```"My country's standard waved on yonder height;
````Her red-eross banner England there display'd;
```And there the German, who, for foreign fight,
````Had left his own domestic hearth, and made
```War, with its horrors and its blood, a trade,
````Amid the battle stood; and, all the day,
```The bursting bomb, the furious cannonade,
````The bugle's martial notes, the musket's play,
````In mingled uproar wild resounded far away.=
```A pebble stone that on the war-field lay,
````And a wild rose that blossom'd brightly there,
```Were all the relies that I bore away
````To tell that I had trod the seene of war,
```When I had turn'd my footsteps homeward far.
````These may seem childish things to some; to me
```They shall be treasured ones, and, like the star
````That guides the sailor o'er the pathless sea,
````They shall lead back my thoughts, loved Brandywine, to thee!"
`````Elizabeth M. Chandler.=
[Illustration: 9379]
E descended from the observatory at Valley Forge at one o'clock, and
departed for the banks of the Brandywine by way of the Paoli * and West
Chester. A veil of moisture, deepening every hour, [[November 30, 1848]]
obscured the sun and omened an approaching storm. I alighted on the
borders of a wood a short distance from the Norristown road, and
sketched the remains of one of the American redoubts pictured on page
335, which lies, almost unknown, within the embrace of the forest.
Thence to the place memorable as the scene of the Paoli massacre, a
distance of nearly nine miles, our road passed through a broken but
well-cultivated country, spreading out into more gentle undulations
on the left, toward the Delaware. The place of the massacre is about a
quarter of a mile from the highway, east of the West Chester rail-way
(which connects with the Columbia rail-way near "the Paoli"), a mile
south of the Warren tavern, on the Lancaster turnpike, and a little more
than two miles southwest from the Paoli tavern. We left our horse to
dine upon corn at a farmyard near, and, following a pathway northeast
from the road, through the open fields, we came to the monument which
stands over the remains of those who fell there on the night of the 20th
of September, 1777. It is upon a small elevated plain, overlooking a
fine rolling country toward the Brandywine, and covered with a forest
when the event occurred, but now smiling with cultivation. ** The
sad story which makes the place memorable in our history is brief but
touching.
I have mentioned in another chapter (page 386) the movements of the
American army after the battle on the Brandywine, and the prevention of
an engagement between the belligerent forces near the Warren tavern by
a violent storm of rain, which damaged their ammunition. When Washington
withdrew and crossed the Schuylkill, with the main body
* The Paoli was one of the famous taverns on the old Lancaster turnpike.
The Spread Eagle, the Back, the White Horse, the Black Horse, the
Red Lion, &e., were all famous among travelers upon the Lancaster and
Harrisburg roads. Governor Pownall (member of Parliament during the
period of the Revolution), who traveled the roads in 1754, mentions
several of these small hamlets that had grown up near some of the old
taverns.
** The land is owned chiefly by Mr. Joseph Rodgers, whose residence is
not far distant.
[[[Wayne's Encampment near the Paoli.--British Attack upon his
Detachment.--The Massacre.]]]
{370}of the army, at Parker's Ford, he left General Wayne, with about
fifteen hundred men and four pieces of cannon (to be joined by General
Smallwood and Colonel Gist the next day * ), with directions to annoy
the enemy's rear, then posted near Tredyffrin church, and to attempt to
cut off his baggage train. Wayne encamped two or three miles southwest
of the British lines, in a secluded spot, away from the public roads,
near the place where the monument now stands. The vigilance of British
sentinels did not discover him, but the treachery of Tories revealed
his numbers and place of encampment to the commander of the enemy. Howe
determined to surprise Wayne, and for that purpose dispatched General
Grey (the subsequent murderer at Tappan and plunderer on the New England
coasts) to steal upon the patriot camp at night and destroy them. Wayne
had intimations of this intended movement, and, though doubting its
truth, he neglected no precaution. It was a dark and stormy night. Wayne
ordered his men to sleep on their arms, with their ammunition under
their coats. With two regiments and a body of light infantry, Grey
marched stealthily, in two divisions, toward midnights through the woods
and up a narrow defile [[a September 20, 1777]] below the Paoli,
and gained Wayne's left at about one o'clock in the morning. (b) The
divisions conjoined in the Lancaster road, near Wayne's encamp[[ b
September 21]]ment. The "no-flint general" (see note on page 196) had
given his usual order to rush upon the patriots with fixed bayonets,
without firing a shot, and to _give no quarters!_ Several of the
American pickets near the highway were silently massacred in the gloom.
These being missed by the patroling officer, his suspicions that an
enemy was near were awakened, and he hastened to the tent of Wayne. The
general immediately paraded his men. Unfortunately, he made the movement
in the light of his own camp-fires, instead of forming them in the dark,
back of the encampment. By the light of these fires Grey was directed
where to attack with the best chance of success. ** In silence, but with
the fierceness of tigers, the enemy leaped from the thick gloom upon
the Americans, who knew not from what point to expect an attack. The
patriots discharged several volleys, but so sudden and violent was the
attack that their column was at once broken into fragments. They fled in
confusion in the direction of Chester. One hundred and fifty Americans
were killed and wounded in this onslaught, some of whom, it is said,
were cruelly butchered after ceasing to resist, and while begging for
quarter; and but for the coolness and skill of Wayne, his whole command
must have been killed or taken prisoners. He promptly rallied a few
companies, ordered Colonel Hampton to wheel the line, and with the
cavalry and a portion of the infantry, he gallantly covered a successful
retreat. Grey swept the American camp, captured between seventy and
eighty men, including several subordinate officers, a great number of
small-arms, two pieces of cannon, and eight wagons loaded with baggage
and stores. The loss of the British was inconsiderable; only one captain
of light infantry and three privates were killed, and four men wounded.
General Smallwood was only a mile distant at the time of the engagement,
and made an unsuccessful attempt to march to the relief of Wayne. His
raw militia were too deficient in discipline to make a sudden movement,
and, before he could reach the scene of conflict, Grey had completed
his achievement, and was on his way towar'd the British camp. Falling
in with a party of the enemy retiring from the pursuit of Wayne,
Smallwood's militia instantly fled in great confusion, and were not
rallied until a late hour the next day.
The dead bodies of fifty-three Americans were found on the field the
next morning, and were interred upon the spot, in one grave, by the
neighboring farmers. For forty years their resting-place was marked by
a simple heap of stones, around which the plow of the agriculturist made
its furrows nearer and nearer every season. At length the "Republican
Artillerists" of Chester county patriotically resolved to erect a
monument to their memory,
* General Smallwood was advancing with 1150 Maryland militia, and
Colonel Gist, with 700.
** A Hessian sergeant, boasting of the exploits of that night,
exultingly exclaimed, "What a running about, barefoot, and half clothed,
and in the light of their own fires! These showed us where to chase
them, while they could not see us. We killed three hundred of the rebels
with the bayonet. I stuck them myself like so many pigs, one after
another, until the blood ran out of the touch-hole of my musket."
[[[Chaplain David Jones.--' His Address to the Troops at Tieonderoga.]]]
{371}and on the 20th of September, 1817, the fortieth anniversary of the
event, through the aid of their fellow-citizens, they reared the memento
delineated in the engraving. *
[Illustration: 8381]
It is com-
* On that occasion the Reverend David Jones, an eminent Baptist
clergyman, who was Wayne's chaplain, and with him at the time of the
massacre, was present and made an address. He was then past eighty years
of age.
* David Jones was born in White Clay Creek Hundred, Newcastle county,
Delaware, on the 12th of May, 1736. His ancestors came from Wales in
the early part of the last century, and settled at The Welsh Tract.
Mr. Jones was educated for the ministry by the Reverend Isaac Eaton,
of Hopewell, New Jersey. He was for many years pastor of the upper
(Baptist) Freehold church in New Jersey, from which place he proceeded
to the Northwestern Territory in 1772 and 1773, on a Gospel mission
to the Shawnee and Delaware Indians. He was unsuccessful, and, after
enduring many hardships, he returned to his charge at Freehold. He
afterward published an account of his mission. One of his companions,
while navigating the Ohio in a canoe from Fort Pitt, was the celebrated
George Rogers Clarke. He early espoused the patriot cause, and became
so obnoxious to the Tories, that, believing his life to be in danger,
he left New Jersey, and settled in Chester county, Pennsylvania, in the
spring of 1775, in charge of the Great Valley Baptist church. On the
occasion of the Continental Fast, soon afterward observed, he preached
a sermon before Colonel Dewee's regiment, entitled "Defensive War in a
Just Cause Sinless." It was published, and, being extensively circulated
throughout the colonies, produced a salutary effect. In 1776, Mr. Jones
received the appointment of chaplain to a Pennsylvania regiment under
Colonel St. Clair, which was ordered to the Northern Department. He was
on duty with St. Clair at Ticonderoga, where, when the enemy was
hourly expected (October 20th, 1776) from Crown Point, he delivered a
characteristic discourse to the regiment, which had a powerful effect
upon them.* Chaplain Jones served through two campaigns under General
Gates, and was chaplain to a brigade under Wayne in the autumn of 1777.
He was with that officer at the "Paoli massacre," and narrowly escaped
death. He had been in the battle at the Brandywine a few days before,
and was in the engagement at Germantown. He accompanied the army to
White-marsh and Valley Forge; was with Wayne in the battle at Monmouth,
and in all his subsequent campaigns, until the surrender of Cornwallis
at Yorktown in the autumn of 1781. He was so active in the cause of
freedom, that a reward was offered for him by General Howe, and a
detachment was sent to the Great Valley, on one occasion, to arrest him.
* At the close of the war he retired to his farm and church.
* When General Wayne took command of the army in the Northwestern
Territory, against the Indians, in 1794, Mr. Jones was appointed his
chaplain, and accompanied him. When the war of 1812 broke out, he again
entered the army, being then seventy-six years old, and served under
Generals Brown and Wilkinson until the close of that contest. His last
public act was to address the people assembled to dedicate the Paoli
Monument. He died on the 5th of February, 1820, in the eighty-fourth
year of his age, and was buried in the Great Valley church-yard,
in sight of Valley Forge. The portrait here given I copied from an
excellent cabinet picture of the chaplain in the possession of his
grandson, Horatio Gates Jones, Jr., of Philadelphia, who kindly
furnished me with the materials for this brief sketeh of the public
services of that eminent patriot and divine.
