USA > Pennsylvania > Lives of the governors of Pennsylvania : with the incidental history of the state, from 1609 to 1873 > Part 16
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Captain- General and Commander-in-chief in and over the same."
Among the earliest acts of Council was the appointment of a Board of War, consisting of nine members, and one of the Navy of eleven. The Board of War immediately applied to Congress for one hundred thousand dollars for defence, which not being immediately granted, this sum was appro- priated by the Council. The activity of the enemy at New York, in gathering transports and moving troops, gave indi- cation of an intention to make a descent upon some other part of the coast, and Philadelphia was judged to be its destination. On the 8th of April, General Putnam advised Congress of the movements of the enemy at Amboy, and gave it as his opinion that the capture of Philadelphia was the purpose. On the following day the Council published a proclamation urging instant action, and concluding thus : "It has been repeatedly and justly observed, and ought to be acknowledged as a signal evidence of the favor of Divine Providence, that the lives of the militia in every battle dur- ing this just war have been remarkably spared. Confiding, therefore, in the continuance of the blessing of Him, who is indeed the God of armies, let every man among us hold him- self ready to march into the field whenever he shall be called upon to do so." Congress resolved to establish a camp for recruits on the west side of the Delaware, to the command of which General Benedict Arnold was assigned, General Plulip Schuyler being at this time in command in the city. On the 10th of June, General Mifflin appeared in person before Congress with a letter from General Washington, ex- pressing his firm conviction that the enemy meditated an immediate descent upon some part of Pennsylvania. A French engineer, by the name of Du Coudray, in company with General Mifflin, was sent to examine the condition of the defences of the city and its approaches, who recommended that preparations should be made at Billingsport for the chief point of defence, the works at Red Bank being declared useless.
The blow aimed at Philadelphia did not fall till near the
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close of July. In a fleet of two hundred and forty war-ships and transports, Lord Howe, with a force of eighteen thousand men, making as if he would ascend the Hudson, suddenly changed his course and steered for the mouth of the Dela- ware. Washington followed overland, passing through Philadelphia on Sunday, the 24th of August, and taking the road to Chester. The militia of the city, which had been divided into three classes, and the first two of which had been already called, were now ordered out entire, one de- tachment being stationed at Downingtown, and the other at Chester. Leaden spouts upon the houses were torn off for use in making bullets. A fleet of twelve fire-ships was held in readiness for protection on the Delaware, and every prepara- tion made for a vigorous defence. But Howe, instead of ascending the Delaware, moved up the Chesapeake, and, de- barking, commenced the march across the country by a route where no preparations had been made to check him. With the enemy's designs in full prospect, the Council put forth every effort to bring out the entire fighting force of the Colony. In a proclamation issued on the 10th, they say : " The time is at length come, in which the fate of ourselves, our wives, children, and posterity, must be speedily determined. Gen- eral Howe, at the head of a British army, the only hope and last resource of our enemies, has invaded this State. . ... Blessed be God! Providence seems to have left it to our- selves, to determine whether we shall triumph in victory, and rest in freedom and peace; or, by tamely submitting or weakly resisting, deliver ourselves up a prey to an enemy than whom none more cruel and perfidious was ever suffered to vex and destroy any people. ... Above all, consider the mournful prospect of seeing Americans, like the wretched inhabitants of India, stripped of their freedom, robbed of their property, degraded beneath the brutes, and left to starve amid plenty, at the will of their lordly masters; and let us determine once for all, that we will die or be free! . . . The Council, therefore, most humbly beseech and entreat all per- sons whatsoever, to exert themselves, without delay, to seize this present opportunity of crushing the foe now in the
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bowels of our country, by marching forth instantly under their respective officers to the assistance of our great General, that he may be enabled to environ and demolish the only British army that remains formidable in America. ... GOD SAVE THE PEOPLE!"
