History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 38

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1534

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army,"1 and cites the fact that the government, upon receiving Washington's official report, immedi- ately passed vigorous resolutions for reinforcing the

portance, comprehending the doubt still in the mind of Washington, he exclaimed, "Take my life, General, if I deceive you !" Washington was at length convinced, and a few moments afterwards found that the enemy were within sight of his extreme right wing.

As soon as the approach of Cornwallis upon the right flank became a certainty, General Sullivan, who was in command of that wing of the army, made every proper disposition of the troops at his disposal to resist it. The position of the troops was taken on the commanding ground above Birmingham Meeting-House, the left extending toward the Brandy- wine, both flanks being covered by densely wooded country. His artil- lery was well posted; the position had great avantage for defensive operations, and but for the fact that one brigade of this division was absent from the line, having been withdrawn some hours previous to join in the intended attack upon Knyphausen, and therefore could not reach the position which it left in time to defend it, the results would certainly have been modified, if in no other particular than that of delaying his march until Washington could have made the necessary dispositions to meet it, or if unable to meet it, then to have fallen back upon a new position.

The attack upon the vutpost of General Sullivan was followed up with overpowering numbers, which quickly developed the length of his line. This done, the British commander hastened his formation, and attacked the patriot troops with the utmost impetuosity. The engagement be- came equally fierce on both sides about four v'eluck in the afternoon. For some length of time, says Botta, the Americans defended themselves with great valor, aml the carnage was terrible. But such was the emu- lation which invigorated the British and Hessians that neither the ad- vantages of the situation, the deadly effect of the artillery, the ceaseless

MUD ISLAND IN 1777 BEFORE THE BRITISH ATTACK.

other words, that the enemy had not crossed the headwaters of the Brandywine, and hence the army of Howe was not divided for the day, and therefore not in such a position as to invite the attack designed by the commander-in-chief.

Deceived by this false intelligence, Washington recalled General Greene, who crossed the river with the advance. Time now was of in- calculable value, and the want of a reliable body of cavalry was severely and fatally felt. The confusion and conflict of reports received at head- quarters, the inability to determine whether the demonstration of Knyp- hausen was tho prelude to an attack in force of the entire army of Ilowe upon the centre of the line at Chadd's Ford or a feint to cover a move- ment in great force upon the right of the position, rendered the situation painfully uncertain, Strange to say, yet it seems to be authoritatively stated, that a citizen, in the person of Squire Cheyney, was the first man to give Washington reliable information of the enemy's approach upon his right wing or flank. Ile was well mounted and incidentally had been within a short distance of the enemy, and with trouble made his escape and hastened with the ntmost speed to communicate the fact, doubtless unconscious of the terrible importance his message bore. Washington at first was unwilling to believe his statement, classing it with the exagger- ated and stampeding reports that had bren embarrassing him during the entire day's operations. Ile put the squire to the test. He ordered him to disn.ount and draw a draft of the roads in the sand, and give a clear description of the movement of the troops he reported to have seen. This was promptly and skillfully done. Washington still appeared to doubt the statement, unwilling to believe that he had so fatally misconceived the operations of the army up to su Inte an hour in the day. Cheyney was a pure and devoted patriot ; his whole soul was in the cause. Con- scious of the truth of his statement, although unaware of its great im-

fire of mnsquetry, nor the wasbaken courage of the line from one end to the other could resist the onslaught.

The fury of the enemy was directed toward Sullivan's left flank, which, after a gallant resistance, gave way. This success upon the part of Corn- wallis was quickly followed up, the troops were thrown into confusion, the line felt the shock, wavered a few moments, and then gave way in rapid retreat, Sullivan's men fled into the woods in their rear, their Irsuers following on the great road toward Dilworth. Upon the first fire of the artillery, Washington, having no longer any doubt of what was passing, had pushed forward the reserve to the ail of Sullivan ; but this corps, on approaching the field of battle, under the immediate direc- tion of General Greene, was met by the very men to whose succour they had been rapidly marching, in full retreat. A proper disposition was at once made to receive the fugitives, and, after their passage to the rear, Greene conducted the retreat in good order, checking the pursuit of the enemy by a continual fire of the artillery, which covered his rear. Hay- ing at length reached a defile covered on both sides with woods, he again went into position, with the full determination to finally check the ad- vancing foe, The troops of General Greene were composed of Virginians and Pennsylvanians, and their conduct in defense of this position is said to have been remarkable for its gallantry and heroism. Conspicuous among those on the line of battle, and in immediate command, were General Muhlenburg and Colonel Stephens.