* I have before me a printed copy of that address, which was published
soon afterward. I print it here as a favorable specimen of the manner in
which the American soldiers were addressed by their Chaplains.
"ADDRESS: "To General St. Clair's Brigade at Tieonderoga, when the Enemy
were hourly expected, October 20,1776. "My Countrymen, Fellow-soldiers,
and Friends, "I am sorry that during this campaign I have been favored
with so few opportunities of addressing you on subjects of the greatest
importance both with respect to this life and that whieh is to come;
but what is past can not be recalled, and now time will not admit an
enlargement, as we have the greatest reason to expect the advancement
of our enemies as speedily as Heaven will permit. [The wind blew to the
north, strongly.] Therefore, at present, let it suffice to bring to your
remembrance some necessary truths. "It is our common faith, and a very
just one too, that all events on earth are under the notice of that God
in whom we live, move, and have our being; therefore we must believe
that, in this important struggle with the worst of enemies, he has
assigned us our post here at Tieonderoga. Our situation is such that, if
properly defended, we shall give our enemies a fatal blow, and in great
measure prove the means of the salvation of North America. "Such is our
present ease, that we are fighting for all that is near and dear to us,
while our enemies are engaged in the worst of causes, their design being
to subjugate, plunder, and enslave a free people that have done them
no harm. Their tyrannical views are so glaring, their cause so horribly
bad, that there still remain too much goodness and humanity in Great
Britain to engage unanimously against us, therefore they have been
obliged (and at a most amazing expense, too) to hire the assistance of
a barbarous, mercenary people, that would cut your throats for the small
reward of sixpence. No doubt these have hopes of being our task-masters,
and would rejoice at our calamities. "Look, oh! look, therefore, at your
respective states, and anticipate the consequences if these vassals
are suffered to enter! It would fail the most fruitful imagination to
represent, in a proper light, what anguish, what horror, what distress
would spread over the whole! See, oh! see the dear wives of your bosoms
forced from their peaceful habitations, and perhaps used with such
indecency that modesty would forbid the description. Behold the fair
virgins of your land, whose benevolent souls are now filled with a
thousand good wishes and hopes of seeing their admirers return home
crowned with victory, would not only meet with a doleful disappointment,
but also with such insults and abuses that would induce their tender
hearts to pray for the shades of death. See your children exposed as
vagabonds to all the calamities of this life! Then, oh! then adieu to
all felicity this side the grave!... "Now all these calamities may be
prevented if our God be for us--and who can doubt of this who observes
the point in which the wind now blows--if you will only acquit
yourselves like men, and with firmness of mind go forth against your
enemies, resolving either to return with victory or to die gloriously.
Every one that may fall in this dispute will be justly esteemed a martyr
to liberty, and his name will be had in precious memory while the love
of freedom remains in the breasts of men. All whom God will favor to see
a glorious victory, will return to their respective states with every
mark of honor, and be received with joy and gladness of heart by all
friends to liberty and lovers of mankind. "As our present ease is
singular, I hope, therefore, that the candid will excuse me, if I now
conclude with an uncommon address, in substance principally extracted
from the writings of the servants of God in the Old Testament; though,
at the same time, it is freely acknowledged that I am not possessed of
any similar power either of blessing or cursing.
"1. Blessed be that man who is possessed of true love of
liberty; and let all the people say, Amen.
"2. Blessed be that man who is a friend to the common rights
of mankind; and let all the people say, Amen.
"3. Blessed be that man who is a friend to the United States
of America; and let all the people say, Amen.
"4. Blessed be that man who will use his utmost endeavor to
oppose the tyranny of Great Britain, and to vanquish all her
forces invading North America; and let all the people say.
Amen.
"5. Blessed be that man who is resolved never to submit to
Great Britain; and let all the people say, Amen.
"6. Blessed be that man who in the present dispute esteems
not his life too good to fall a sacrifice in defense of his
country; let his posterity, if any he has, be blessed with
riches, honor, virtue, and true religion; and let all the
people say, Amen.
* "Now, on the other hand, as far as is consistent with the
Holy Scriptures, let all these blessings be turned into
curses to him who deserts the noble cause in which we are
engaged, and turns his back to the enemy before he receives
proper orders to retreat; and let all the people say, Amen.
"Let him be abhorred by all the United States of America.
"Let faintness of heart and fear never forsake him on earth.
"Let him be a magor missabile, a terror to himself and all
around him.
"Let him be accursed in his outgoing, and cursed in his
incoming; cursed in lying down, and cursed in uprising;
cursed in basket, and cursed in store.
"Let him be cursed in all his connections, till his wretched
head with dishonor is laid low in the dust; and let all the
soldiers say, Amen.
"And may the God of all grace, in whom we live, enable us,
in defense of our country, to acquit ourselves like men, to
his honor and praise. Amen and Amen."
* On one occasion, while reconnoitering alone, he saw a dragoon dismount
and enter a house for refreshments. Mr. Jones boldly abstracted the
horseman's pistols, and, going into the house, claimed him as his
prisoner. The dragoon was unarmed, and was obliged to obey the orders of
his captor, to mount and ride into the American camp. The event caused
great merriment., and Wayne laughed immoderately at the idea of his
chaplain's capturing a British dragoon.
[[[The Paoli Monument.--The Inscriptions upon it.]]]
{372}posed of a blue clouded marble pedestal, surmounted by a white
marble pyramid.
[Illustration: 8382]
The whole monument is about nine feet high, and stands over the center
of the broad grave where the remains of the patriots repose. A peachtree
shades its eastern side. Around it, in oblong form, is a massive stone
wall five feet in height, covered with stucco. Upon the four sides of
the pedestal are appropriate inscriptions, * somewhat defaced by the
villain-hand of wanton destructiveness, or the marauding relic-seeker.
Here, far away from the hum of towns and cities, rest
* The following are the inscriptions: North side.--"The atrocious
massacre which this stone commemorates was perpetrated by British troops
under the immediate command of Major-general Grey." West side.--"Sacred
to the memory of the Patriots who on this spot fell a sacrifice to
British barbarity, during the struggle for American Independence, on
the night of the 20th September, 1777." South side.--"Here repose
the remains of fifty-three American soldiers, who were the victims of
coldblooded cruelty in the well-known 'Massacre at Paoli,' while under
the command of General Anthony Wayne, an officer whose military
conduct, bravery, and humanity were equally conspicuous throughout
the Revolutionary War." East side.--"This memorial, in honor of
Revolutionary Patriotism, was erected September 20th, 1817, by the
Republican Artillerists of Chester county, aided by the contributions of
their fellow-citizens."
[[[The Dead of Paoli.--Journey to West Chester.--Departure for the
Brandywine Battle-ground.]]]
{373}
`````"A sacred band;
```They take their sleep together, while the year
```Comes with its early flowers to deck their grave,
```And gathers them again as winter frowns.
```Here let us meet, and, while our motionless lips
```Give not a sound, and all around is mute--
```In the deep Sabbath of a heart too full
```For words or tears--here let us strew the sod
```With the first flowers of spring, and make to them
```An offering of the plenty nature gives,
```And they have rendered ours--perpetually."
`````Percival.=
After making a sketch of the monument, and dining upon crackers, cheese,
and apples, using the plinth of the pedestal for a table--we resumed
the reins, and retraced the Lancaster road as far as the Paoli tavern,
where a branch road leads to West Chester.
Here I parted company with Mr. Agnew, who returned to Philadelphia in
the cars, and I journeyed alone toward the Brandywine. Although the
fields were shorn, and the orchards were bare of fruit and foliage, yet,
on every side, were evidences of fertility and abundance attested by
fine farm-houses, spacious stone barns, and numerous plethoric barracks.
The country is beautifully diversified and well watered; clear streams,
without bridges, intersect the highway in many plaees. I reached West
Chester at dark, distant eight miles from the Paoli tavern, having
passed, on the way, near the residence of General Wayne.
West Chester is the seat of justice of Chester county. It is in Goshen
township, twenty-three miles from Philadelphia, and five south of the
Great Valley. It is a pleasant village, containing a population of
about three thousand, who are noted for their intelligence and general
refinement. It was a mere hamlet when the armies passed by after the
battle on the Brandywine, * a few miles distant; and there are now not
many mementoes of the event in existence. Eye-witnesses have gone down
into the grave, and the old dwellings have given place to more modern
structures, except the Turk's Head tavern, and one or two other
buildings. At Guss's Inn, where I tarried for the night, I met Mr.
Joseph Townsend, a nephew of the late Joseph Townsend, of Baltimore,
who wrote an account of the battle of Brandywine from his own personal
recollections, and which was published in 1846, with an accurate survey
of the scene of action, by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Mr.
Townsend, who is familiar with every locality connected with the battle,
kindly offered to go over the ground with me the next morning.
I breakfasted by candle-light, and, at seven o'clock, we were on our way
to [[December 1, 1848]] Jefferis's Ford, on the Brandywine, two and a
half miles from West Chester. Thick clouds covered the heavens, and a
biting northeast wind, bearing a few tiny snowflakes and pellets of soft
hail, evinced the presence of winter. The old ford, where the division
of the British army under Howe and Cornwallis crossed the Brandywine,
was eight
* The Brandywine Creek rises near the boundary of Lancaster and Chester
counties, Pennsylvania, and flows through Delaware. After uniting with
Christiana Creek, it enters the Delaware River, forming the harbor of
Wilmington. It is navigable as high as Brandywine village.
** This is copied from Day's Historical Collections of Pennsylvania. The
house is of stone, and ranked among the first country mansions of the
period. It is about a mile and a half south of the Paoli tavern.
[[[Jefferis's Ford.--Sconnel Town, Osborne's Hill, and Birmingham
Meeting-house.]]]
{374}or ten rods above the bridge which now spans the stream. On the
high ground upon the opposite shore, the old stone house of Emmon
Jefferis is yet standing.