Washington pushed forward with his little army. At Newark the advance guards met and skirmished lightly. Discovering that it was the design of the British commander to turn his right, he fell back behind the Brandywine, and prepared to defend the line of that stream. At Pyle's Ford General Armstrong with the Philadelphia militia was posted; Washington, in person, took position at Chad's Ford; and Sullivan at Brinton's, two miles further up. Howe laid his plans skilfully, and fortune favored their execution. He sent Knyphausen with a detachment to Chad's Ford, in Washing- ton's immediate front, to make a noisy demonstration, as if intent to cross, while, with the main body of his army in light marching order, he pushed on up the Valley under cover of a dense fog to Trumbull's and Jeffrey's Fords, far past the American right, where he crossed without opposition. Still, Washington was deceived. Intelligence that this move- ment was being executed was brought him; but soon after came messengers contradicting this report, and he made all his dispositions to meet Knyphausen, who, judging by the incessant pounding that he kept up, was determined to break through and effect a crossing. Howe soon came unawares upon Sullivan, who was on Washington's extreme right. Beaten by this adroit manœuvre, the latter turned to make such a stand as he was able, with a force a third smaller than that of his adversary, and but indifferently armed and equipped ; and in the neighborhood of the Birmingham meeting-house, on the 11th of September, a severe battle ensued, which lasted the whole day. General Lafayette, a young French nobleman, who had but a few days before arrived in the country, and been given a command, was here wounded, and some of the bravest of the American troops were cut down. The severely wounded were carried into the meeting-house,
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and to this day the stains of blood from the wounds of the patriot-soldiers remain upon its floor. The Americans were finally forced back, and retired to Chester; the British en- camping upon the field.
Washington again confronted Howe, moving leisurely to- wards Philadelphia, at a point twenty miles from the city, on the 16th; but was prevented from joining in a general engage- ment by a severe and continuous rain, which completely ruined his ammunition. At Paoli, on the night of the 20th, General Wayne, who was hanging upon the rear of the British army with a force of eighteen hundred men, was sur- prised by General Gray ; and nearly three hundred of his men were wounded or massacred. Fifty-three of the patriots were buried in one grave, and over their remains the Republican Artillerists of Chester County, forty years afterwards, erected a monument. At Reading, considerable quantities of military stores had been gathered, and fearing that Howe might strike for their capture or destruction, Washington withdrew in that direction. Howe, being left without opposition, moved in the direction of Philadelphia, which he entered on the 26th. Washington, having reorganized his shattered army, moved forward, and on the 3d of October attacked the enemy at Germantown. At the opening of the battle, he felt sanguine of success ; but hampered by a dense fog which settled down over the field, occasioning confusion in his ranks, he was at length, after a hard-fought battle, obliged to withdraw. Howe put his army in winter-quarters in Philadelphia, and Washington retired to White Marsh, and subsequently went into winter-quarters at Valley Forge.
In the meantime General Burgoyne, with an army of ten thousand men, moving up the Hudson, had captured Fort Ticonderoga on the 5th of July; the garrison, under General St. Clair, escaping. On the 19th of September, and again on the 7th of October, Burgoyne was met at Saratoga by the Americans, now under General Gates, where he suffered severely; and ten days afterwards, finding retreat impossible, his whole army was compelled to lay down its arms, and sur-
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render prisoners of war. A fine train of brass field-pieces, five thousand muskets, and large quantities of much-needed munitions of war, were captured.
Congress and the Executive Council remained in Phila- delphia during the exciting events that were transpiring be- fore the city. On the 18th of September, Congress adjourned to meet at Lancaster, where it convened on the 27th; but on the 30th removed to York, where it remained in session until the following summer. The Council remained until the 24th, when -the money and papers belonging to the loan office, and the books belonging to the State, in the Philadelphia Library, having been removed to Easton-it adjourned to Lancaster. On the 26th the vanguard of the British army entered the city. Deborah Logan has left some interesting reminiscences of the event. She says: "The army marched in and took possession of the city in the morning. We were up-stairs [at the Norris mansion between Fourth and Fifth] and saw them pass the State House. They looked well, clean, and well clad, and the contrast between them and our own poor, barefooted, ragged troops was very great, and caused a feeling of despair. ... Early in the afternoon Lord Corn- wallis's suite arrived, and took possession of my mother's house. But my mother was appalled by the numerous train which took possession of her dwelling, and shrunk from having such inmates, for a guard was mounted at the door, and the yard was filled with soldiers and baggage of every description; and I well remember what we thought of the haughty looks of Lord Rawdon and the other aid-de-camp, as they traversed the apartments. My mother desired to speak with Lord Cornwallis, and he attended her in the front parlor. She told him of her situation, and how impossible it would be for her to stay in her own house with such a nu- merous train as composed his Lordship's establishment. He behaved with great politeness to her; said he should be sorry to give trouble, and would have other quarters looked out for him. They withdrew that very afternoon, and he was accom- modated at Peter Reeves', in Second Street, near Spruce;
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but it did not last long, for directly the quartermasters were engaged in billeting the troops, and we had to find room for two officers of artillery, and afterward, in addition, for two gentlemen, secretaries of Lord Howe."
