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X.

1777.

CHAPTER parties to Reading, where we had considerable quantities of military stores. To frustrate those intentions, I moved the army up on this side of the river to this place, determined to keep pace with them; but early this morning I received intelligence, that they had crossed the fords below. Why I did not follow immediately, I have mentioned in the former part of my letter; but the strongest reason against being able to make a forced march is the want of shoes. Messieurs Carroll, Chase, and Penn, who were some days with the army, can inform Congress in how deplorable a situation the troops are, for want of that necessary article. At least one thousand men are barefooted, and have performed the marches in that condition."

Congress adjourn to Lancaster and York

town.

Battle of Germantown.

Congress adjourned first to Lancaster, and then to Yorktown in Pennsylvania, where they continued eight months, till Philadelphia was evacuated by the enemy. Immediately after the British entered the city, Lord Howe went out of the Chesapeake with his fleet and came round into the Delaware, intending to force the strong defences in that river, and ascend to Philadelphia. To aid in this undertaking a detachment of British troops was stationed on the left bank of the river in New Jersey. The larger part of the army was encamped at Germantown, the remainder being in the city.

In this divided state of Sir William Howe's forces, Washington conceived the plan of attacking him by surOctober 4. prise. The British encampment extended across the village of Germantown, and at right angles with the main road. The American army was near Skippack Creek, about fourteen miles distant. At seven o'clock, in the evening of the 3d of October, the march began, and by the order of battle the troops were to approach the enemy by four routes, it being expected that the whole would arrive. nearly at the same time. The divisions of Sullivan and Wayne, flanked by Conway's brigade, were to enter the town by the road leading to the enemy's centre; while Armstrong, with the Pennsylvania militia, was to take the

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1777.

road on the right near the Schuylkill, and gain their left CHAPTER and rear. The divisions of Greene and Stephen, flanked by McDougall's brigade, were to make a circuit on the American left, and attack the British right wing, while the Maryland and Jersey militia, under Smallwood and Forman, were to move down by a road still farther to the left, and fall upon their right flank and rear. The plan was extremely well concerted, and the surprise was complete. The attack commenced between daybreak and sunrise. At first the action was very warm in the centre, and afterwards on the American left, and every thing seemed to promise success; but the Americans were ultimately obliged to retreat, and leave the enemy in possession of the ground. Washington speaks of this event as follows, in a letter to his brother.

"After the enemy had crossed the Schuylkill, we took the first favorable opportunity of attacking them. This was attempted by a night's march of fourteen miles to surprise them, which we effectually did, so far as to reach their guards before they had notice of our coming; and, if it had not been for a thick fog, which rendered it so dark at times that we were not able to distinguish friend from foe at the distance of thirty yards, we should, I believe, have made a decisive and glorious day of it. But Providence designed it otherwise; for, after we had driven the enemy a mile or two, after they were in the utmost confusion, and flying before us in most places, after we were upon the point, as it appeared to everybody, of grasping a complete victory, our own troops took fright and fled with precipitation and disorder. How to account for this, I know not; unless, as I before observed, the fog represented their own friends to them for a reinforcement of the enemy, as we attacked in different quarters at the same time, and were about closing the wings of our army when this happened. One thing, indeed, contributed not a little to our misfortune, and that was a want of ammunition on the right wing, which began the engagement, and in the course of two hours and forty

Washing

ton's ac

count of the

battle.

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1777.

CHAPTER minutes, which time it lasted, had, many of them, expended the forty rounds, that they took into the field. After the engagement we removed to a place about twenty miles from the enemy, to collect our forces together, to take care of our wounded, get furnished with necessaries again, and be in a better posture, either for offensive or defensive operations. We are now advancing towards the enemy again, being at this time within twelve miles of them.

Loss in the

action.

Affair at
Chew's
House.

Effects of the battle.

"Our loss in the late action was, in killed, wounded, and missing, about one thousand men, but, of the missing, many, I dare say, took advantage of the times, and deserted. General Nash of North Carolina was wounded, and died two or three days after. Many valuable officers of ours were also wounded, and some killed. word, it was a bloody day. Would to Heaven I could add, that it had been a more fortunate one for us."