[Illustration: 8384]
In it the merchants of Wilmington, alarmed for the safety of their
goods, stored a large quantity of wine and other liquors, believing that
the line of march of the British army would be through their own town,
and not as high up the stream as at this place. For reasons which
we shall presently consider, Cornwallis and his division crossed
the Brandywine at this ford, and, discovering the Madeira wine in
Jefferson's house, made themselves merry at the expense of the rebel
merchants."
[Illustration: 9384]
Howe took Jefferis with him as a guide to conduct him toward Birmingham
meeting-house.
From Jefferis's Ford we proceeded toward the Birmingham meeting-house,
famous in the annals of the Brandywine battle as the spot near which the
most sanguinary conflict took place. We traversed the road along which
Cornwallis marched over the high ground eastward of the Brandywine,
passing the site of Sconnel Town, ** Strodes's Mill, and the field where
the British army formed for action on the southern slopes of
Osborn's Hill. We were thoroughly chilled when we reached Birmingham
meeting-house, delineated on the next page, situated about four miles
below Jefferis's Ford. There we found a comfortable shelter from the
piercing wind under its spacious shed, where we sat down with Bowen's
and Futhey's _Plan of the Battleground_ before us, and contemplated the
memorable events which occurred in this vicinity.
The British fleet under Lord Howe, bearing a land force eighteen
thousand strong, under the command of his brother, General Sir William
Howe, sailed up the Chesapeake, and landed at Turkey Point, on the west
side of the River Elk, about eleven miles from Elkton, at its head, on
the 25th of August, 1777. Howe's destination was Philadelphia. He had [[
a July 23, 1777]] left Sandy Hook (a) with the intention of passing up
the Delaware, but, when at the capes of that river, he was informed of
the obstructions which the Americans had placed in its channel, and he
proceeded to the Chesapeake. **** The two days and nights after
* This view is from the easterly bank of the Brandywine. The ford was at
the mouth of the little creek seen issuing from the small bridge on
the left. The Brandywine here is broad and shallow, with quite a rapid
current.
** Sconnel Town was a hamlet of two or three dwellings, one or two
shops, and a school-house, situated a short distance from Jefferis's
Ford, on the road to the Birmingham meeting-house. That building having
been taken possession of by the Americans for an hospital, the Quakers
who worshiped there held their meetings in a wheel-wright's shop at
Sconnel Town. They were holding a week-day meeting there on the day of
the battle. Not a vestige of Sconnel Town may now be seen, except the
remains of a cellar on the easterly side of the road.
*** This plan is from an actual survey made during the summer of 1846,
under the direction of John S. Bowen and J. Smith Futhey, of Chester.
The position of the forces in action, many of the houses, and other
localities as they existed, was ascertained from a map drawn by officers
of the British army, and published a few months after the battle (in
April, 1778). De Chastellux, who visited the battle-ground with La
Fayette in 1781, mentions the fact that he had one of these English maps
as a guide. The roads of the present day, and the relative position to
them of the houses, woods, &c., of the Revolution, are carefully laid
down upon the map of Bowen and Futhey, which forms the basis of the
one printed on page 377 of this work. On the day when Sir William Howe
entered the Chesapeake, he received a letter from Lord George Germaine,
dated May 18th, giving him the first intimation that aid would be
expected from him in favor of Burgoyne, then pressing forward toward the
Hudson from Canada. He immediately sent a message to Sir Henry Clinton,
who was left in command at New York, to act in conjunction with
Burgoyne, if circumstances should permit. The result we have considered.
[[[Landing of the British at the Head of Elk.--Washington's Preparations
to meet them.--March of Americans from Philadelphia.]]]
{375}his landing were stormy, and prevented any considerable movement
being made before the 28th, when the British commander-in-chief, with
the first and second brigades of light troops and reserve, marched to
the Head of Elk.
[Illustration: 8385]
Major-general Grey, with the third brigade and a battalion of
Highlanders, crossed the Elk on the 30th. The fourth brigade, under
General Agnew, with a Hessian brigade, under Knyp-hausen, crossed, on
the 31st, * to Cecil [[August.]] court-house whence they proceeded on
the east side of the river, and joined the forces under Howe on Gray's
Hill, about [[September 3.]] two miles eastward of Elkton.
[Illustration: 9385]
This force had remained at the landing to cover the debarkation of the
stores and artillery. General Grant, with a suitable force, remained at
the Head of Elk to maintain the communication with the shipping.
Washington, as we have seen, was perplexed by the movements of Howe,
being uncertain of his destination. As soon, however, as he was informed
that the British fleet was off the capes of the Chesapeake, he turned
his attention in that direction. The detachments in New Jersey, whom
General Sullivan had employed in unsuccessful enterprises against
Staten Island, were recalled, and the whole army left Philadelphia for
Wilmington. General Stephen, with his division, with that of General
Lincoln, who had been ordered to join Schuyler at the north,
first proceeded to Chester, in which vicinity the militia of Lower
Pennsylvania and Delaware were gathering in large numbers, for the
country was thoroughly aroused.
The divisions of Stirling, Sullivan, and Greene (the latter composed of
the brigades of Muhlenberg and Weeden), with Morgan's corps, and
Bland's regiment of horse, accompanied by Washington in person, left
Philadelphia on the morning of the 24th of August, and encamped at Red
Clay Creek, a few miles below Wilmington, the next day. The [[August
25, 1777]] principal portion of the American cavalry were under the
immediate command of Count Pulaski. General Nash, with Proctor's
artillery, embarked in flat-boats upon the Delaware, and proceeded to
Chester, from whence he pressed forward to Wilmington.
The whole effective force then present and fit for duty consisted of
about eleven thousand men, including about eighteen hundred of the
Pennsylvania militia.
Washington established his head-quarters at Wilmington, and made
immediate preparations to oppose the march of the enemy, he having
been informed, by scouts, of their arrival at the head of Elk. The
Pennsylvania and Delaware militia--the former under General Armstrong,
the latter under General Rodney--were ordered to press forward to the
head
* Manuscript letter from General Agnew to his wife, dated "Camp on the
River Elk, August 30th, 1777." In this epistle he wrote, "I have not had
the happiness to receive any letter since the one which brought me the
plan of a house, in which I trust in God yet to pass many, many happy
years in the society of my worthy Betty and the two dear children, as
the best and true real reward for all we have undergone." Alas! five
weeks afterward he was slain in the battle at Germantown, and wife and
children saw him no more.
** This is a view of the southerly front of the meeting-house. The
building is very substantially built ol stone. Much of it is serpentine,
whieh abounds in that region, and of which several houses are
constructed. I was informed that the stains made by the blood of the
wounded carried in there at the time of the battle are yet visible upon
the floor. The Hicksite party hold present possession of the house; the
Orthodox have built a place of worship near.
[[[Encampment on Red Clay Neck.--Howe's Proclamation.--Retreat of the
Americans across the Brandywine.]]]
{376}of Elk, and to secure the stores deposited there. In this, however,
they failed, for, before their arrival, the British army had debarked,
and all the stores, among which was a large quantity of salt, * fell
into their hands. Generals Greene and Weeden thoroughly reconnoitered
the country between Wilmington and the Elk; and Washington himself rode
through [[August 26, 1777]] heavy rains to the head of that river, to
make personal observations. An eligible place was selected by Greene
for the American army to encamp, within six miles of Howe's position
on Gray's Hill; but, before information of the selection reached
Washington, it had been determined in a council of war to take a
position on Red Clay Neck, about half way between Wilmington and
Christiana, with the left of the army on Christiana Creek, and the right
extending toward Chad's Ford, upon the Brandywine. Greene's sagacity
foresaw the hazard of the chosen position, and he expressed his opinion
that the Americans must abandon it on the approach of the enemy. The
sequel proved the correctness of his opinion.
Distressed for want of horses, hemmed in by strong parties of the
American militia, and almost daily annoyed by the attacks of Captain
Henry Lee's and other smaller detachments of cavalry upon his pickets,
Howe did not move forward until the 3d of September. On the 27th of
August he issued a proclamation to the people, assuring them that he did
not come to make war upon the peaceable, but to put down the rebellious;
that private property should be respected; that their persons should be
secure, and that pardon should be extended to all who should return
to their allegiance, and surrender themselves to any detachment of
the royal forces within a specified time. But the people of Lower
Pennsylvania had heard of the falsity of professions put forth in his
proclamation to the inhabitants of New Jersey the year previous, and
his "Declaration," as he termed it, produced very little effect in his
favor. The people had learned to suspect the flattering words of
British officials, whether in Parliament or in the camp, and, instead of
"remaining quietly in their houses," they flocked to the standard of the
patriots, and annoyed the common enemy on every side. The advance of the
royal forces toward the Brandywine was marked by a series of skirmishes,
in which the Americans made a number of prisoners. **
Cornwallis, with Knyphausen, at the head of one division of the royal
army, moved forward and encamped above Peneander, where a brief but
severe skirmish ensued between the enemy and Maxwell's regiment of foot,
formed in ambuscade, in which the patriots lost forty in killed and
wounded. The loss of the enemy was somewhat less. On the 3rd, General
Grant, having rejoined the army with the tents, baggage, and stores, the
British moved forward by way of Newark, and took post within four miles
of the right of the American encampment, extending their left far up
into the country. A strong column made a feint of attacking the American
front, and, after some menacing maneuvering, halted at Milltown, within
two miles of the center of the Americans. Washington, believing it to be
the design of Howe to turn the American right, cross the Brandywine, cut
off their communication with Philadelphia, and thus hem them in, upon
a tongue of land, between the British fleet and army, saw at once the
peril of his position, and, pursuant to Greene's prediction, broke up
his encampment, and crossed the Brandywine at [[September, 1777]]
Chad's Ford, at about two o'clock on the morning of the 9th. On the same
evening, the British marched forward in two columns. Knyphausen, with
the left, encamped at New Garden and Ivennet Square; Cornwallis, with
the right, was posted below, at Hockhesson meeting-house. *** On the
following morning the two divisions met at[[September 3.]]
