USA > Pennsylvania > The Pennsylvania-German in the Revolutionary War, 1775-1783 > Part 9
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Washington heard the sound of battle drawing closer and closer to him, and understood too well what it meant. He ordered Greene to take the reserve and reinforce the right wing, while he, with a guide, mounted on the horse of one of his aids, rode in the direction of the firing. The guide's horse took all the fences as they were reached, but, the man said subsequently, that the head of Washington's horse was always at the flank of his own, and the words, "Push on, old man, push on !" were continually ringing in his ears.
Washington arrived as Sullivan was about retreating from his second position. Encouraging the troops, he sent back additional orders to Greene, who, with the brigades of Weedon and Muhlenberg, hurried to the scene of conflict. Weedon was ordered to form across a defile commanding the road over which the enemy was ap- proaching. With the remaining forces he pressed on to hold Cornwallis in check while Sullivan's men passed to the rear. This he did and fell back slowly, followed by the enemy. As the latter reached the road commanded by Weedon, they received a withering fire which threw them into confusion. The position then taken by the Americans was stoutly disputed, the conduct of the bri-
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gades of Muhlenberg ( Virginian) and Weedon ( Vir- ginian), and the regiments of Stevens and Walter Stewart (2d Pennsylvania), being especially brilliant. This last stand of the Americans was made near Dilworthtown, and when we recall that it took from half-past three o'clock until night-fall for the British to force them back this short distance, of less than two miles, some adequate idea may be formed of the desperate character of the fighting.
When Knyphausen heard that Cornwallis was engaged, he attempted to cross Chad's Ford and force the Ameri- can left, but Wayne, although outnumbered three or four to one, held him back until the retreat of the right wing enabled Knyphausen to turn his flank, when he, too, was obliged to retire, doing so in good order. In the retreat one howitzer was left behind but, through the bravery of Col. Chambers ( Ist Pennsylvania), assisted by Capt.
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Buchanan and Lieuts. Simpson and Douglass, it was re- covered. Night finally ended the battle, and the Ameri- cans retreated to Chester, thence marching to their old camp near the Falls of the Schuylkill. The British loss,
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in killed, wounded and missing, is reported to have been about 600, that of the Americans 1,000.
At that time the battle was felt to be a humiliating de- feat, and Washington was blamed for having undertaken it. Why, then, was it fought? Because the country de- manded it, as an unreasoning public, in all future wars, have demanded advance movements at most inopportune times. The people were tired of a Fabian policy. Even John Adams wrote, on August 29, complaining that other commanders had been able to strike aggressive blows, and wondering why Washington did not act. He ended up by saying : " I am weary, I own, with so much insipidity. I am sick of Fabian systems in all quarters. The officers drink ' A long and moderate war,' by toast is ' A short and violent war.'" In the face of such sentiments, and with the capitol of the nation threatened, the Battle of Brandy- wine became a political necessity.
Instead of a totally routed and disorganized force, after the battle, as many suppose, Washington found it to be, in his own words, "in good spirits and nowise disheart- . ened by the recent affair, which ir seemed to consider as a check rather than a defeat." Under the conditions, he determined to make another effort to save Philadelphia, so he recrossed the Schuylkill at Conshohocken, with Wayne's division in the advance, found the enemy near Warren Tavern, about twenty-two miles from Philadelphia on the Lancaster road, and prepared to attacì:, but a deluge of rain separated the combatants. On the 19th, the Ameri- cans, save Wayne's and Smallwood's divisions, crossed to the east side of the river, at Parker's Ford ( Lawrence- ville), to intercept the British, but Sir William Howe, after having deceived his adversary by a feint, gained pos- session of an open road to Philadelphia, which he entered in all the panoply and pomp of war.
