Revolution. It was a contest for the possession of a widely extended and
strongly posted line, between the two armies, and at a time when the
British had but a week earlier invested Philadelphia, driving the
Continental Congress to Lancaster.
Howe’s army had crossed the Schuylkill, and was encamped near
Germantown.
Washington was at Pennypacker’s Mill, between the Perkiomen and the
Skippack Creeks, thirty miles from the city, where he awaited
re-enforcements from the Northern Department. His army, which was mainly
composed of Continental troops from Pennsylvania, Maryland and New
Jersey, had suffered severe punishment at Brandywine and Paoli. It was
poorly equipped and poorly fed.
Washington learned, through two intercepted letters, that General Howe
had detached a part of his force to reduce Billingsport and the forts on
the Delaware.
He believed that a favorable opportunity was offered to make an attack
upon the troops which were encamped at Germantown, and fixed the attack
for the morning of October 4, 1777.
General Howe’s army was encamped upon the general line of School and
Church lanes.
On the 2d General Washington advanced his army to Worcester Township.
The British did not expect an attack as General Howe fully understood
the drubbing the Americans had recently received, but he did not know
the fighting temper of the Colonists.
Washington was well informed of the enemy’s position and prepared his
order of battle with great care. The divisions of Sullivan and Wayne,
flanked by Conway’s Brigade, were to enter the town by way of Chestnut
Hill.
General Armstrong, with the Pennsylvania Militia, was to go down
Manatawny road and get in the enemy’s left and rear. The divisions of
Greene and Stephen, flanked by McDougall’s Brigade, were to enter by a
circuitous route at the Market House, and attack the right wing, and the
militia of Maryland and New Jersey, under Generals Smallwood and Forman,
were to march by the Old York road and fall upon the rear of their
right. Lord Stirling, and Nash’s and Maxwell’s brigades were to form the
reserve.
General McDougall was to attack the right wing of the enemy in front and
rear; General Conway to attack the enemy’s left flank, and General
Armstrong to attack their left wing in flank and rear.
Each column was to move into position, two miles from the enemy’s
pickets by 2 o’clock, then halt until 4, and advance and attack the
pickets precisely at 5 o’clock, “with charge bayonets and without
firing, and the column to move to the attack as soon as possible.”
On the evening of October 3 the army left its encampment on Metuchen
Hills. It was a hard march through the darkness, over rough roads and in
a dense fog.
When the action opened the Americans soon gained much ground and General
Howe, who had hurried to the front, met his troop retreating. He quickly
galloped back to camp and prepared for the attack. Sullivan and Wayne
pressed forward, and Washington followed with the reserve.
While the advance was in progress, General Greene had made the circuit
of the Limekiln road, and engaged the enemy’s right. The incompetent
General Stephens became entangled with Wayne’s troops, which confusion
ended the efforts of General Sullivan’s columns upon the east side of
the town.
General Greene continued to advance, maintaining a line of battle as
long as practicable. McDougall was marching over ground so nearly
impassable that he was quite out of the action and failed to assist
Greene, leaving his flank exposed.
The morning was well advanced when the two wings of the army had
approached the central objective point, the Market House. But the lines
were broken and disordered, by the innumerable obstacles and by the
impenetrable fog, that the British had opportunity to reform their own
shattered line. Howe sent strong forces to oppose each attack.
When Sullivan’s division had pushed forward nearly to School Lane, while
Greene was entering the town on the east, these generals found
themselves unsupported by other troops, their cartridges expended, the
force of the enemy on the right collecting to oppose them, and seeing
many of the American troops flying in retreat, they retired with all
possible haste.
When General Grey came from his camp at School Lane and advanced to the
attack, the few Americans there could not resist him, and were soon
repulsed. Grey advanced across lots and pushed on toward the Chew house.
General Agnew, following in the rear of Grey, ascended the hill and
received a sudden volley from a party of citizens who were concealed
behind the Mennonite meeting house and he fell mortally wounded.
Wayne’s division on the east of the town had already withdrawn when
General Grant moved up his Forty-ninth British regiment.
General Washington, who had remained at the head of the hill above
Chew’s house, saw the failure of his well-laid plans, and issued orders
for the retreat.