The first care of the British General, after gaining posses- sion of the city, was to complete the defensive works which had been commenced while General Putnam was in com- mand, and to construct such others as were necessary to make its occupation secure. The Delaware below the city was still held by the Americans. Mud Fort upon Fort Island, Fort · Mercer at Red Bank, and Fort Mifflin at Mud Island, still held patriot garrisons. There would be no safety to the royal army until the navigation of the river was clear for the royal fleet. Washington recognized the importance of holding these forts, and immediately sent veteran troops to garrison them. Varnum's R. I. brigade, under Colonels Greene and Angell, was selected to occupy Fort Mercer, and this the enemy attacked on the 21st of October with twenty-five hun- dred picked men, under Colonel Count Donop. The assaulting party moved in two columns with great gallantry and deter- mination ; but the deliberate and deadly fire of the defenders became too terrible to face, and it was swept back in confu- sion, with a loss of over four hundred; Count Donop, the leader, being mortally wounded. The discomfited party did · not renew the attack, but withdrew rapidly to Philadelphia. To reduce Fort Mifflin and open a passage through the chevaux-de-frise, which had been placed in the channel, now be- came an object of solicitude to the commanders of both army and fleet, and the most elaborate preparations were made for its reduction by the erection of works to command it on all sides, and by the powerful guns of the fleet. On the 10th of November the enemy opened upon it, and for the space of six days the missiles of the assailants from forts and fleet were poured upon this one small defensive work. Nothing daunted, the little garrison answered with effect, and gallantly main- tained the unequal contest. Finally the enemy having run close up with his gunboats, and manned the yards with
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sharpshooters, it became impossible for the defenders to work their guns, when, on the night of the 16th, the garrison, having removed or destroyed everything of value, retired without molestation. Red Bank was soon after abandoned, and the river was opened to the enemy's fleet.
Before the final reduction of Fort Mifflin, Howe's army had begun to suffer from want of many articles not obtain- able in the city, and which he was prevented from securing from abroad by the vigilance of Washington. The river now being opened, an active commerce sprung up, and many mer- chants rushed to the city to open business. The relief of his army being effected, Howe determined to attack Washington in his camp at White Marsh, sixteen miles from the city; and with fifteen thousand men, on the morning of the 4th of De- cember, marched out, confident of easy victory, and as he himself declared, of " driving General Washington over the Blue Mountains." But Washington, through intelligence gained from the faithful Lydia Darrah, who, under pretence of passing the lines to get flour, had hastened to acquaint him with the enemy's design, was prepared to meet them, and, after a wearisome march and fruitless manœuvrings, they returned to the city.
The winter of 1777-8 was remarkably severe, and the Amer- ican soldiers, indifferently clad, were subjected to extreme suffering, their footprints often marking the snow with their blood. Their camp was at Valley Forge, on the banks of the Schuylkill, twenty miles from Philadelphia. In the meantime the British army was enjoying the comforts of a luxurious city, its officers passing their time in a continued round of gayeties and dissolute living. Reconnoitring parties were frequently sent from both armies during the winter, which often met, re- sulting in daring and desperate encounters; but no general en- gagement occurred. Early in the year 1778, Lord Howe was superseded in the chief command by Sir Henry Clinton, who arrived in Philadelphia on the 7th of May. The departure of IIowe was made the occasion of a gorgeous display, regatta, and tournament, in which the glitter of costly apparel, the
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march of troops, and the thunder of artillery, could not have been exceeded had it been produced to signalize the triumphs of a mighty conqueror returning from countless conquests.