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Meanwhile Wayne's division had been ordered to take post between Paoli and Warren Tavern ( on the Lancaster road, about two miles apart), in order to attack the rear- guard of the British, thien encamped in the Great Valley
THE OLD MONUMENT AND ENCLOSURE MARKING THE BATTLEGROUND AT PAOLI, CHESTER COUNTY, PENNA.
between him and the Schuylkill, and, if possible, to cap- ture the baggage train under its charge, as soon as it moved towards the river. Although the greatest secrecy was observed yet the position of his camp was betrayed to the English commander by tory spies, and, on the night of September 20, 1777, he was attacked by an overwhelm- ing force of the very troops he was preparing to assail the next day, a force so large that two of the British regi- ments, of which it was composed, were not engaged in the horrible work in which the rest were so conspicuous, their services not being required. This was the affair known as the " Paoli massacre."
There has been much common misapprehension with
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regard to this fight, which has been termed a "massacre," under the supposition that the Americans were taken en- tirely by surprise. This was not the case. Alarmed, about eleven o'clock, by the firing of his pickets, Wayne immediately formed his division, and, when the British had approached within ten yards "a well-directed fire mutually took Place, followed by a charge of Bayonet -- numbers fell on each side. We then drew off a little Dis- tance and formed a Front to oppose to them. They did not think Prudent to push matters further. Part of the Division were a little scattered but are Collecting fast- We have saved all our Artillery, Ammunition & Stores except one or two waggons belonging to the Commissary Department --.
The whole number of Wayne's detachment was about twelve hundred men, of whom but sixty-one were killed, so that, however bloody the fight, the term "massacre " is unquestionably a misnomer.
Wayne was so stung by the criticism passed upon him that he prompty asked for a court-martial which fully exonerated him from any negligence of duty.
Sir William Howe's army having reached Germantown, and Washington's army being encamped in the White-
GERMANTOWN.
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marsh Valley, it was determined to attack the British as soon as practicable.
Having learned that Howe had despatched a consider- able portion of his force to reduce the works on the Dela- ware at Billingsport, Mud Island and Red Bank, it was deemed a most opportune time to carry out the proposed plans, accordingly, on October 3, Washington moved his army, of about eleven thousand men, from his camp, be- tween the Perkiomen and Skippack Creeks, towards the enemy's line at Germantown.
According to Washington's plan of the battle, Sullivan was to command the right wing, composed of his own division and that of Wayne, flanked by Conway's brigade. They were to march down the main road from Chestnut Hill to Germantown, sometimes called the Skippack Road. They were supported, on the right, by the Pennsylvania Militia, under Gen. Armstrong, who were to fall down the Manatawney road, by Van Deering's mill, and get upon the enemy's left and rear. On the left were the divisions of Greene and Stephen, flanked by McDougall's brigade, who were to enter, by taking a circuit by way of the Limekiln Road, at the Market House, and attack the enemy's right wing, while the militia of Maryland and New Jersey, under Generals Smallwood and Forman, were to march by the old York Road and fall upon the rear of their right. Lord Stirling, with the brigades of Nash and Maxwell, was to form a reserve corps. The official order further explains that "General McDougall is to at- tack the right wing of the enemy in front and rear; General Conway to attack the enemy's left flank, and General Armstrong to attack the left wing in flank and rear."
On the evening of October 3 the army left its encamp-
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ment on Metuchen Hills, by the routes prescribed in the order of battle. It was a hard march in the darkness over rough roads, and, at daybreak of a dark, foggy morning, the right wing, with Washington, after such a halt as the time allowed, reached Chestnut Hill. As it descended into the valley, approaching Mount Airy, the sun rose, but soon buried itself in a bank of clouds. Con- way's brigade led the column, with Sullivan's division following, and Wayne's in the rear of Sullivan's, the whole under Sullivan's command. Here one regiment from Conway's brigade, and one from the Maryland bri- gade, were advanced in front, and a detachment, under Captain Allen McLane, of Delaware, was sent forward to take the enemy's picket at Allen's house, on Mount
BIRTHPLACE AND HOME OF GENL. ANTHONY WAYNE, NEAR PAOLI, PENNA. From an old print.