* Salt was a scarce, yet indispensable article during the war. In his
official dispatch, dated August 25th, 1777, Washington, alluding to
the efforts to save the stores, wrote, "Among others, there is a
considerable parcel of salt. Every attempt will be made to save that."
During the winter encampment at Morristown in 1780, salt was eight
dollars a bushel, and it was difficult to procure it even at that price.
** On the 28th of August the Americans took between thirty and forty
prisoners; and, on that evening, twelve deserters from the British navy
and eight from the army came into camp. On the 29th, Captain Lee took
twenty-nine prisoners.
*** The column of Cornwallis was composed of two battalions of
grenadiers, two of light infantry, the Hessian grenadiers, part of the
seventy-first regiment, and two British brigades; in all about 13,000
men. Knyphausen's division consisted of two British brigades, the
residue of the Hessians, and Wemys's corps of Rangers; in all about
5000.
[[[Approach of the British to the Brandywine.--The Fords of that
Stream.--Plan of the Battle.]]]
{377}Kennet Square, and at evening advanced to within a mile of Welsh's
tavern, then a public house of considerable note, three miles east of
Kennet. *
[Illustration: 0387]
* This tavern, and also the Kennet (Quaker) meeting-house, still exist.
The reader will better understand the position of places, as well as the
movement of the armies, by reference to the above map. Kennet Square,
a small village, is about seven miles west of the Brandywine, upon the
high road from Chad's Ford. Welsh's tavern is about three miles east
of the Square, and half a mile beyond is the Kennet meeting-house and
grave-yard, noted on the map. The several fords on the Brandywine,
mentioned in the narrative, were located as follows: First above
Brandywine village was Pyles's Ford; the next was Chad's Ford; one mile
above was Brinton's; two miles above this was Jones's, on the Street
road, and Wistar's (now Shunk's), about a mile above Jones's. These were
below the forks of the creek. On the north branch was Buffington's (now
Brinton's), Jefferis's, six miles above Chad's Ford, and Taylor's Ford,
about half a mile higher, where the old Lancaster road crossed. On the
west branch was Trimble's Ford, about a mile above the forks, and five
miles from the British encampment near Welsh's tavern.--See Bowen and
Futhey's Sketch of the Battle of Brandywine, explained below.
* Explanation of the Map.--This plan, alluded to on page 374, note 3,
was carefully drawn, from those surveys, by Edward Armstrong, Esq.,
the recording secretary of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and
published by that association. A A, denote the column under the command
of Lord Cornwallis, after having crossed the forks of the Brandywine. C,
two squadrons of dragoons, which were not employed in the action. E
E, the first general attack of the enemy's guards and grenadiers. F,
Deborre's brigade, on the right, forced by the enemy. G, G, the British
and Hessian grenadiers entangled in a wood. H H, march of the enemy
toward and beyond Dilworth. The position of the Americans when the
battle commenced is named on the plan. I, indicates the ravine or defile
where Greene checked the enemy until night No. 28 denotes the site of a
blacksmith's shop which stood near the defile, but now destroyed.
[[[Position of the American Army on the Brandywine.--Movement of the
British.--Localities of the Battle-ground.]]]
{378}On the morning of the 11th of September, the day of the battle on
the Brandywine, the main strength of the American army was posted on the
heights east of Chad's Ford, and commanding that passage of the creek.
The brigades of Muhlenberg and Weeden, which composed Greene's division,
occupied a position directly east of the ford; Wayne's division and
Proctor's artillery (o o o on the map) were posted upon the brow of an
eminence near Chad's house (printed on page 386), immediately above the
ford; and the brigades of Sullivan, Stirling, and Stephen, which formed
the right wing, extended some distance up the river, on the left of
the main body. At Pyles's Ford, two miles below, General Armstrong
was posted with one thousand Pennsylvania militia, to guard that pass.
General Maxwell, with about one thousand light troops, took post on the
heights upon the west side of the river, about a mile from Chad's Ford,
to dispute that passage.
[[September 11, 1777]] At daybreak, the column under Cornwallis moved
along the Lancaster road, which, for several miles, ran nearly parallel
with the Brandywine. General Howe was with this division. Knyphausen and
his command moved forward at nine o'clock. A dense fog enshrouded the
country, and the scouting parties of both armies often came in close
contact before they were aware of their proximity. From behind the
walls of the grave-yard of the Kennet meeting-house, and also of houses,
trees, and clumps of bushes, par-
* a a, indicates the column under Knyphausen, in march from Kennet
meeting-house toward Chad's Ford, b b, the heights and woods occupied by
Maxwell and his troops, d, British riflemen behind a house, supported
by one hundred men from Stern's brigade, e. the Queen's Rangers pursuing
Maxwell, when he was driven from the woods, f. Near h, which denotes a
valley, were four pieces of cannon, with the forty-ninth regiment, to
support the attack of the advanced troops, who crossed the ford in the
afternoon, under the fire of Wayne's batteries at m m. n, position of
Knyphausen's column from half after ten in the morning until he crossed
the river, o o o, the position of Wayne's troops near Chad's house, q,
march of the enemy to the ford, in the face of a cannonade from
Wayne's batteries. Chad's Ford is named on the map. The position of the
Americans is seen on the Chester road, a little to the left of Rocky
Hill. Knyphausen took position at u, where he remained during the night
after the battle.
[Illustration: 9388]
* The following references, taken from Bowen and Futhey's map, show
the names of the occupants of houses in the vicinity when the battle
occurred, and also the names of the occupants in 1846, two years before
I visited the ground: 1. George Strode's, now Jonathan Paxson's. 2, now
Dr. A. L. Elwyn's. 4. Widow Susannah Davis's, the site now occupied by
the house of Aaron Sharpless. 5. Widow of John Davis, not standing. 6.
Widow of James Davis, now occupied by Hibbert Davis. 7. William
Jones, now Bunton Jones, his grandson. 8. Isaac Davis's, now Abraham
Darlington's. 9. John Woodward's, not standing. 10. Richard Evanson's,
now Lewis Brinton's. 11. Supposed to have pin. It was owned by Israel
Gilpin when Howe had possession of it. 19. John Henderson, near
Harlan Webb's house. 21. Gideon Gilpin's, now William Painter's;
the head-quarters of LaFayette, f 22. Benjamin Ring's, now Joseph
P. Harvey's; Washington's head-quarters. 23. William Harvey's, not
standing. 24. Davis's tavern, now in ruins. 25. John Chad's, still
standing. 26. Amos's, not standing. * been J. Bolton's, not standing.
12. Isaac Garrett's, not standing. 13. Abraham Darlington's, now Clement
Biddle's. 14. John Bennett's, not standing. 15. Edward Brinton, now
Edward B. Darlington. 16. George Brinton's, now Ziba Darlington's; built
in 1704. Howe's head-quarters, given above, are denoted on the map by a
parallelogram upon the left of the New Road, near the right-hand corner
of the map.
* This house is situated upon a new road, one mile south-southwest of
Dilworth. This view is from the field in front.
** There is some doubt about La Fayette having occupied this house. De
Chastellux, who, in 1780, visited the battle-ground in company with La
Fayette, says, "M. De La Fayette, attended by the other travelers, went
further on to ask for quarters at a Quaker's called Benjamin Ring,
at whose house he lodged with General Washington the night before the
battle."--Travels in America, i., 237. This building is about a mile and
a half east of Chad's Ford.
[[[Skirmishing on the March toward the Brandywine.--Engagement near
Chad's Ford.--Skirmishing on the Brandywine.]]]
{379}ties of militia kept up an annoying fire upon the advancing enemy.
Knyphausen, however, pushed forward toward Chad's Ford. He sent a strong
advance party to dislodge Maxwell. They met at about ten o'clock, and
a severe engagement ensued. Maxwell was driven back to the verge of the
stream at the ford, where he was re-enforced. Turning upon his pursuers,
he made a furious charge. The ranks of the enemy were thrown into
confusion, and fell back upon Knyphausen's main column. Unable to cope
with Maxwell in open battle without bringing a larger force into action,
Knyphausen sent a detachment through the woods to make an attack upon
his flank. Perceiving this movement, Maxwell retreated across the
stream, leaving the whole west bank of the Brandywine in possession of
the enemy.
[Illustration: 0389]
Knyphausen now brought forward his ordnance, and from the brow of the
hill upon the west side of the stream he kept up a strong cannonade upon
the Americans, without attempting to cross. The fire was returned with
spirit by Proctor's artillery. Knyphausen did not cross the Brandywine,
because he was instructed by Howe to amuse the Americans with feigned
efforts to make the passage of the ford, until Cornwallis should cross
above, and gain the right and rear of the patriots. This accomplished,
Knyphausen was directed to push across Chad's Ford, when the two
divisions of the royal army would make a simultaneous attack. During
these maneuvers of Knyphausen, several detachments of the Americans
crossed the river, and boldly attacked his flanking parties and those
who were laboring to throw up intrenchments. Captains Porterfield and
Waggoner having secured a footing on the western side, General Maxwell
recrossed the stream with a considerable force, drove the enemy from the
ground, killed about thirty men, and seized a quantity of intrenching
tools, with which they were constructing a battery. Knyphausen sent an
overwhelming force against them, which soon drove the Americans back to
their lines on the east side of the river.
General Sullivan, who commanded the right wing of the Americans, was
ordered to guard the fords as high up as Buffington's, just above the
forks of the Brandywine. He sent
* The loss of the enemy in this engagement was estimated at about three
hundred; that of the Americans was trifling.
** This view is from the east bank of the Brandywine, looking southwest.
The ford was about ten rods above the present bridge. Its place is
indicated in the picture by the hollow in front of the tree on the
extreme left. The wooded height seen on the opposite side of the river
is the place where Knyphausen's artillery was planted.
[[[Sullivan deceived by conflicting Intelligence.--Washington's
Suspense.--Passage of the Brandywine by the British Army.]]]
{380}scouting parties in various directions to observe the movements of
the enemy. Colonel Moses Hazen * was stationed with a considerable force
at Jones's Ford.