General Knyphansen, finding the Americans to be fully engaged on their right, and observing that troops opposed to him at Chadd's Ford were enfeebled by those withdrawn under Greene to the support of the right wing, began to make his dispositions for crossing the river in real-

Marshall's " Life of Washington," vol. i. p. 150.

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THE REVOLUTION.

army, and directed him to complete the defenses of the Delaware.

On the 15th, four days after this battle, the army was on the march to attack Howe, who, apprised of the movement, immediately put his army in motion, and the opposing armies met between the Goshen Meeting-House and the White Horse Tavern, on the table-land south of the Great Valley. The choice of position was again with Washington. Hostilities had actually commenced, when storm and flood ren- dered the movement of troops impossible, and dis- closed the alarming fact that arms and ammunition were so seriously damaged that to further engage the enemy would be suicidal.

This exigency decided temporarily the fate of the capital city, and doubtless hastened the period of occupation by the British troops. The situation was critical, and the day certainly memorable. To retire upon Philadelphia and suffer a partial investment, leaving the country open from the Schuylkill to the Hudson, making a diversion in favor of Burgoyne not only possible, but probable, would be unwise for many reasons ; to give up all further defense of the capital

ity. The ford was defended by a line of entrenchment and one battery. The troops left in defense of this position (commanded by General Wayne) enccessfully resisted the crossing of the Hessian general until the force of Cornwallis made their appearance on their right flank. This devel- opment convinced them of the hopelessness of their task, and they fled in disorder, abandoning their artillery, ammunition and stores to the enemy .*

In their retreat they passed to the rear of General Greene, who, with the unbroken troops under him, was still able to maintain the position he had selected, and was the last to quit the field of battle. Night finally came to the rescue of the vanquished, under cover of which the army re- treated to Chester, and on the following day to Philadelphia. Hundreds of men who had become fugitives in the rapid retreat of the right wing, as well as of the extreme left wing, in retiring from the ford promptly rejoined the army again within twenty-four hours at Philadelphia. The loss of the Americans, however, was heavy. It is reported that three hundred were killed, six hundred wounded and nearly four hundred captured ; they also lost eleven pieces of artillery. The loss of the enemy is reported to have been one hundred killed and four hundred wounded. -Historical Oration, Valley Forge, 1878.

* William Dunning, a blacksmith of Cumberland County, during the Revolution endeavored to serve his country by the construction of a wrought-irou cannon of a curious description. One of these is said to have fallen into the hands of the British at the battle of Brandy wine, and is to this day preserved in the Tower of London, and another unfin- ished specimen is said to be at the arsenal in Philadelphia. These sin- gular pieces of ordnance were made of " wrought-iron staves, hooped like a barrel, with bands of the same material, excepting there were four layers of staves breaking joint, all of which were firmly bound together, and then boxed and breeched like other cannon." An ubituary notice of Denning, who died in Mifflin township, in 1830, at the age of ninety- four, states that he was an artificer in the Revolutionary army, and that his was the only successful attempt ever made in the world to manufac- tnre wrought-iron cannon, one of which he completed in Middlesex, l'a., and commenced another and larger one at Mount Holly, but could get no one to assist him who could stand the heat, which is said to have been 60 great as "to melt the lead buttons on his clothes." The British, it is added, offered a stated annuity and a large sum to the per- son who would instruct them in the manufactrne of that article, but the patriotic blacksmith preferred obscurity and poverty in his own beloved country, though the country for which he had done so much kept her purse closed from the veteran soldier until near the close of his long life. -Bishop, " Ilist. of American Manufactures," vol. i.

would subjeet him to severe criticism,1 injuriously affect public affairs in the Middle States, in some measure discourage the troops, and increase the spirit of disaffection in Pennsylvania and New Jersey .? It