Airy. He fell upon and killed the double sentries with the loss of one man, but the alarm was given, and the outpost, after discharging their two six-pounders, fell back upon the battalion of light infantry that was already forming
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in line of battle upon the east of the road at Mount Pleas- ant. Conway thereupon formed his brigade to sustain the attacking regiments, while Sullivan drew up his own division on the right of the road, at Allen's Lane. For some minutes the ground was hotly contested, but the enemy at length gave way. Wayne's division, having by this time come up, Gen. Sullivan formed it upon the east of the road, and directed Conway to file off to the ex- treme right, sending also one regiment from Wayne's and one from his own division, with Moylan's regiment of light horse, to further protect his right flank. These dispositions made, he advanced his line, the light in- fantry leaving the field, and, with it, their encampment, bat making "a stand at every fence, wall, and ditch they passed, which were numerous," the General explained, adding that "we were compelled to remove every fence as we passed, which delayed us much in the pursuit."
It was with peculiar spirit that Wayne's division ad- vanced against the British light infantry, for it was that body which had made the cruel attack on the camp at Paoli, and Lieut. Hunter, writing a few days afterwards, says : " When the first shots were fired at our pickets, so much had we all Wayne's affair in our remembrance, that the battalion were out and under arms in a minute. At this time the day had just broke, but it was a very foggy morning, and so dark we could not see a hundred yards before us. Just as the battle had formed, the pickets came in and said the enemy were advancing in force. They had hardly joined the battalion when we heard a loud cry, 'Have at the bloodhounds! revenge Wayne's affair!' and they immediately fired a volley." Wayne himself gives a similar account, and writes: " Our people, remembering the action of the night of the 20th of Sep-
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tember, near the Warren, pushed on with their bayonets, and took ample vengeance for that night's work. Our officers exerted themselves to save many of the poor wretches, but to little purpose; the rage and fury of the soldiers were not to be restrained for some time, at least not until great numbers of the enemy fell by their bay- onets."
Sullivan continued his advance, having sent word back to Washington that he had engaged the enemy's left, and asking that Wayne be advanced against the right, seemingly not aware, in the fog, that Wayne was already moving forward.
The morning was very dark; the thick fog, rendered more dense by the smoke of cannon and musketry, ob-
THE CHEW HOUSE, GERMANTOWN. From an old print.
scured everything, and it was impossible for the soldiers, marching over ground broken by roads and houses, to see clearly what was before them as they advanced upon
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WASHINGTON AND LAFAYETTE AT VALLEY FORGE WINTER OF 1777-78.
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By this time the American army, because of all the facts just stated, had become greatly disorganized, while, on the contrary, the British troops were reforming and getting into better shape. When, therefore, General Grey advanced to the attack the confused Americans were unable to resist him. General Agnew, following im- mediately after, increased the rout. Washington, seeing the failure of all his well-laid plans, was forced to order a retreat, and returned that night to Pennybacker's Mills, where the army resumed its camp.
The entire loss sustained by the combatants, in this engagement, was never accurately ascertained. Accord- ing to the returns, collected afterwards by the Board of War, the casualties in Washington's army were thirty officers and one hundred and twenty-two men killed, one hundred and seventeen officers and four hundred and four men wounded, and about four hundred prisoners. Included in this last number were some fifty officers and Col. Matthew's regiment. The British loss was reported to be thirteen officers and fifty-eight men killed, and fifty- five officers and three hundred and ninety-five men wounded. An aggregate of 1, 157, killed and wounded, out of the comparatively small forces engaged on either side shows that the Battle of Germantown was no chill's play.
After the battle of Germantown the first subject to claim the attention of Washington was the strengthening of the posts at Billingsport, on the Jersey side of the Delaware, and of Forts Mifflin and Red Bank, on opposite sides of the river just above. This was done, but, while the im- portance of retaining these positions was fully realized, the Commander-in-Chief did not consider his force suffi- ciently strong to detachi any portion of it for the relief of
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their garrisons. Thus, left to themselves, with the aid of the Pennsylvania navy they held out during more than six weeks, with a bravery as heroic as any displayed dur- ing the war, but the force of superior numbers gradually obliged them to abandon one post after the other until, on November 10, a combined attack, made by the English naval and land forces, so terrible in character and over- whelming in force, on Fort Mifflin, caused it to be evacu- ated, and the river lay open to the enemy.
On October 17, thirteen days after the battle at Ger- mantown, the country was electrified by the surrender of
THE VALLEY FORGE HILLS, FROM THE WEST. From an old print.
