British soldiers of the 8th Regiment from Fort Niagara, with Major John Butler commanding his own rangers and advising his allies in what was a somewhat democratic overall defense.