PAOLI MONUMENT.

was an hour of supreme interest in the struggle, and upon his decision hung the most momentous results. Assuming the entire responsibility, courting the

1 Sve remenstrance, Pennsylvania Assembly.

2On the morning of the Isth a messenger arrived in the American camp, bringing letters from Putnam and Clinton, prematurely, but positively, announcing the surrender of the army of Burgoyne. Wash- ington received them with joy unspeakable and devout gratitude "for this signal stroke of Providence." "All will he well," he said, " in His own good time." The news circulated among the Americans in every direction, and quickly penetrated the camp of Sir William Howe. The difficulty of access to the upper chevaux-de-frise had rendered its re- duction much more tedious than was conceived; under a feeling of exasperated impatience, he gave verbal orders to Colonel Donop, who had expressed a wish for a separate command to carry Red Bank by assault if it could be easily done, and make short work of the affair. On the 22d, Donop, with five regiments of Ilessian grenadiers and infantry, four companies of yagers, a few mounted yagers, all the artillery of the five battalions and two English howitzers, arrived at the fort. Making a reconnaissance with his artillery officers, he found that on three sides it could be approached through thick woods within four hundred yards. It was a pentagon, with a high earthy rampart, protected in front by an abattis. The battery of eight three-pounders and two howitzers was brought up on the right wing, and directed on the embrasures. At the front of each of the four battalions selected for the assault stood a captain with the carpenters and one hundred men, bearing the fascinee which had been hastily bound together. Mad after glory, Donop, at half-past four, summoned the garrison in arrogant language. A defiance heing returned, he addressed a few words to his troops.

Each colonel placed himself at the head of his division, and at a quarter before five, under the protection of a hrisk cannonade from all their artillery, they ran forward and carried the abattis. On clearing it, they were embarrassed by pitfalls, and were exposed to a terrible fire of

164

IHISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

counsel of his subordinates, but acting upon his own mature judgment, he uncovered Philadelphia, de- taching General Wayne, and directing him to attack the extreme left of the enemy, in the hope of detaining him until he could refit his army and renew the conflict, provideutially postponed.

Disasters seemed to repeat themselves in quick suc- cession during those trying days. General Wayne's

small arms and of grape-shot from a concealed galley, while two galleys, which the bushes had hidden, raked their flanks with chaio-shot. Yet the brave Hessians formed on the glacis, filled the ditch, and pressed on towards the rampart. But Donop, the officers of his staff, and more than half the other officers were killed or wounded ; the men who climbed the parapet were beaten down with lances and bayonets ; and as twilight was coming on, the assailants fell back under the protection of their re- serve. Many of the wounded crawled away into the forest, but Donop and a few others were left behind. The party marched back during the night unpursued. As the British ships-of-war which had attempted to take part in the attack fell down the river, the " Augusta, " of sixty-four guns, and the "Merlin " frigate grounded. The next day the " Augusta " was set on fire by red-hot shot from the American galleys and floating batteries, and blown up before all her crew could escape ; the " Merlin " was abandoned and set on fire. From the wrecks the Americans brought off two twenty-four pounders. "Thank God," reasoned John Adams, "the glory is not immediately due to the commander-in-chief, or idolatry and adulation would have been so excessive as to endanger our liberties."

By the 10th of November the British had completed their batteries on the reedy morass of Province Island, five hundred yards from the Ameri- can fort on Mnd Island, and began an incessant fire from four batteries of heavy artillery. Smith gave the opinion that the garrison could not repel a storming-party, but Major Fleury, the French engineer, reported the place etill defensible. On the eleventh, Smith, having received a elight hurt, passed immediately to Red Bank ; the next in rank desired to he recalled and early on the thirteenth the brave little garrison of two hundred and eighty-six fresh men and twenty artillerists was confided to Major Simeon Thayer, of Rhode Island, who had distinguished him- self in the expedition against Quebec, aod who now volunteered to take the desperate command. Supported by his superior ability and the skill and cool courage of Fleury, the garrison held out gallantly during an incessant bombardment and cannonade. On the fifteenth, the wind

FORT MIFFLIN.

proving fair, the "Vigilant," carrying sixteen twenty-four ponnders, aided by the tide, was warped through an inner channel which the ob- structions in the river had deepened, and anchored so near the American fort that they could send into it hand-grenades, and marksmen from the mast of the "Vigilant" could pick off men from its platforin.