The American army had gone forward to gain full possession of the
enemy’s camp, which was on fire in many places. Dead and wounded were
strewn about everywhere. The troops were in much disorder. Those in
front had been driven back by the enemy and fell upon those in the rear,
which increased the confusion and rendered it impossible to again form
and oppose an advancing foe.
A general retreat was inevitably necessary to save the American army
from a general rout.
Lord Cornwallis, who was in Philadelphia, learned of the attack and put
in motion two battalions of British and one Hessian grenadiers, with a
squadron of dragoons, to Howe’s support.
They arrived at Germantown just as the Americans were being forced from
the village. Cornwallis joined with General Grey, and, placing himself
in command, took up pursuit.
General Greene effected the withdrawal of his forces with considerable
difficulty and no slight loss, as Colonel Matthew’s gallant regiment, or
what remained of it, fell into the enemy’s hands, its heroic commander
and many of his officers being severely wounded by the enemy’s bayonets.
General Greene also had much trouble in saving his cannon, when Count
Pulaski’s cavalry being hard-driven by the pursuing British, rode into
and scattered Greene’s division.
For two hours and forty minutes the battle waged at the very doors of
the inhabitants of Germantown, in their gardens, orchards and fields.
The entire loss sustained by two armies was never accurately determined.
The British did not gain much satisfaction in their victory for they
soon abandoned their well-earned fields, and moved within the
entrenchments directly north of Philadelphia.
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Riotous Mob Attacks “Fort Wilson” in
Philadelphia, October 5, 1779
In the year 1779 the lives of Mr. James Wilson, the signer of the
Declaration of Independence, and one of the foremost practitioners of
that day, and many of his friends, were put in extreme hazard by a band
of frenzied partisans, under the pretext of his holding sentiments
inimical to popular institutions.
At that time party spirit in Pennsylvania had taken definite shape, and
the politicians were divided into Constitutionalists and Republicans.
The former rallied around the Constitution of 1776, recently formed,
which was reprobated by the Republicans, who believed it tended toward
rash, precipitate and oppressive proceedings.
The term Republicans was embraced, as recognizing the principles of the
Revolution.
Mr. Wilson was among the leading men of the Republican Party who had
agreed that they would not accept of any office or appointment under the
Constitution, which, in that case, they would be bound by oath, to
support.
This circumstance offended and inflamed the Constitutional Party, and as
Mr. Wilson had become counsel for the defense of some suspected
traitors, and had succeeded in winning their acquittal, it angered the
militiamen of Philadelphia and led to a most serious outrage.
The consequences of a rapidly depreciating currency were distressing to
many who were incapable of tracing them to their causes. For example,
every tradesman who had engaged in a piece of work felt, when paid for
it, that he did not receive, except in name, the amount he had
contracted to receive.
Artful and designing incendiaries persuaded many of the sufferers that
the evil was owing to the merchants, who monopolized the goods, and to
certain lawyers who rescued the tories from punishment, by pleading for
them in Court.
Mr. Wilson had become particularly obnoxious. He was in fact a most
decided friend of the popular government. He was a native of Scotland,
and a Presbyterian, which should certainly stamp him as a friend of
those opposed to the British authority.
The affair of “Fort Wilson,” as his house was thereafter known, flowed
from this mistaken opinion, of which those who concocted the disgraceful
transaction took advantage for party purposes.
September 13, 1779, a committee appointed at a town meeting, regulated
the prices of rum, salt, sugar, coffee, flour, etc., a measure which was
strongly opposed by the importers.
Robert Morris, Blair McClenochan and John Willcocks and a number of
stanch Whigs had a quantity of these articles in their stores which they
refused to dispose of at the regulated prices.
About the last of the month, a great number of the lower class collected
and marched through the streets, threatening to break open the stores,
distribute the goods and punish those who refused to open their
warehouses.
On the morning of October 4, placards were posted menacing Robert
Morris, Blair McClenochan and many other merchants.
Mr. Wilson was proscribed by the mob for having exercised his
professional duty as a lawyer, and the punishment decreed for his crime
was banishment to the enemy, yet in New York. But this was not the real
cause which produced so lamentable an instance of popular delusion. That
was to be found in the superior talents and respectability of the
Republican Party.