As early as the 22d of September, 1776, Congress had sent as ambassadors to the court of France, Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, and Arthur Lee, who succeeded in securing arms and money for the patriot cause, and finally in nego- tiating a treaty of alliance whereby substantial aid was to be extended to America. In compliance with this agreement, the French Ministry dispatched a fleet of twelve ships and four frigates, under command of Count d'Estang, to blockade the British flotilla in the Delaware. Of this determination the British Cabinet became cognizant, and instantly sent orders for the evacuation of Philadelphia. Howe at once put to sea and steered for New York, and when, on the 8th of July, D'Estang arrived at the mouth of the Delaware, he found that his adversary had escaped. The British Admiral took shelter in Raritan Bay, where, on account of the bar at its mouth, the heavy French frigates could not reach him. With his army Sir Henry Clinton moved in the same direc- tion across the country by the way of New Brunswick and Amboy. Washington, ever on the alert, had divined the purpose of the British commander, and early put his forces in motion to follow and offer battle. The two armies met on the plains of Monmouth, on Sunday the 28th of June. The day was intensely hot. The battle was opened by the divi- sion of General Lee, which, for lack of skilful handling, was thrown into confusion and disastrous retreat. Washington met the flying column, and by his steadiness and courage restored order. After a severe battle, which lasted the whole day, the enemy was beaten, retreating during the night, having sustained heavy losses, and leaving his dead and wounded in the hands of the victors.
The Assembly and the Executive Council remained in session at Lancaster during the winter of 1777-8, and co- operated with Congress, which was at York, and Washington at Valley Forge. Legislation was principally devoted to the
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interests of the army and the American cause, the most notable civil act being that by which the authority of the Trustees of the Philadelphia Academy and College were sus- pended for a limited time.
On the 23d of May, 1778, Thomas Wharton, Jr., Presi- dent of the Council, died suddenly of an attack of quinsy, at Lancaster. He was descended from an ancient English family, one of whom, Richard, of Kellorth, in Orton parish, Westmoreland county, England, emigrated to Pennsylvania about 1683. One of his sons, John, was the father of Presi- dent Wharton, who was born at Philadelphia in 1735. IIe was twice married: first to Susan, daughter of Thomas Lloyd ; and, after her death, to Elizabeth, daughter of William Fishbourn. He had several children by each marriage, the descendants of whom are now living in Philadelphia and its vicinity. IIe was by profession a merchant ; and by his patri- otism and virtue commanded the respect and esteem of the best cultivated classes, and, when the new Constitution was adopted, he was elected as the chief executive officer, -a position which he held to the day of his death, discharging its duties in a most trying emergency with singular ability and success. To the weight of his character, and his firm- ness in the executive trust, was due, in a good degree, the permanence of the new Constitution, the adherence of the Colony to the patriot cause, and thus, indirectly, the success of the struggle for Independence. Some of the minor details of that frame of government may have been conceived in error; but in its bill of rights were embodied the great prin- ciples of liberty and of republican institutions, which have been the glory of the Commonwealth in succeeding time. The estimate which was formed of economy, integrity, and virtue, by the framers of that instrument, is strikingly illustrated by the following section : " As every freeman, to preserve his independence (if without a sufficient estate), ought to have some profession, calling, trade, or farm, whereby he may honestly subsist, there can be no necessity for, nor use in, establishing offices of profit, the usual effects of which are
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dependence and servility, unbecoming freemen, in the posses- sors and expectants; faction, contention, corruption, and dis- order among the people. But if any man is called into public service to the prejudice of his private affairs, he has a right to a reasonable compensation; and whenever an office, through increase of fees or otherwise, becomes so profitable as to occasion many to apply for it, the profits ought to be lessened by the legislature."