Five large British ships-of-war, which drew near the chevaux-de-frise, kept off the American flotilla, and sometimes directed their fire at the fort on its nnprotected side. The land batteries, now five in number, played from thirty pieces at short distances. The ramparts and block-houses on Mud Island were honey-combed, their cannon nearly silenced. A etorming-party was got ready; but, to avoid bloodshed, Sir William

enterprise, from which further delay was ardently hoped, resulted iu his early discomfiture, occasioned by the betrayal of his position to the enemy by spy or Tory, promptly followed by a night attack, led by General Grey, characterized by a fierceness and bru-

WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS, WORCESTER.

tality 1 which has justly obscured the fame of that officer, and rendered his name forever odious in the annals of the Revolution. The season of anxiety was intensified by this unexpected misfortune, fol- lowed by the removal of the seat of government, the establishment of new lines of communication, new sources of supplies, and the "perplexing manœuvres of Howe," which required counter-movements to prevent a farther advance into the interior of the State with a view to the destruction of government stores at Reading, or in the direction of the Hudson River

Howe, who on the fifteenth was present with his brother, gave orders to keep up the fire all night through. Io the morning, Thayer sent all the garrison but forty men over to Red Bank, and after midnight followed ' with the rest. When on the sixteenth, the British troops entered the fort, they found nearly every one of its cannon stained with blood Never were orders to defend a place to the last extremity more faithfully executed. Thayer was reported to Washington as an officer of the highest merit; Fleury won well-deserved promotion from Con- gress. Cornwallis was next sent by way of Chester to Billingsport with a strong body of troops to clear the left bank of the Delaware, A divi sion nnder Greene was promptly despatched across the river to give him battle. But Cornwallis was joined by five British battalions from New York, while the American reinforcements from the northern armuy were still delayed. It therefore became necessary to evacuate Red Baok. Cornwallis, having leveled its ramparts, returned to Philadelphia, and Greene rejoined Washington, but not till Lafayette, who attended the expedition as a volunteer, had secured the applause of Congress by rout- ing a party of Hessians. For all the seeming success, many officers in the British camp expressed the opinion that the States could not be sub- jugated, and should be suffered to go free .- Bancroft, " History of U. S.," vol. vi.

1 "One Hundredth Anniversary of Paoli Massacre," by J. Smith Futhey, Esq.

THE REVOLUTION.

165

to relieve Burgoyne, who was then beseeching for reinforcements to save him from disaster.

After a succession of feints by Howe, indicating his eager desire for more substantial conquests, he moved from the neighborhood of these hills, crossing the enough to take their arms and form for action. They retreated of ne- cessity before the greatly superior force of the whole right wing of our "But the 'leaving of their baggage' authorizes the inference that army. Schuylkill at Fatland Ford on the 22d day of Septem- ber, and from necessity, rather than choice, occupied Philadelphia on the 24th of the same month. Light ; they had no knowledge of the march of the American army until the brigades of Coutinental troops interposed between the enemy POAU aAmubaker Pamebakeif's and the Delaware, and watched Meyns&#Swarts Shuler FROM his movement in the direction sllington Meeting Stauffer& of Philadelphia by day and J. Lucans night, while the main army un- Welger's J. Roberts BETHLEHEM J.Lucans AHughs der Washington took position a.J. Wentx JJones 'SKIPPACK ROAD on the hills of Perkiomen and Run S. I Branch of Neshaminy Girame Park Sailer's Creek Skippack. At this place rein- SkippeZacharys. forcements reached him, and Horshan Meets Lane ROAD FROM READING TO Church Iinnepade Plymouth Mlvett, his army, decimated by the un- Cr. TheWhite toward events of the campaign, Bonner's Horse Frankfurt. Davis Dungworth ZYMorris was reported eight thousand Stuny The stnut Barilestall Continental troops and three .ILucans MANATAWNY ROAD PHILADELPHIA thousand militia present and Rage Pine frin Rua Robins Norrington House e .Morris effective for duty. With this Falland Ford The Waggon ROAD/ Church HUOA force at command he deter- Valley Forge SwedesFord Francis' Dences . mined upon further operations C'rer]> The i Starnext against the enemy, whose situ- A . Striper's ation, as disclosed to him by Puulls Matson's Forul information deemed reliable, Morris · Barge GERVANTOIYN invited rather than repelled attack.