In a

General Howe reported his loss to be seventy-one killed, four hundred and fifty wounded, and fourteen missing. The American loss, as stated by Dr. Gordon on the authority of the Board of War, was one hundred and fifty killed, five hundred and twenty-one wounded, and about four hundred prisoners. In the midst of the action, six companies of the fortieth British regiment, commanded by Colonel Mulgrave, took possession of Chew's House, a strong stone building, which they barricaded and defended with so much obstinacy, as to retard for some time the advance of the second line of the Americans, intended to support the centre; and, during this delay, Sullivan's division, which had been closely engaged in front, having mostly expended its ammunition, began to retreat, and, falling back upon the second line, threw it into disorder. This circumstance, added to the dense fog, is supposed to have contributed much to the unfortunate issue of the day.

But the battle of Germantown was not without its good effects. It revived the hopes of the country by proving, that, notwithstanding the recent successes of the enemy,

neither the spirit, resolution, and valor of the troops, nor the energy and confidence of the Commander, had suffered any diminution. They were as prompt and eager to meet their adversaries in battle, as at the beginning of the campaign. Considered in its political relations, the event was not less important. When the American Commissioners in Paris had their first interview with Count de Vergennes to converse on a treaty of alliance, after complimenting them on the favorable prospects in America, and the conduct of the American troops, he added, "that nothing struck him so much as General Washington's attacking and giving battle to General Howe's army; that to bring an army, raised within a year, to this, promised every thing." It has been commonly supposed, that Burgoyne's defeat was the turning point with the French government in joining the United States against England, and probably it was; but the above fact, recorded by one of the Commissioners at the time, shows that the operations of Washington's army had their due weight in the scale.

CHAPTER
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in the Dela

ware.

The British fleet having entered the Delaware, every Operations exertion was made to remove the obstructions in the river, and drive the Americans from their fortified posts. By the activity of the small naval armament under Commodore Hazelwood, and the brave defence of Red Bank and Fort Mifflin, these efforts were resisted for more than six weeks, when a vastly superior force, both by land and water, compelled an evacuation of those places, and opened a passage for the enemy's shipping to Philadelphia.

sent to New

General

Washington returned to his former station after the bat- Detachment tle of Germantown, and in a few days encamped in a Jersey under strong position at Whitemarsh, fourteen miles from Phila- Greene. delphia. General Greene was ordered with a detachment November. into New Jersey to operate against Cornwallis, who had passed over with a large body of troops to aid in reducing Fort Mercer at Red Bank. The Marquis de Lafayette was a volunteer under Greene, and distinguished himself in a skirmish with the enemy at Gloucester Point,

1777.

CHAPTER although his wound was not yet entirely healed. No X. event of importance occurred. The British recrossed the river to Philadelphia, and Greene joined the main army at Whitemarsh. A reinforcement likewise arrived from the north, consisting of Morgan's rifle corps and part of the New Hampshire and Massachusetts troops; the surrender of Burgoyne, and the relinquishment by the British of their temporary acquisitions in the Highlands, rendering their services no longer necessary in that quarter.

Skirmish at Whitemarsh.

Sir William Howe, having received an accession to his strength by several regiments from New York, thought a December 5. good opportunity presented itself for trying his fortune in another battle, if he could find the Americans in such a condition as to attack them to advantage. He marched out of the city with twelve thousand men, in the evening of the 4th of December, and the next morning took post at Chesnut Hill, about three miles from the right of the American encampment. Washington sent out light troops to skirmish, but resolved to wait for the general attack on the ground he had chosen. This was an adventure, which General Howe was not inclined to hazard. After manœuvring three days in the front and on the flanks of the American lines, seeking for an advantage which his opponent was careful not to give, he retreated suddenly to Philadelphia, having lost in the different rencounters twenty men killed, sixty-three wounded, and thirty-three missing.

Preparations for winter quarters.

The season being far advanced, and the troops worn down by the hard service of the campaign, it was thought necessary to make immediate preparations for winter quarters. Many of the soldiers were suffering extremely for the want of clothes and shoes; and even the supplies of provision and forage were obtained with difficulty. So great was the disaffection of the inhabitants, particularly after the British entered Philadelphia, that the larger portion of them refused to sell their produce to the American contractors, some perhaps through fear of the enemy, others from a sincere attachment to the royal cause; and

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