[Illustration: 9390]
Between nine and ten in the morning, Colonel Theodoric Bland, ** with
some light horse, crossed the [[September 11.]] Brandywine at Jones's
Ford, and discovered a portion of Cornwallis's division marching toward
the west branch, at Trimble's Ford. Bland dispatched a messenger to
Sullivan with the information, which was confirmed by another dispatch
from Colonel Ross (dated at "Great Valley road at eleven o'clock"), who
was in the rear of Cornwallis's division, informing Sullivan that "five
thousand men, with sixteen or eighteen field-pieces, were on the march
for Taylor's and Jefferis's Fords."
[Illustration: 8390]
Similar intelligence was sent by Colonel Hazen. These accounts reached
Washington, from Sullivan, between eleven and twelve o'clock. The
commander-in-chief immediately ordered Sullivan to pass the Brandywine
and attack Cornwallis, while he, with the main division, crossed, and
engaged Knyphausen at Chad's Ford. General Greene, of Washington's
division, was ordered to cross the river above the ford and gain
Knyphausen's rear. Before these several movements could be executed,
counter intelligence was received by Sullivan from Major Spear of the
militia, posted upon the forks of the Brandywine, who informed him that
there was no appearance of an enemy in that quarter. Spear's information
was confirmed by Sergeant Tucker, who had been sent out in that
direction expressly to gain information. Relying upon this intelligence,
Sullivan halted. He dispatched a messenger to Washington with the
information, and the meditated attack upon the enemy at Chad's Ford
was abandoned. Greene, who had crossed with his advanced guard, was
recalled.
While Washington was thus kept in suspense by conflicting intelligence,
Cornwallis gained his coveted advantage. He made a circuitous march of
seventeen miles, keeping beyond the American patrols, crossed the west
branch of the Brandywine at Trimble's Ford, and the east branch at
Jefferis's, and gained the heights near the Birmingham meeting-house,
within two miles of Sullivan's right flank, before that general was
certain that Howe and Cornwallis had left Kennet Square! This apparent
want of vigilance on the part of his patrols drew upon Sullivan the
severest censure of the public. Already the failure of an expedition
against British posts on Staten Island, *** under his general command,
had biased public opinion against him; and Congress, wherein Sullivan
had several active enemies, had directed General Washington to appoint a
court to investigate the matter. The dis-
* Moses Hazen was appointed colonel of a second Canadian regiment
in 1775. He commanded at Montreal for a short time. Afterward he was
appointed colonel of a regiment called Congess's Own. He was in the
battles of Germantown and Brandywine. Having charge of prisoners in
Pennsylvania, he was ordered to designate, by lot, a British officer
for retaliation in the ease of Huddy, mentioned on page 366. He died at
Troy, New York, January 30, 1802, aged 69 years.
** Theodoric Bland was a native of Virginia. He was prepared by study
for the medical profession, but abandoned it for the field when the
Revolution commenced. He was among the earliest active opposers of
Dunmore in Virginia. After distinguishing himself as a leader among the
volunteers, he joined the regular army, and soon rose to the rank of
colonel of dragoons. He was a vigilant and energetic officer. In 1779,
he was appointed to the command of the "convention troops" (as those of
Burgoyne's captured army were called), at Charlottesville, in Virginia,
where he continued till the autumn of 1780, when he was elected a
delegate in Congress. He held a seat in that body until the close of the
war. He was then chosen a member of the Legislature of Virginia, and
in that body he opposed the ratification of the Federal Constitution
and was chosen to represent his district in the first Congress
under that instrument. While attending the session in New York, he was
seized with illness, and expired on the 1st of June, 1790, at the age
of forty-eight. Colonel Bland was a soldier, legislator, and poet.
His papers were collected and published a few years since, and are
interesting mementoes of the war.
*** This expedition will be noticed in detail hereafter. I have briefly
referred to it on page 262, in connection with a notice of the political
influence of the Quakers during "the war.
[[[Forming of the Lines for Battle.--Conduct of Deborre.--Commencement
of the Battle.--Skill and Courage of the Belligerents.]]]
{381}asters which occurred on the Brandywine were charged to Sullivan's
want of vigilance, energy, and skill, and he was held responsible for
the defeat of our troops. * Even his honorable acquittal, by a court
martial, subsequently, did not altogether remove from the public mind a
distrust of his ability as a general officer.
When Sullivan was assured, by a note from Colonel Bland, dated at
"quarter past one o'clock," that the enemy were in great force on
Osborne's Hill, a little to the right of the Birmingham meeting-house,
he dispatched a messenger to Washington with the intelligence, ** and
marched immediately to oppose the enemy. His division consisted of his
own, Stirling's, and Stephen's brigades. Upon the gentle slopes near the
Birmingham meeting-house he began to form his line for battle, his left
extending toward the Brandywine. It was an advantageous position, for
both flanks were covered by thick woods; but, in consequence of the
delay in waiting the return of the messenger with orders from the
commander-in-chief, the rough and broken character of the ground, and
the time occupied by Sullivan in making a wide circuit in bringing his
brigade to its assigned place in the line, *** he was not fully prepared
for action when the refreshed and well-formed battalions of the enemy,
under Cornwallis, came sweeping on from Osborne's Hill, **** and
commenced a furious attack. The advanced guard were German troops.
On arriving at the Street road, they were fired upon by a company
of Americans stationed in an orchard north of Samuel Jones's brick
dwelling-house. The Hessians returned the fire, and the action soon
became general. The artillery of both armies opened with terrible
effect; and while the Americans maintained their position, the carnage
was great. The most indomitable courage was displayed, and, for a while,
the result was doubtful. The Americans, many of them unskillful
militia, repelled charge after charge of the well-disciplined infantry,
chasseurs, grenadiers, and guards of the enemy, until overwhelming
numbers obliged them to yield. The right wing of the Americans, under
General Deborre, first gave way, and the left, under Sullivan, soon
followed. The latter officer used every exertion to rally the flying
troops, but in vain. In broken fragments they fled over the fields
toward the main division of the army at Chad's Ford. The center division
(Stirling's brigade), in which was General Conway, with eight hundred
men, yet remained firm as a rock in the midst of the wild ocean of
carnage. To this divi-
* Three days after the battle on the Brandywine (September 14th), Mr.
Burke, a delegate in Congress, made specific charges against Sullivan.
On the strength of these charges, Congress voted that Sullivan should be
recalled from the army till an inquiry should be made into his conduct.
The recall was suspended at the earnest solicitation of Washington,
who knew the falsity of the charges, the worth of Sullivan, and the
immediate wants of the army; there being a lack of general officers,
in consequence of Lincoln, Arnold, and others, having been sent to the
northern army.
** Tradition says that Thomas Cheyney, a resident Whig, gave Washington
the first intelligence of the approach of the enemy. He was alone, on a
spirited mare, reconnoitering, and came suddenly upon the British. They
fired upon him, but he escaped to the quarters of Washington. The
chief doubted the truth of his intelligence at first; but the solemn
assurances of Cheyney that it was correct--an assurance backed by an
oath--made Washington believe him. Sullivan's note soon removed all
doubt. Cheyney was an active spy while the American army was in the
vicinity of the Delaware, and often suffered much from the Tories.
*** A dissension at this time existed respecting the post of honor, on
the extreme right of the line. General Deborre, a French officer who had
lately joined the army, claimed this post, an honor which Sullivan would
not yield. Perceiving his orders disobeyed, and Deborre pertinaciously
insisting upon taking the right, Sullivan made a circuitous march for
the purpose of outreaching him, and was, consequently, late upon
the field. His brigade was not formed for action when the conflict
commenced. Sullivan did not accomplish his purpose, and Deborre obtained
his coveted position on the right. His brigade was the first to give
way in the action. For his conduct on this occasion, and also in the
expedition against Staten Island, Congress voted an inquiry. Deborre
was offended, and resigned his commission. Having made himself very
unpopular in the army, Congress readily accepted his resignation. He
was an officer of thirty-five years' service in Europe, but was totally
unfit to command American troops.
**** Osborne's Hill is an eminence extending eastward from the
Brandywine, and crossing the road from Jefferis's Ford, about a mile
and a quarter above the Birmingham meeting-house. The British, under
Cornwallis, halted and divided on the north side of Osborne's Hill,
between two and three o'clock in the afternoon. It was at this time that
the two armies first discovered each other, and prepared for action.
The British army advanced over and down the south side of the hill
(according to the narrative of Joseph Townsend, an eye-witness), across
the lands of James Carver, now (1848) occupied by his nephew, James
Forsyth.
[[[Effects of the British Artillery.---Retreat of the Americans.--March
of Greene to their Support.--La Fayette wounded.]]]
{382}sion Sullivan now attached himself, and, with Stirling and La
Fayette, engaged personally in the hottest of the battle. To this point
Cornwallis directed his energies. His artillery made dreadful breaches
in their ranks, and strewed the earth with the slain. * Resistance was
vain, and, when hope no longer encouraged the contending patriots of the
center, they, too, wheeled, and joined their comrades in their flight.
Two of Sullivan s aids were killed; and La Fayette, who had leaped from
his horse, and, sword in hand, was endeavoring to rally the yielding
patriots, was wounded in the leg by a musket-ball, and fell. Gimat,
his aid, helped him on a horse, and he escaped. ** Despair seized the
troops, and every effort to rally them was, for a time, vain. They fled
to the woods in the rear, pursued by the victorious enemy. Some of them
were rallied half a mile northward of Dilworth, and a brief encounter
ensued between the fugitives and the pursuing party of the left wing
of the enemy. The conflict was short, and the Americans again fled. The
British right wing got entangled in the woods, and did not participate
in the subsequent engagement, when Greene checked the pursuers.