The plan of the battle of Germantown1 was then formed

2 The following letter, written by Lien- tenant-Colonel T. Pickering, who was serving as adjutant-general on the staff of General Washington at the battle of Ger- mantown, dated Salem, Mass., August 23, 1826, will he read with interest in con- nection with the events of a day which opened so auspiciously for American arnis, and closed in gluom and disaster :

Timber nutuull Ix Lower ferry "Sir : Nearly forty-nine years have WASHINGTON'S Jevis Darby Jones elapsed since the battle of Germantown. PHILADELPHIA ENCAMPMENT, ‘ınbertun 's Of course, you may well suppose that many ,Smuuti facts respecting it are beyond my power October, 1777. of recollection, while a few are indelibly 14. impressed on my memory. General Wash- Scale of Miles. Brno safl's ington, in his letter ta Congress of Octo- 0 1 2 * nereste ber 5th, the day after the battle, says that 5 FRI 'the army marched about " o'clock on Sheet the evening of the 3rd, and that General S. B. Font- Thiruui Derby Fort Worth Sullivan's advanced party attacked the rd Bude First ROAD Island enemy's picket at Mount Airy, or Mr. Al- len's house, about sunrise the next morning, which presently gave way. His main body, consisting of the right wing, following soon, engaged the light infantry and other troops encamped near the picket, which they forced from the ground. Leaving their baggage, they retreated a con- I less could the main body, posted in the centre of Germantown, two miles siderable distance, having previously thrown a party into MIr. Chew's house .*

"The term here applied to the advanced corps of the enemy, that " they were forced from the ground,' shows that they were in arms, and resisted their assailants, and that the previous brush with the pirket, a guard always pusted in advance on purpose to give notice of the enemy's approach, roused 'the light infantry and other troops,' who had time

while eneamped upon the Perkiomen hills; from them, on the night of October 3d, the advance was made, and after it was fought and lost, on the day

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firing in the engagement with the picket guard gave the alarm. If, then, these advance corps of the enemy were not, in the strict sense of the word, surprised,-that is, ' caught napping, ' unprepared for action, -much farther off, have been surprised. The distance gave them ample time to prepare for action in any manner which the attack of their enemy should require.

"You ask 'at what distance from Chew's house the attack com- menced?' At that time I was a stranger to that part of the country. From my subsequent acquaintance with it, during my residence in Penn- sylvania, I should estimate the distance from Mount Airy to Philadelphia

166

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

following (October 4th), to the same hills the army returned, defeated, it is true, with considerable loss in killed, wounded and captured, but with its organiza- tiou unimpaired and its devotion to the cause still unbroken.

to be eight miles, Chew's house seven miles, and the centre of German- town six miles. And these, I think, are the distances as I have occasion- ally heard them mentioned. ·

"You ask 'how long a pause was made at Chew's house, and what space of time probably intervened between the beginning of the action and the general engagement at the head of the village ?' The pause at Chew's house, in the manner I shall presently mention, probably delayed the advance of the rear division of our army into action for half an hour. Taking the attack on the picket at Mount Airy as the beginning of the action, it was probably nearly half an hour before it became general as to the whole ef Sullivan's column, and this general engagement must have commenced after he had passed Chew's house, for I saw not oue dead man wutil I had passed it, and then but one, lying in the road where I fell ie with General Sullivan. I presume that following close upon the heels of the British battalion of light infantry and the Fortieth Regiment, which were retiring before him, Sullivan, with his column, had passed Chew's house without annoyance from it, for it must have taken Colonel Musgrave, who entered it with six companies of the Fortieth Regiment, some time to barricade and secure the doors and windows of the lower story, before he would be ready to fire from the chatuher windows- and it was from them that the firing I saw proceeded.

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History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 38

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1534

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1534