The gentlemen threatened determined to defend themselves, and with a
great number of their friends, to the amount of thirty or forty, took
post at the southwest corner of Walnut and Third streets, in a house
belonging to and occupied by James Wilson. It was a large old-fashioned
brick building, with extensive gardens.
In the house were James Wilson, Robert Morris, Edward Burd, George
Clymer, John T. Mifflin, Allen McLane, Sharp Delaney, George Campbell,
Paul Beck, Thomas Lawrence, Andrew Robinson, John Potts, Samuel C.
Morris, Captain Robert Campbell, General Thomas Mifflin, General Nichols
and General Thompson. They were provided with arms but their supply of
ammunition was very limited.
While the mob was marching down town, General Nichols and Daniel Clymer
proceeded hastily to the arsenal at Carpenters’ Hall and filled their
pockets with cartridges, this constituting their entire supply.
In the meantime the mob and militia assembled on the commons, while a
meeting of the principal citizens took place at the coffee house. A
deputation was sent to prevail on them to disperse, but without effect.
The First Troop of City Cavalry being apprised of what was going forward
and anxious for the safety of their fellow citizens, quickly assembled
at their stables, a fixed place of rendezvous.
For a time a deceitful calm prevailed; at the hour of noon the members
of the troop retired to their respective homes for dinner, and the
rebels seized the opportunity to march into the city.
The armed men in the mob amounted to 200, and were commanded by Captain
Mills, a North Carolinian; one Falkner, a shipjoiner; Pickering, a
tailor, and John Bonham. They marched to the home of Mr. Wilson, with
drums beating, and two pieces of cannon. They immediately commenced
firing on the house, which was warmly returned by the garrison.
Finding they could make no impression, the mob procured crowbars,
sledges and bars, and with them proceeded to force the door. At the
critical moment when the door yielded to their efforts, the First City
Troop appeared and saved the lives of those in the house.
Many of the mob were arrested and committed to prison, and as the
troopers used the sword very freely, many were severely wounded. One man
and one boy were killed in the streets. In “Fort Wilson,” Captain
Campbell was killed, and General Mifflin and Mr. Samuel C. Morris were
wounded.
The Troop patrolled the streets the greater part of the night. The
citizens turned out in great numbers and formed a volunteer guard at the
powder magazine and the arsenal.
It was some days before order was restored and the First Troop, on
account of the active part they had taken in the affair, found it
necessary to keep together in small groups, and be on the alert to
support each other.
The gentlemen who had comprised the garrison were advised to leave the
city where their lives were endangered.
General Mifflin, and about thirty others, accordingly met at Mr. Gray’s
home about five miles below Gray’s Ferry, where a council was called,
and it was resolved to return to town without any appearance of
intimidation.
But it was deemed expedient that Mr. Wilson should absent himself for a
time. The others continued to walk as usual in public and attended the
funeral of the unfortunate Captain Campbell. For some time each of them,
however, was in danger of his life from the sympathizers with the killed
and wounded assailants.
Thus ended the disgraceful affair known as the “Mob of 1779” and the
“Attack on Fort Wilson.”
Had it not been for the spirited conduct of the First Troop, the lives
of many valuable citizens, and genuine Whigs, would have been
sacrificed, and an indelible disgrace entailed upon the City of
Philadelphia.
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First German Immigrants Settle Germantown
October 6, 1683
The Germans have played a most important part in the history of
Pennsylvania, much more conspicuous than has been accorded them. They
are the progressive farmers, and leaders in politics, literature and
science.
The first great teacher was Pastorius; the first paper mill was
established in 1690, on a branch of Wissahickon Creek, by William
Rittinghuysen; the Bible was first printed in German, by Christopher
Saur, thirty-nine years before it appeared in English; the same
enterprising Germans, in 1735, established the first type foundry in
America in Germantown and so on, but it is of the establishment of
German Town or Germantown which this story is to relate.
The first German emigration was from Crefeld, a city of the lower Rhine.