On receiving intelligence of the approach of the British, Washington,
with Greenes division of Virginians and Pennsylvanians, pushed forward
to the support of Sullivan, leaving General Wayne at Chad's Ford to
oppose the passage of Knyphausen. When the first cannon-peals from the
Birmingham meeting-house broke over the country, Greene pressed forward
to the support of the right wing. His first brigade, under General
Weedon, *** took the lead, and so rapid was their march that they
traveled four miles in forty minutes. *** Between Dilworth and the
meeting-house they met the flying Americans, closely pursued by the
British. Greene, by a skillful movement, opened his ranks and received
the fugitives, then, closing them again, he covered their retreat and
checked the pursuers by a continual
* The place where the hottest of the conflict occurred was between the
Birmingham meeting-house and the present dwellings of Messrs. Hibbert
Davis and Brinton Jones. Many were killed near the meetinghouse; and,
on the^day after the battle, several bodies were found south of the
meeting-house, doubtless slain in the retreat. The meeting-house was
taken possession of by General Howe, and used as an hospital. Several
officers who died there were buried in the grave-yard, on the north
side of the building. A popular tradition asserts that Earl Percy, the
officer who commanded the retreat from Lexington, was killed in
this engagement, and that he had a presentiment of his death on this
occasion. Even the place where he was said to be buried, near the
entrance gate to the grave-yard of the Birmingham meetinghouse, was
pointed out to me. This is not correct. The earl (who was afterward
Duke of Northumberland) left America previous to this battle. He died in
England at the age of ninety-four, on the 10th of July, 1817.
** The bullet passed quite through his leg. He met a surgeon in the
rear, who put a slight bandage around his leg, and he rode to Chester.
The soldiers were retreating, in a straggling manner, in that direction;
and La Fayette placed a guard near the bridge, at the entrance of the
village, with orders to stop all the retreating soldiers at that place.
His wound was then dressed, and the next morning he was conveyed to
Philadelphia, from whence, after a few days, he proceeded to Bristol.
When Henry Laurens was on his way to York, he took the route through
Bristol, and conveyed La Fayette in his carriage to Bethlehem, where he
received the kind attentions of the Moravians. There he remained about
two months, till his wound was sufficiently healed to enable him to join
the army. Laurens's kindness was long remembered. When, subsequently, he
became a prisoner in the Tower of London, the Marchioness De La Fayette
wrote a touching letter in his behalf to the Count De Vergennes,
soliciting the aid of the French court in procuring the release of
Laurens.--Sparks's Washington, v., 456.
*** George Weedon was a native of Virginia, and was an inn-keeper at
Fredericksburg before the war. * We find his name first connected with
military affairs, in a letter to Colonel Washington, in April, 1775,
informing him that the Independent Company of Fredericksburg were
determined, with his approbation, to march to Williamsburg, on account
of the removal of powder from the magazine by order of Governor
Dunmore. This letter was signed by himself, Hugh Mercer, Alexander
Spottswood, and John Willis. He joined the Continental army in the
course of the "summer, and in February, 1777, he received from Congress
a commission as brigadier. He was in the battles at Brandywine and
Germantown. In consequence of some dissatisfaction about rank, he left
the service while the army was at Valley Forge. He resumed the command
of a brigade in 1780, and commanded the Virginia militia at Gloucester,
during the siege of Yorktown, in October, 1781. From that time he was
not engaged in active service in the field. I have met with no account
of his subsequent career and death.
**** Gordon, ii, 225.
*Dr. J. F. D. Smyth, an English traveler in America, in giving an
account of Fredericksburg, says, "I put up at the inn kept by one
Weedon, who was afterward a general officer in the American army, and
was then very active and zealous in blowing the flames of sedition."
[[[The British checked by Greene.--Knyphausen preparing to cross the
Brandywine.--General Muhlenberg.]]]
{383}fire of artillery. At a narrow defile about a mile from the
meeting-house, in the direction of Chester, flanked on each side by
woods, he changed his front, faced the enemy, and kept them at bay while
the retreating party rested and formed in his rear.
[Illustration: 9393]
Greene defended this pass with great skill and bravery until twilight,
when the pursuers encamped for the night. In this defense the brigades
of Weed-on and Muhlenberg were greatly distinguished, particularly
the tenth Virginia regiment, under Colonel Stevens, and a Pennsylvania
regiment, under Colonel Stewart.
We have observed that the plan of the enemy was to attack the Americans
front and rear at the same time, by Cornwallis gaining the right flank
of the patriots, and Knyphausen crossing the Brandywine at Chad's Ford.
The firing of heavy guns on the American right was to be the signal for
the German general to ford the stream. When the firing commenced at the
Birmingham meeting-house, Knyphausen observed the departure of Greene's
division, and the consequent weakening of the defense of the passage of
the river. He immediately made a proper disposition of his troops for
crossing. Wayne was on the alert, and, the moment Knyphausen's forces
moved forward, he
* John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg was born in the village of Trappe,
Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, on the 1st of October, 1746. He was
the son of Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg, D.D., the founder of the Lutheran
Church in America; and his mother was the daughter of Conrad Weiser, a
celebrated officer and Indian agent in Pennsylvania. Peter, his eldest
born, was dedicated in infancy to the Church, and he was educated
for the ministry, partly in this country and partly in Europe. He was
ordained a minister in 1768, and commenced his labors in Western New
Jersey the following year. He was married to Anna Barbara Meyer in 1770.
In order to take charge of a congregation in Virginia, to which he had
been called, he went to London in 1772, to receive ordination from an
English bishop. Mr. White (afterward Bishop White, of Pennsylvania)
was ordained at the same time (the 23d of April, 1772) by the Bishop of
London. In his journal Mr. Muhlenberg states that, before their return
to America, he and Mr. White attended the theater to see the performance
of Garrick, then in the height of his career as an actor. Returning to
America, he assumed ministerial duties at Woodstock, in Virginia,
where he soon became a leading spirit among those who opposed British
oppression. In 1774, he was chairman of the committee of safety in his
county, and was also elected a member of the House of Burgesses. At the
close of 1775, he was elected colonel of a Virginia regiment, and laid
aside his pastoral character. In concluding his farewell sermon, he
said, that, in the language of Holy Writ, "there was a time for all
things; a time to preach, and a time to pray, but those times had passed
away;" and then, in a voice that echoed like a trumpet-blast through the
church, he said, "that there was a time to fight, and that time had now
come!" Then, laying aside his sacerdotal gown, he stood before his flock
in the full regimental dress of a Virginia colonel. He ordered the drums
to be beaten at the church door for recruits; and almost his entire
male audience capable of bearing arms joined his standard. Nearly three
hundred men enlisted under his banner on that day. He was in the battle
at Charleston in 1776, and served with fidelity in the Southern campaign
that year. Congress promoted him to the rank of brigadier general in
February, 1777, and he was ordered to take charge of all the Continental
troops of the Virginia line in that state. He joined the army under
Washington, at Middlebrook, in May following, and was with the chief in
all his movements until 1779, including the battles of Brandywine and
Germantown, the sufferings at Whitemarsh and Valley Forge, the conflict
on the plains of Monmouth, and the capture of Stony Point. At the close
of that year he was directed to take command of the troops in Virginia,
where he was very active until the attack of Cornwallis at Yorktown. In
that battle and victory General Muhlenberg participated. At the close
of the war, he was elevated to the rank of major general. He removed to
Pennsylvania, and in various civil capacities served that state. He was
a member of the third Federal Congress, and in 1801 was elected a
United States senator. The same year he was appointed supervisor of the
internal revenue of Pennsylvania, and in 1802 was made collector of the
port of Philadelphia. He remained in that office until his death, which
occurred at his country seat, near Philadelphia, on the 1st of October
(his birth-day), 1807, at the age of sixty-one years. His grave is near
the village church where he was baptized, and a simple monument bears
this inscription: "Sacred to the memory of General Peter Muhlenberg,
born October 1st, 1746; died October 1st, 1807. He was brave in the
field, faithful in the cabinet, honorable in all his transactions, a
sincere friend, and an honest man." The portrait here given is copied,
by permission of the author, from an engraving in the Life of Peter
Muhlenberg, by his grandson, Henry A. Muhlenberg, Esq., from which I
compiled this brief memoir.
[[[Passage of the Brandywine by Knyphausen.--Bravery of Wayne.--General
Retreat of the Americans.--Result of the Battle.]]]
{384}opened upon him a heavy fire of artillery from his intrenchments
and the battery near Chad's house. Although in no condition to oppose
nearly one half of the British army, he stood firm at first, and
gallantly confronted the heavy and steadily progressing columns. But,
on receiving intelligence of the defeat of Sullivan at Birmingham
meeting-house, and discovering that a considerable force of the enemy,
who had penetrated the woods, were coming out upon his flank, Wayne
ordered a retreat. This was accomplished in great disorder, leaving
his artillery and munitions of war in the hands of Knyphausen. They
retreated, in broken columns and confused fragments, behind the division
of General Greene, then gallantly defending the pass near Dilworth, and
joined the other defeated troops. The approach of night ended the whole
conflict. The Americans retreated to Chester that night, where they
rendezvoused, and the next day marched toward Philadelphia, and encamped
near Germantown. General Armstrong, who was stationed at Pyles's Ford,
had no opportunity to engage in the action. The British remained upon
the field, near Dilworth, Howe taking up his quarters at Gilpin's, a few
miles from Chad's Ford. *
Military men, when considering the battle of Brandywine, have questioned
the judgment of Washington in incurring the great risk incident to a
disparity in numbers and discipline. The numbers engaged in the action
have never been accurately ascertained. The British effective force,
on the day of the battle, was probably not less than seventeen thousand
men, while that of the Americans did not exceed eleven thousand, and
many of these were raw militia. Washington was aware of the expectations
of Congress and the whole country, and wisely considered that a defeat
in battle would be less depressing upon the minds of the soldiers and
the people, than permitting the enemy to march, without opposition, to
the capture of Philadelphia, then the political metropolis of America.
Influenced by these considerations, he resolved to fight the enemy;
and had not conflicting intelligence perplexed and thwarted him in his
plans, it is probable that victory would have crowned the American army.
The result was disastrous, and many noble patriots slept their last
sleep upon the battle-field that night. **
* In M. Hilliard d'Auberteuil's work, in French, published in 1782,
entitled "Essais Historiques et Politique sur la Revolution de
l'Amérique Septentrionale," there is a touching story of a seene which
occurred near the Brandywine, after the battle. It is in substance as
follows: A beautiful girl, named Molly Harvey, loved a young patriot
soldier by the name of Seymour. Her father was wealthy; the young man
was poor. They were not allowed to marry; and young Seymour, determined
to distinguish himself, went to South Carolina, and was in the severe
battle at Sullivan's Island. He afterward joined the army under
Washington, and commanded a company in the battle on the Brandywine.