Burgoyne, and, on the 19th of December, Washington, with his half-clad army of 11,000 men, went into winter quarters at Valley Forge, where he could best watch and hold in check his foe.
The sad story of Valley Forge need not be told here. On reaching its bleak hills the soldiers found it shelter-
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less, and, for two weeks, toiled in the bitter weather, building huts in which to spend the winter. Many were without blankets and were forced to sit by the fire all night to keep from freezing. Washington informed Congress, on December 23, that he had in camp 2,898 men "unfit for duty because they are barefoot, and other- wise naked." The rudely-built hospitals were soon crowded with the sick and dying. Some died for want of straw to make a bed on the frozen ground, others from want of sufficient nourishment. "The unfortunate sol- diers were in want of everything," wrote Lafayette years afterwards; "they had neither coats, hats, shirts, nor shoes, their feet and legs froze till they became black, and it was often necessary to amputate them."
For whole days the army frequently remained without provision. Horses starved to death by the hundreds. The petty jealousies, which had sprung up in Congress amongst its members, because of sectional feeling, pre- vented them from being united on any one point save a greater jealousy of Washington and his army. In vain did he call on them to trust hin; in vain did he urge them to let their patriotism embrace the whole country, instead of merely that small part which they represented indi- vidually; in vain did he plead for a properly organized anny. They continued to adhere to their own selfish and imperfect plans. The consequence could be naught else than a poorly equipped, and worse managed, quarter- master and commissary department. Large quantities of material were allowed to go to waste within a short dis- tance of thousands of naked and starving men.
With lack of food, and lack of clothing, came lack of health. Sickness and mortality spread through the quarters to an astonishing degree. The small-pox broke
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out. Notwithstanding the diligence and care of the physicians and surgeons the sick and dead list increased one third in the course of one week, and bade fair, with the inclement weather which was experienced, to grow in a much greater proportion.
Thus that long and drear winter was spent, and the fewness of the desertions, in that trying hour, attest the depths of the patriotism of those who won for us the in- dependence of our country.
The Pennsylvania troops, under Conway, were stationed to the rear of Washington's headquarters in Pott's House, behind an abattis and between the brigades of Huntington (Connecticut) and Maxwell (New Jersey) .
THE WASHINGTON HEADQUARTERS AT VALLEY FORGE. From an old print.
Wayne's brigade lay in the advance of the right center, and Muhlenberg's Virginians at the corner of the en- trenchments by the river, on the extreme left.
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On the 4th of May, 1778, came the cheering news of the French alliance, which was gladly celebrated on the 6th. On May 18, Lafayette took post at Barren Hill, from which he escaped so brilliantly two days later.
On June 18, six brigades were put in motion, followed by the remainder of the troops on the 19th, when Valley Forge was left alone with its dead and their glory, and the army was on its march to Monmouth.
Early in June, 1778, it became apparent that the Brit- ish were preparing to evacuate Philadelphia, as it was feared by them that a French flect, in pursuance of the treaty of alliance made with France, February, 1778, would soon appear and blockade the English fleet in the Delaware.
On June 18 the enemy, 12,000 strong, left Philadel- phia, crossed the Delaware, and took the route eastward across Jersey, followed by Washington, who crossed above Trenton on the 21st, and pursued on a parallel route. The Commander-in-Chief decided to attack, as soon as possible, at least the English rear-guard, by which the train of baggage, etc., was escorted. Fearing to delay longer, on the 27th Lafayette was directed to take five thousand troops, " picked and selected men," to attack the English rear so soon as it began to move the next morning. A considerable portion of this detach- ment was composed of Wayne's troops. Charles Lee, who had opposed this aggressive movement through fear of the vast superiority of the British troops, at first de- clined to command the detachment, but, shortly after, thinking better of this step, claimed to lead it, and was, unfortunately, permitted to do so. Lee's command marched about five miles in advance of the main army, his orders being to attack vigorously the rear-guard, and he
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was expressly told that he would be supported by the rest of the troops.