The ardent attachment which President Wharton had for the principles embodied in the new Constitution, and the unselfish motives by which he was actuated in its support, are aptly exemplified in a letter addressed by him to Arthur St. Clair soon after its adoption. The letter has never before been published, and has been furnished by his grandson, G. M. Wharton, Esq., for use in this memoir. "It is too true," he says, " that the differences amongst ourselves have been attended with bad consequences, and I am much afraid they will not soon be at an end. People have different purposes to answer; and I doubt much, if all those that are taking an active part against the present frame of govern- ment, are actuated by a love of [torn]. True it is, there are many faults which I hope one day to see removed; but it is true that, if the Government should at this time be overset, it would be attended with the worst consequences, not only to this State, but to the whole continent in the opposition we are making to the tyranny of Great Britain. If a better frame of government could be adopted,-such a one as would please a much greater majority than the present one, -I should be very happy in seeing it brought about; and any gentleman that should be thought by the public qualified to take my seat, should have my hearty voice for it. My ardent ambition never led me to expect or ask for it; if I have any, it is to be thought, and to merit, the character of an honest man. I feel myself very inadequate to the station I am in; but some that were fit for it have either withdrawn them- selves entirely, or are opposing the Government. However, as it is in the power of every man to act with integrity and
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uprightness, he that does that, will at least have the approba- tion of his own conscience, and merit that of the public." ...
Mr. Wharton was a warm supporter of the principles of the Revolution, and risked his life and fortune in the cause. He owned a country-seat, called Twickenham, situated near Abington Meeting-House, in Montgomery County, where he occasionally resided ; and on the lawn, in front of his dwelling, occurred a sharp skirmish between the British and Amer- ican troops. His funeral was a public one, being conducted by a committee of the State Government, and the carriers and pall-bearers were from among the members of the As sembly and Council, by whom he was greatly respected and loved. He was buried with military honors as commander- in-chief of the forces of the State; and, at the request of the elders and vestry of the Evangelical Trinity Church of Lan- caster, his body was interred within the walls of that edifice.
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GEORGE BRYAN,
VICE- PRESIDENT AND ACTING PRESIDENT OF THE SUPREME EXECUTIVE COUNCIL.
May 23 to December 1, 1778.
B Y the decease of Thomas Wharton, Jr., the Vice-Presi- dent, George Bryan became the acting President of the Council. Congress, which had been in session at York during the invasion of the State by the British army, upon its withdrawal returned to Philadelphia, holding its first session there on the 24th of June, 1778. The Council, which had been at Lancaster, also returned, and convened on the following day. Major-General Benedict Arnold, on account of wounds received in the second battle of Saratoga, being unfit for field-duty, was assigned to command in Philadelphia, and marched in with a regiment of veterans on the day suc- ceeding the departure of the British. It is related that "when the American army entered Philadelphia there was a great scarcity of ammunition, and cartridge-paper being par- ticularly wanted, the whole city was ransacked for a supply. At length, in a garret once occupied as a lumber-room by Dr. Franklin, when a printer, a vast collection of waste paper was discovered. Among the mass was more than a cartload of 'Sermons on Defensive War,' preached by the famous Gilbert Tennant during the old British and French war, for the purpose of rousing the Colonists to exertion. These appropriate manifestoes were immediately worked up into musket-cartridges and distributed to the army, which fired them away at the battle of Monmouth against the retiring foe." The city was no sooner clear of the enemy than the loyal inhabitants, who had been exiles for nearly a year,
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began rapidly to return. The destruction of property, in many cases purposeless and indiscriminate, was everywhere pain- fully apparent. Elegant mansions and costly shops had been destroyed piecemeal, and grounds, filled with varieties of shade and shrubbery, had been utterly ruined. "The damage done by the enemy," says Westcott in his history of Phila- delphia, "had been as wanton as it was extensive. The royal troops found Philadelphia a cleanly and handsome city; they left it reeking with filth, ruinous, and desolate." Christopher Martial has the following entries in his Remembrancer, on his return from Lancaster, quoted by Westcott : "June 25. Took a walk by myself to our once rural, beautiful place near Barracks, now nothing but a wanton desolation and destruc- tion, that struck me with horror and detestation of the pro- moters and executors of such horrid deeds. My mind was so pained that I returned into the city. June 26. . . . Yet grief seized me on beholding the ruins ; houses quite demolished,- of which ours, near the Bettering-House, was quite gone,- with the brick walls, chimneys, doors, cases, windows, and roofs either destroyed or carried away entirely."
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