After the battle he obtained leave of absence for three days, and
repaired to the house of Harvey, near by. The parents consented to the
marriage, and the nuptials were celebrated. The friends of the parties
were assembled under the trees, enjoying the festivity, when two
soldiers from the British army approached, and attempted to make Seymour
their prisoner. A contest ensued, in which the bride was killed by
a bayonet-thrust. The day of her marriage was the day of her death.
Accompanying the story is a beautiful engraving, representing the
sad spectacle. The number of the killed and wounded in the several
engagements on the 11th is not known. Washington was unable to make a
return of the American loss on account of the confusion which followed
the defeat, many of the militia companies being thinned by desertion;
and Howe's estimates were only conjectural. General Greene estimated the
loss of the Americans in killed, wounded, and prisoners, at about 1200;
that of the royal army nearly 800. Howe reported his loss at 90 killed,
488 wounded, and six missing. He also stated the loss of the Americans
at 300 killed, 600 wounded, and 400 taken prisoners; about the number
estimated by Greene. The Americans also lost ten small field-pieces, and
a howitzer. Many French officers were engaged in the action. The Baron
De St. Quary, serving as a volunteer, was taken prisoner. Captain Louis
de Fleury, the hero of Stony Point, had a horse killed under him. His
bravery commanded the admiration of Washington. Two days after the
battle, Congress ordered another horse to be presented to De Fleury. The
day after the battle, Howe wrote to Washington, informing him that the
wounded Americans were so numerous that his surgeons could not attend
to them, and offering to receive any surgeons the American chief might
send. Doctors Rush, Leiper, Latimer, and Willet, with their attendants,
were sent back to take care of them.
[[[Washington again made Dictator.--Attempt to attack the British
Army.--Du Coudray.--Patriotism of the Israels.]]]
{385}Congress was not dismayed by the disaster on the Brandywine, but
were nerved to new exertions. They resolved to exert their whole
power in strengthening the army in the vicinity, and for that purpose
Washington was directed to order fifteen hundred troops of Putnam's
division, on the Hudson, to march immediately to the Delaware, while the
militia of Pennsylvania and the adjoining states were summoned to join
the army. Anticipating the necessity of leaving Philadelphia, and,
perhaps, of a temporary speedy dissolution, Congress voted to enlarge
the powers of Washington, and he was partially reinvested with the
dictatorial character, first conferred upon him before the attack on
the enemy at Trenton in 1776. * Nor was Washington himself dispirited.
Allowing his troops one day for rest and refreshments at Germantown, he
recrossed the Schuylkill, ** for the purpose of [[September 15, 1777]]
giving the enemy battle even upon the field of his late defeat, if his
camp yet remained there. He took the Lancaster road, and the next day
met the enemy not far from the Warren tavern, about twenty miles from
Philadelphia. Howe had left his encampment near the Brandywine, and was
on his way to Goshen (West Chester)[[September 16]] when he heard of the
approach of the Americans. *** By a quick maneuver, he gained
* The following is a copy of the resolution: "Resolved, That General
Washington be authorized and directed to suspend all officers who
misbehave, and to fill up all vacancies in the American army under
the rank of brigadiers, until the pleasure of Congress shall be
communicated; to take, wherever he may be, all such provisions and other
articles as may be necessary for the comfortable subsistence of the army
under his command, paying or giving certificates for the same; to remove
and secure, for the benefit of the owners, all goods and effects which
may be serviceable to the enemy; provided that the powers hereby vested
shall be exercised only in such parts of these States as may be within
the circumference of seventy miles of the head-quarters of the American
army, and shall continue in force for the space of sixty days, unless
sooner revoked by Congress."--Journals, iii., 318. The last clause was
important, for there were a great number of disaffected persons who
preferred to have their property fall into the hands ot the enemy, to
contribute to their support.
[Illustration: 9395]
** Monsieur Du Coudray, a French officer, who had just obtained
permission to join the army as a volunteer, set off with a party of
French gentlemen to overtake Washington. Du Coudray rode a young and
spirited mare. As he entered upon a flat-bottomed boat to cross the
Schuylkill, she went out to the extreme end, and into the river,
with her rider on her back. Du Coudray was drowned. Congress ordered
(September 17) his corpse to be interred at the expense of the United
States, and with the honors of war.
*** The evening after the battle, a party of British were sent to
Wilmington to seize Governor M'Kinley, and secure such plunder as might
fall in their way. They took the governor from his bed, and, seizing a
shallop, which was lying in the stream, laden with the valuable effects
of the people, together with the public records of the county, a large
quantity of public and private money, all the papers and certificates
belonging to the loan and treasury offices there, with plate and jewels,
returned to the camp. The whole country was in a state of terror; and
while the victorious Britons were on their march toward Philadelphia,
all lower Pennsylvania and Delaware were eminent for the loyalty of
their inhabitants. There were, however, noble exceptions. The patriotism
of the Israels, and the bold heroism of Hannah Irwin Israel, will never
be forgotten. Israil Israel, her husband, was a member of the committee
of safety, and of course a marked man. Betrayed by his Tory neighbors,
he and his wife's brother were made prisoners, and taken on board the
Roebuck frigate, lying in the Delaware, in sight of his house, for
trial. He was treated harshly; his bed was a coil of ropes on deck; his
food of the meanest kind. It was reported that he had declared that he
would sooner drive his cattle as a present to General Washington, than
to receive thousands of dollars in British gold for them. On being
informed of this, the British commander ordered a detachment of soldiers
to go to his meadows, in full view, and seize and slaughter his cattle
then feeding there. His young wife (only nineteen years of age) saw her
husband and brother taken to the frigate, and she also saw the movement
of the plunderers. She guessed their purpose when she saw the soldiers
land. With a boy eight years old, she hastened to the meadow, cast down
the bars, and began driving out the cattle. The soldiers told her to
desist, and threatened to shoot her. "Fire away!" cried the heroic
woman. They fired, and the balls flew thickly but harmlessly around her.
The shield of God's providence was over her, and, though the cowardly
soldiers fired several shots, not one grazed her. The cattle were all
saved, and the discomfited marauders returned to the frigate. The
trial of Israel took place. A kind-hearted sailor asked him if he was
a Free-mason. He answered in the affirmative, and was informed that a
Lodge was to be held on board the vessel that night, the officers being
Masons. The trial ended, and the life of Israel was in jeopardy. He made
a manly defense before the court, and, when opportunity offered, he gave
a sign of the brotherhood. It was recognized; the haughty bearing of the
officers was changed to kindness; the Tory witnesses were reprimanded
for seeking the harm of an honorable man; presents were prepared for his
heroic wife; and himself and brother were sent on shore In a
splendid barge, and set at liberty. The records of the Grand Lodge of
Pennsylvania bear testimony that Mr. Israel (who was many years Grand
Master) was saved from an ignominious death by the use of masonic
signs.--See Mrs. Ellett's Women of the Revolution, i., 155.
[[[Battle prevented.--March of the Americans toward
Germantown.--Localities near the Brandywine.]]]
{386}the high ground near the White Horse tavern with a part of his
army, and turned the right flank of the Americans, while the main body
advanced toward the left. Skirmishing commenced between the advanced
guards of the two armies, and a general battle appeared about to ensue,
when a terrible storm of rain (already noticed on page 315), accompanied
by heavy thunder, broke upon the belligerents, and so injured their
ammunition that they were obliged to defer the battle. Washington found
his loss of ammunition to be so great, that prudence forbade a present
engagement with the enemy. He accordingly withdrew his army, and filed
off toward Reading. Wayne, in the mean while, was hanging upon the rear
of the enemy, and suffered the defeat at Paoli. Washington retired to
Yellow Springs and Warwick, among the range of mountains which extend to
Valley Forge, and passed the Schuylkill at Parker's Ford. The subsequent
movements of the two armies--the battles of Germantown, Red Bank,
and Fort Mifflin; the encampment at Whitemarsh and Valley Forge; the
evacuation of Philadelphia by the enemy the following spring, and the
battle of Monmouth which ensued, have been noticed in the preceding
chapter.
We will now close the chronicle, finish the sketch of the Birmingham
meeting-house, printed on page 375, and, leaving the venerated fane with
its interesting associations, ride to Dilworth to dine.
About half-way between the meeting-house and Dilworth, and one hundred
rods westward of the road, in a field belonging to Mr. Bennet, is the
place where La Fayette was wounded.
[Illustration: 9396]
The ground is very undulating; in fact, the whole scene of the battle of
Brandywine is a broken but very fertile country, highly cultivated, and
remarkable for the good character of its inhabitants. They were chiefly
Quakers during the Revolution; and their descendants, professing the same
faith and discipline, own a large portion of the land at present.
From Dilworth we proceeded toward Chad's Ford, by the way of Brinton's
Mills. Upon the brow of an eminence near the mills, and overlooking the
Brandywine, the old Brinton mansion (16 on the map) was yet standing, a
gray and moss-grown relic of the war. In the gable toward the river is
a hole made by the passage of a cannon-ball, fired from Knyphausen's
batteries on the west side of the Brandywine. About a mile below it,
upon a road running parallel with the river, is Chad's house, a small
stone building, and another relic of the Revolution. It is upon a slope
on the east side of the road. The sketch here given was made from the
highway, looking northeast. Upon a loftier knoll, a few rods south of
Chad's, is the place where Wayne stationed Proctor with his artillery.
It was an eligible point for commanding the passage of the ford.
Turning eastward from the road leading to the bridge over the Brandywine
at the ford, I visited the head-quarters of Washington (22 on the map),
delineated on the opposite page, then the residence of Benjamin Ring,
now the dwelling of Joseph P. Harvey. It is somewhat modernized, but its
general aspect is the same as when the patriot chief occupied it. Mr.
Harvey gave me a grape-shot which was plowed up on his farm a few weeks
before. Hundreds of pounds of cannon-balls have been
[[[The Quarters of Washington and Howe.--Kennet Square.--A Storm.--New
London and Elkton.]]]