Having arrived within striking distance, near Freehold, Wayne was directed by Lee, the next morning, to take with him, from his division of about twelve hundred men, seven hundred, to lead the advance and attack the left rear of the English. He was told by Gen. Lee that he held the post of honor, and it soon turned out that he held, at least, the post of imminent danger. The enemy did not wait to be attacked, but a party of Simcoe's Rangers, or Dragoons (American Loyalists), charged upon a portion of Col. Richard Butler's Pennsylvania Regiment, of about two hundred men (9th Penn.). They were repulsed and driven back but could not be fol- lowed for want of cavalry.
While Wayne's force was thus engaged with Simcoe's Dragoons, the main English force, from having been on the defensive, now became the assailants. At first the force in front of Wayne was simply a covering party, sup- posed by him to have consisted of about two thousand inen, but it rapidly increased in numbers. Wayne looked around for the reinforcements which had been promised him, but was surprised to find that the rest of Lee's com- mand was in full retreat, leaving him to shift for himself, and placing him in great danger of being surrounded. With much difficulty he made his way through the swamp and the woods until he reached the parsonage, just in advance of the "Tennent Church," and on the southern side of the road leading to Freehold, where he found all the troops, which were to have supported him, falling back by Gen. Lee's orders. They were met by Washington, amazed at the retreat of the advance corps, and angry beyond restraint with Gen. Lee who had or- dered it.
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The enemy, whose whole force by this time had faced about, were in full pursuit, and the Commander-in-Chief had, it is said, but a quarter of an hour to make such dispo- sition of his troops as would check them. Washington's presence and example at once stopped the retreat. Danger seemed to have aroused all his energies. With the true instinct of a great general he rallied his troops at once, directing Wayne, who was near him, to form two trusty regiments instantly and check the assault of the enemy, while he would hasten to the rear and bring forward the main portion of the army to support him.
The regiments, which were called upon at this critical moment-one of the most critical in the history of the Revolution-were those of Col. Walter Stewart, 13th Pennsylvania, Col. William Irvine, 7th Pennsylvania, and Col. Thomas Craig, 3d Pennsylvania, aided by a Mary- land and a Virginia regiment. These held the advance post, the well-known orchard of Monmouth, until the re- inforcements, which made up the second line, appeared.
There were hills on each side of this orchard, which were at once occupied by these reinforcements; that on the right was held by Greene, with Knox's artillery; that on the left by Stirling. The batteries on both these hills enfiladed the English army on the right and the left, while the withering fire of Wayne's cominand, in front, rendered further advance well-nigh impossible.
The British Grenadiers, with their left on Freehold and the Guards on their right, had driven Lee's advance to the position near the parsonage, which Wayne now occupied. Crossing a fence, in their front, they ad- vanced to the attack of Wayne's position with dauntless courage, first on the right and then on the left, but were repulsed, in both cases, with great loss. Finally, the
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Guards, officered by the sons of the noblest English families, who had, for more than eight months, given the tone to fashionable dissipation while Philadelphia was occupied by the British army, and had taught their ad- mirers, among the ladies in that city, to look with con- tempt upon the brave ycomen who were suffering the pains of nakedness and hunger at Valley Forge, were, at last, to meet foemen worthy of their steel. Their com- manding officer, Col. Monckton, the brother of Lord Gal- way, was fully convinced that the task assigned to this corps d'élite was one that would test, to the utmost, those soldierly qualities for which the grenadiers and guards had gained so great renown.
The Guards having been formed for a bayonet charge, their colonel made them a short speech, in which he urged them, by all the motives which appeal to a soldier's pride and his esprit de corps, to charge home. So near were they to the American line that, it is said, every word of his speech was heard there, and, probably, it did as much to inspire Wayne's men with courage and determination as it did those to whom it was addressed.
They then rushed on with a furious charge, hoping to drive their enemies back by the bayonet. Without wait- ing until they approached quite closely, they were met with a withering fire of musketry, which killed not only the colonel, who bravely led them on, but many of his officers. The column was driven back in the utmost con- fusion. How complete was this repulse is shown by the inability of the Guards to rescue from Wayne's men the lifeless body of their commander, although they made the most frantic efforts to recover it.
The battle raged for hours after this fruitless attempt to penetrate Wayne's column, and, at last, the enemy,
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