William Penn conveyed 5000 acres in Pennsylvania to each of three
merchants of that city, March 10, 1682, one of whom, Jacob Telner, had
made a trip to America in 1678–81.
Francis Daniel Pastorius first heard of the Pennsylvania plan in 1682,
and became a purchaser of land while in London between the 8th of May
and 6th of June, 1683.
Eight original purchasers, November 12, 1686, formed themselves into a
company which was called the Frankford Company. Up to June 8, 1683,
these persons had purchased 15,000 acres, and they mostly lived in
Frankfort, but Pastorius was the only one of the original company who
ever came to Pennsylvania.
Thirteen families, comprising thirty-three persons, set out for London,
from which city, after many delays, they embarked, July 24, 1683, aboard
the Concord.
Of the original purchasers three were Mennonites, and many of the
remainder of the party belonged to that sect, so it must be stated that
this emigration was also the beginning of that great church in America.
The pioneers had a pleasant voyage and reached Philadelphia October 6.
On the 10th of the same month a warrant was issued to Pastorius for 6000
acres “on behalf of the German and Dutch purchasers.” On the 24th,
Thomas Fairman measured off fourteen divisions of land, and the next
day, meeting together in the cave of Pastorius they drew lots for choice
of location.
Under a warrant, 5350 acres were laid out, May 2, 1684, for Pastorius,
as trustee for them and future purchasers; in addition 200 acres were
laid out for Pastorius in his own right, and 150 acres to Jurian
Hartsfelder, a stray Dutchman, who had been a deputy sheriff under
Andros in 1676 and who now cast in his lot with the settlers at
Germantown.
Immediately after the division in the cave of Pastorius they began to
dig cellars and build the huts in which, not without much hardship, they
spent the following winter. Thus commenced the settlement of Germantown.
Other emigrants began to appear in the little town, and soon we catch a
glimpse of the home life of the early dwellers of Germantown.
Pastorius had no glass, so he made windows of oiled paper.
Bom wrote to Rotterdam October 12, 1684: “I have here a shop of many
kinds of goods and edibles. Sometimes I ride out with merchandise, and
sometimes, bring something back, mostly from Indians, and deal with them
in many things. I have no regular servants except one Negro, whom I
bought. I have no rent or tax or excise to pay. I have a cow which gives
plenty of milk, a horse to ride around, my pigs increase rapidly, so
that in the summer I had seventeen when at first I had only two. I have
many chickens and geese, and a garden, and shall next year have an
orchard if I remain well, so that my wife and I are in good spirits.”
Bom died before 1689, and his daughter, Agnes, married Anthony Morris,
the ancestor of the distinguished family of that name.
The first person to die in the new settlement was Jan Seimens. The first
time that fire caused a loss in the village was in 1686. A small church
was built that year. It is strange but true, that this was a Quaker
meeting house, and also that before 1692 all the original thirteen,
except Jan Lensen, had in one way or another been associated with the
Quakers.
An event of importance was the arrival of William Rittinghuysen, a
Mennonite minister, who with his two sons, Gerhard and Claus, and a
daughter, came from Holland. In 1690 he built the first paper mill in
America on a branch of the Wissahickon Creek.
On April 18, 1688, Gerhard Hendricks, Dirck Opden Graeff, Francis Daniel
Pastorius and Abraham Opden Graeff sent to the Friends’ Meeting the
first public protest ever made on this continent against the holding of
slaves. There was then started something which became the greatest
question of all time in America.
On January 14, 1690, 2950 acres, north of Germantown, were divided into
three districts, called Krishelm, Sommerhausen and Crefeld.
The village had now become populous enough to warrant a separate
existence, and on May 31, 1691, a charter of incorporation was issued to
Francis Daniel Pastorius, bailiff, and four burgesses and six
committeemen, with power to hold a court and a market, to admit
citizens, to impose fines, and to make ordinances.
It was ordered that “on the 19th of one month in each year the people
shall be called together and the laws and ordinances read aloud to
them.”
The seal was devised by Pastorius and he honored the weavers by
selecting a clover, on one of the leaves being a vine, on another a
stalk of flax, and on the third a weaver’s spool.
The corporation continued until January 11, 1707. Newcomers were
required to pay £1 for the right of citizenship.