{387}found in the vicinity of Chad's Ford, and are now preserved by
relie-seekers. From Washington's temporary residence I rode to the
reputed quarters of La Fayette (21), situated a little more than a mile
east of Chad's Ford; and thence, up the New Road, to George Gilpin's,
the quarters of Howe after the battle.
[Illustration: 9397]
From the field where Mr. Gilpin and his sons were at work, I made the
sketch printed on page 378, and there parting company with Mr. Townsend,
my cicerone over the battleground of the Brandywine, I turned my face
toward Kennet Square, with my back to the keen northeast wind. It
was nearly four o'clock when I reached Chad's Ford. The clouds were
deepening, and every aspect of nature was dreary. I alighted, tied my
horse to a bar-post, and, shivering with cold, stood upon the bank of
the congealing stream, and sketched the picture on page 379--giving it
the effects of sunlight and foliage as in pleasant summer time, after a
warm supper at Kennet Square. The shadows of evening were coming on when
I crossed the Brandywine, and it was too dark to see objects clearly
when I passed the old Kennet meeting-house and Welsh's tavern, places
of historic interest upon the highway. I arrived at Kennet Square,
seven miles west of the Brandywine, at about half-past five o'clock, and
passed the night at Wiley's tavern, a venerable edifice, in which Howe
had his quarters while his army was encamped in the vicinity.
I arose at daybreak, in anticipation of beholding a furious snow-storm,
for the wind roared in the spacious chimneys, and the neighboring
shutters and sign-boards were beating a tattoo. But the wind had changed
to the southeast, and, though blowing with the fury of a December
tempest, it was as warm as the breath of early spring. I breakfasted
early, and departed for Elkton, twenty-four miles distant, with a
prospect of receiving a drenching, for scuds, dark and billowy, came up
from the ocean upon the wings of the gale like a flock of monster birds.
I had just passed the "Hammer and Trowel" inn, a few miles from Kennet,
when a thick mist came sweeping over the hills in the van of a tempest
of wind and rain. For more than an hour, it seemed as if the "windows of
heaven were opened," and that Æolus and Jupiter Pluvius were joined
in merry-making upon the earth. The huge leafless oaks in the forests
swayed to and fro like the masts and spars of tempest-tossed navies; and
a thousand turbid streamlets poured from the hill-sides, and made rivers
of the gentle water-courses in the vales. Twice, while passing over
a lofty hill, I felt my wagon lifted from the ground by the wind, its
spacious cover acting like a parachute. The storm ceased as suddenly
as it arose, and, when I reached New London (a village of some twenty
houses), about ten miles from Kennet Square, the clouds broke, and the
winds were hushed. A brilliant, mild afternoon made the ride from
New London to Elkton a delightful one, and fully compensated for the
suffering of the morning. The country is hilly, until within a few miles
of the head of the Elk, when it becomes flat, and marshy, and penetrated
by deep estuaries of the bay and river.
Elkton (the "Head of Elk" of the Revolution) is an old town, the capital
of Cecil county, in Maryland. It is situated at the junction of the two
branches of the Elk River, the upper portion of Chesapeake Bay, and
at the head of tide-water. The rail-way from Philadelphia to Baltimore
passes within half a mile of the town. Here the British made their first
halt, after leaving the place of debarkation at Turkey Point, twelve
miles below; and Elkton may be considered the dividing point, in the
military operations of the Revolution, between the North and South. The
accompanying map, divided by the Delaware River, with New
[[[Scene of Military Operations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.--An
Evening on the Chesapeake.--Baltimore.]]]
{388}Jersey on the right and Pennsylvania on the left, is introduced
to exhibit the relative position of the principal places in those two
states, from Amboy to Elkton, mentioned in preceding pages, and made
memorable by military events.
[Illustration: 0398]
My tarry at Elkton was brief. While Charley (my horse) was "taking a
bite" at an inn stable, I made inquiry of the post-master and other
citizens, concerning vestiges of the Revolution, and ascertained that
nothing was visible in the neighborhood of Elkton except the water, and
the fields, and the hills on which Howe encamped, some two miles from
the town. The place of the debarkation of the British was Turkey Point,
a cape formed by the junction of the Elk River and the broad mouth of
the Susquehanna, twelve miles below the village. Informed that the enemy
cast up no intrenchments, and, consequently, left no tangible marks of
their presence there, and assured that a fine view of the Point might be
obtained from the steam-boat, when going down the Chesapeake, I resolved
to be satisfied with a distant observation. I accordingly rode to
Frenchtown, three miles below Elkton, whence the boats connecting with
the Delaware and Chesapeake rail-way depart for Baltimore; "took tea"
with a widow lady, residing in a fine brick dwelling on the bank of
the river, and, just before sunset, embarked. Charley was restive when
walking the plank, but, using all the philosophy he possessed, he soon
decided that the hubbub in the steam-pipe was harmless, and his footing
on deck secure. These problems settled, he seemed to enjoy the evening
voyage quite as much as the bipeds around him. It was, indeed, a
glorious evening. When the _George Washington_ cast off her moorings,
the last gleams of the evening sun gilded the hills of Delaware, and,
while passing Turkey Point, the scene was truly gorgeous. The tall trees
of the cape were sharply penciled upon a back-ground of blended ruby,
orange, gold, purple, and azure, glowing like opal, and spreading over
many degrees of the western horizon; while above, far up in the dark
blue, was the crescent moon, with Jupiter in her lap, beaming so
brightly that he cast a line of silver light upon the calm waters of the
bay. Both had gone down behind the hills when we passed North Point *
light-house, and entered the Patapsco. We arrived
* North Point, at the entrance of the Patapsco, was the scene of a
sanguinary battle between the Americans, under General Striker, and
the British, under General Ross, in September, 1814. The Americans were
defeated, and the British lost their commander-in-chief. In 1815, the
citizens of Baltimore erected a monument on the corner of Calvert
and Fayette Streets, in memory of those Americans who fell in that
engagement, and also during the bombardment of Fort M'Henry, the next
day. This monument was planned by Maximilian Godefroy, and erected under
his supervision. It is entirely of pure white marble, and rests upon a
square plinth, or terrace, of the same material, forty feet square,
and four feet in height. From this platform rises a square Egyptian
basement, entirely rusticated, to indicate strength. It is composed of
eighteen layers of stone, to signify the number of states which formed
the confederacy at the time of the battle thus commemorated. This
basement is surmounted by a cornice, each of the four angles of which
bears an elegantly executed griffin. A winged globe adorns each center
of the Egyptian cornice, symbolical of eternity and the flight of time.
On each of the four fronts of the basement is a false door, like those
of ancient cenotaphs. Three steps ascend to these doors, and indicate
the three years' duration of the war. The shaft represents an enormous
fasces, symbolical of union, the rods of which are bound with fillets.
Upon these fillets, inscribed in letters of bronze, are the names of
those who fell in defense of the city of Baltimore. Around the top
of the fasces are two wreaths; one of laurel, the other of cypress,
indieating glory and grief. Between these wreaths are the names of the
officers who were killed, inscribed in bronze letters. The fasces is
ornamented with two epic sculptures, in low relief; one representing the
battle at North Point, the other a battery of Fort M'Henry. On the east
and west fronts are lachrymal urns, emblematic of regret and sorrow.
Beneath the epic sculptures are inscriptions, as follows: North
side.--"Battle of North Point, 12th September, A.D. 1814; and of
the independence of the United States, the thirty-ninth." South
side.--"Bombardment of Fort M'Henry, 13th September, A.D. 1814; and of
the independence of the United States, the thirty-ninth."
* The basement and fasces form, together, thirty-nine feet. Upon the
top is a beautifully-wrought colossal statue. It is a female figure,
intended to personify the city of Baltimore. Upon her head is a mural
crown, emblematic of cities; in one hand she holds an antique rudder,
symbolic of navigation, and in the other she raises a crown of laurel,
as with a graceful inclination of the head she looks toward the fort and
battle-ground. At her feet, on one side, is the American eagle; on the
other, a bomb-shell. The height of the monument, including the statue,
is fifty-two feet, two inches.
* The following are the names of the slain, inscribed upon the monument:
Officers.--James Lowry Donaldson, adjutant 21th reg.; Gregorius Andree,
lieut. 1st rifle battalion; Levi Claggett, 3d lieut., Nicholson's
artillery. Non-commissioned Officers and Privates.--John Clemm, T. V.
Beaston, S. Haubert, John Jephson, T. Wallace, J. H. Marriot of John, E.
Marriot, Wm. Ways, J. Armstrong, J. Richardson, Benjamin Pond, Clement
Cox, Cecelius Belt, John Garrett, H. G. M'Comes, Wm. M'Clellan, John C.
Bird, M. Desk, Danl. Wells, Jr., John R. Cop, Benjn. Neal, C. Reynolds,
D. Howard, Uriah 'Prosser, A. Randall, R. R. Cooksey, J. Gregg, J.
Evans, A. Maas, G. Jenkins, W. Alexander, C. Fallier, T. Burniston, J.
Dunn, P. Byard, J. Craig
[[[Battle Monument at Baltimore.]]]
{389}at Baltimore, sixty-eight miles from Elkton, at ten o'clock. The
city was in a tumult. A destructive fire was raging; and the grand
diapason of the trumpet shouts of the firemen and the clangor of bells
met us upon the waters, almost as far distant as the lurid glare of the
flames.
````"Oh the bells, bells, bells,
````What a tale their terror tells
`````Of despair!
````How they clang, and clash, and roar!
````What a horror they outpour
`````On the bosom of the palpitating air!
````In the startled ear of night
````How they scream out their affright!
````Too much horrified to speak,
````They can only shriek, shriek,
`````Out of tune,
````In a clamorous appeal to the mercy of the fire."
`````Edgar A. Poe.=
I had traveled since dawn, by land and water, in rain and sunshine, full
ninety miles; and it was a pleasant thought that to-morrow would be the
Sabbath--a day of rest.
[[[Baltimore and its Associations.--Washington's Monument.]]]
{390}