The founders always wished though that they could play by those rules though. Washington lamented how he could not field a European style army. And it was the final force on force battles like Yorktown that decided the war.
That’s correct. We had very few true battlefield victories in the War for Independence. The Regulars were over-stretched and very far from home. So, as a means to keeping their numbers up to fighting strength they would conclude a battle after suffering so many casualties. In most cases they could’ve stayed on the field and anihilated the Americans but at too great a price.