On June 28, 1701, a tax was laid for the building of a prison, erection
of a market, and other objects for the public good. The prison preceded
the school house, but the interval was not long.
December 30, following, “it was found good to start a school here in
Germantown.” Pastorius was the first pedagogue.
As early as January 25, 1694, stocks were erected for the punishment of
evildoers.
February 10, 1702, three square perches of land were given to the
Mennonites for a church, which edifice was built 1708.
Little did the industrious German of that day think, as he tilled the
soil, or worked at his trade, that in after years the countrymen of Penn
would be fighting the Quakers and others in that very town, that the
streets of Germantown would be reddened by English blood, as it was on
that eventful day, October 4, 1777.
The government of Germantown lasted fifteen years. Today this old town
is one of the most delightful sections of the old city of Philadelphia.
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Colonel Richard McAllister, Soldier, Statesman
and Citizen of York County,
Died October 7, 1795
Colonel Richard McAllister, a hero of the Revolution, died at his home
in Hanover, York County, October 7, 1795.
During that great struggle for the independence of the colonies York
County gave many of her loyal sons, and none rendered more signal
service or has been held in fonder patriotic reverence than Colonel
McAllister.
He was the son of Archibald McAllister, who came to this country from
Scotland in 1732. Richard was born in Scotland in 1724.
About 1745 Richard moved from Cumberland County to the present site of
Hanover, where he purchased a large tract of land, and made a
settlement.
On February 23, 1748, he married Mary Dill, daughter of Colonel Matthew
Dill, who commanded a regiment in the French and Indian War, and whose
son, Matthew, founded Dillsburg.
In 1750 Richard McAllister was a candidate for sheriff of York County
against Colonel Hance Hamilton, who resided near the present site of
Gettysburg. The result of the vote was so close that the election was
contested and the Provincial Assembly decided in favor of Hamilton.
In 1763 Richard McAllister founded the town of Hanover and soon became
one of the leading citizens of York County.
At the outbreak of the Revolution he was elected a member of the
Committee of Safety for York County, and in June of the same year, 1775,
he served as a delegate in the Provincial Conference, which met in
Carpenters’ Hall, Philadelphia. He again served as a member of the same
body in January, 1776.
When the Fourth Battalion of York County militia was organized, 1775,
Richard McAllister was commissioned colonel. And during the fall of the
same year, he was made colonel of a battalion of Minute Men, formed out
of the militia of York County.
In July, 1776, when Congress called for ten thousand troops, Colonel
McAllister marched his battalion through Lancaster and Philadelphia to
Perth Amboy, N. J.
General Hugh Mercer organized the Flying Camp, and selected Colonel
McAllister to command the Second Pennsylvania Regiment.
This command was soon engaged in and about New York City and Staten
Island. A short time later Colonel McAllister led the regiment in the
defense of Fort Washington, where a large number of them were taken
prisoners, among them being two of his captains.
In the campaign of 1776 Colonel McAllister was present with his
regiment, under General James Ewing, when Washington captured the
Hessians in Trenton on Christmas night.
After the expiration of his term of service in the Flying Camp, in 1777,
Colonel McAllister returned to his home at Hanover, and in March of this
year he was elected by the General Assembly, county lieutenant.
In the discharge of this commission he recruited six different
battalions of militia in York County, which then included the present
Adams County.
He drilled and disciplined the troops and made them ready for the
service in the field when they were required to defend the State against
the invasion of the British foe.
On August 28, 1777, Colonel McAllister wrote to President Wharton that
there were dissensions among the Associators in the German townships
near Hanover. Two hundred freemen had assembled at one place for the
purpose of opposing the draft of the militia for service in the field.
He continued by saying that he had lived in peace among these people for
twenty years or more, and knew well their customs and habits, but it was
very difficult to induce them to take up arms against the country to
which they had sworn allegiance.
He said that notwithstanding the difficulties he had encountered in the
prosecution of his duties as lieutenant of York County, he had marched
five companies to the front fully armed and equipped, and would soon
have three more ready to take up the march for the main army.
Nearly every man recruited was a substitute, which had obtained by
Colonel McAllister.