CHAPTER VII

THE REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE TO THE BATTLE OF BRANDYWINE

[Please note that this chapter is heavely footnoted.  The footnotes are indicated by an “*” and “(number*).]

The thoughtful men of that period who stopped in the midst of the popular clamor to consider the probable termination of the controversy between the mother-country and her colonies began to be alarmed at the excited temper of the public mind in both hemispheres, hence many of those persons who had been prominent in advising resistance to the arbitrary acts of Parliament, now when their reason taught them that the absolute overthrow of the power of Great Britain in the provinces, or the abject submission of the colonies, could alone set at rest the long dispute, hesitated, some retraced their steps, casting their lots with the established authority; others, shrinking from public view, ceased to be active on either side; while yet others, believing that man, mentally and socially, was but partially developed, picturing to themselves the possibilities of a free representative government, comprehending fully the lesson of the hour, braved the issue, and boldly advocated the adoption of a then untried Utopian scheme. The great mass of the people – the majority uneducated—drifted with the day until events made them bitter partisans either for crown or Congress. When sides became radical, as a general rule, the wealthy and cultured few, afraid of change, were loyalists, while the middle classes and the poor were Whigs.

The direct result of the meeting of the Continental Congress of 1774 was to intensify the feeling of the masses in opposition to the ministerial powers, the address issued by that body being so calm and dispassionate, but so convincing, that it found ready response in popular approval. Especially was this true of the resolution that all importations of English goods should be prohibited, and that no articles should be exported from the colonies to Great Britain after December, 1776, unless before that time Parliament had removed the obnoxious law against which the people in America complained. In all parts of the colonies meetings were held to ratify and carry into execution the association recommended by Congress, and on Dec. 20, 1774, “a very respectable number of the inhabitants of the County of Chester convened at the Court-house in the Borough of Chester,” at which the following persons were named as a committee to act for the county to that end, viz.: Anthony Wayne, Francis Johnston, Richard Riley, Evan Evans, and James Moore, Esqs.; Hugh Lloyd, Thomas Hockley, David Coupland, John Hart, Sketchley Morton, Samuel Fairlamb, David Coupland, John Crosby, Nicholas Diehl, Jesse Bonsall, Aaron Oakford, Benjamin Brannan, John Talbot, Joseph Brown, Samuel Price, John Crawford, John Taylor, Lewis Gronow, Edward Humphreys, Henry Lawrence, Richard Thomas, William Montgomery, Persifor Frazer, Thomas Taylor, John Foulke, Robert Mendenhall, Joseph Pennell, George Pierce, Nicholas Fairlamb, Samuel Trimble, Charles Dilworth, John Hannum, George Hoops, Joel Bailey, John Gilliland, Joseph Bishop, Jr., John Kerlin, Edward Jones, William Lewis, Patrick Anderson, Joshua Evans, Thomas Hartman, Dr. Branson van Leer, William Evans, Joseph Cowan, Thomas Haslep, Patterson Bell, Dr. Jonathan Morris, Andrew Mitchell, Thomas Buffington, James Bennett, Joseph Musgrave, William Miller, Richard Flower, Walter Finney, James Simpson, David Wherry, James Evans, Thomas Bishop, William Edwards, Jonathan Vernon, Jr., Lewis Davis, Sr., Joseph Gibbons, Jr., and Thomas Evans; which committee were “to be and continue from this time until one month after the rising of the next Continental Congress, with full power to transact such business, and enter into such associations as to them shall appear expedient.”

Immediately after the committee had been selected that body organized by the appointment of Anthony Wayne, chairman, and Francis Johnston, secretary. The following resolutions were then unanimously adopted:
     “1st. That any twelve or more of the said Committee, meeting upon due notice, be empowered to enter upon and transact all such business as shall come under their consideration; provided, the majority agreeing shall not be less than twelve.
     “2d. That the present unhappy situation of public affairs in general, and of this province in particular, renders it highly necessary that a Provincial Convention should be held as soon as possible, for which purpose twelve persons shall be appointed out of the said committee as delegates to attend the said Convention, at such time and place as shall be generally agreed on.”

As there were no further matters requiring immediate attention, after the delegation of twelve to the Provincial Convention had been named, the committee adjourned to meet on Jan. 9, 1775, at the house of David Coupland in the borough of Chester.

In the mean while, in furtherance of the resolutions passed by the convention of the people of Chester County, held on July 15th, heretofore mentioned, as well as the similar resolution adopted by Congress, calling on the other colonies to aid with contributions the necessities of the inhabitants of Massachusetts, so long as the enforcement of the Boston Port Bill rendered such assistance needful, the people of Chester County made generous contributions to the fund. Dr. Smith shows that the purse-strings of Friends were unloosened liberally to this end: “Chester monthly meeting contributed £70 for the relief of Necessitous inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay and Provinces adjacent. Darby meeting paid £33 14s. for the relief of the poor and distressed in New England, while Haverford meeting responded to the request of the meeting for suffering, ‘that Friends should contribute liberally for the relief of friends or others (in the New England Government), who are or may be reduced to indigent, circumstances in this time of public calamity, and in a short time had the satisfaction to receive an affecting account of the state of the poor of these provinces, and of the distribution of the donations sent from hence.’” *

On Jan. 23, 1775, the Provincial Convention assembled at Philadelphia, and continued in session for six days. Chester County was represented in that body by Anthony Wayne, Hugh Lloyd, Richard Thomas, Francis Johnston, Samuel Fairlamb, Lewis Davis, William Montgomery, Joseph Musgrave, Joshua Evans, and Persifor Frazer. Thomas Hockley and Thomas Taylor, who had been appointed delegates, failed to attend. The proceedings of this body show that the men who composed it had carefully weighed the means necessary to build up and sustain a nation, while at the same time they comprehended that slavery, which then existed throughout the colonies, largely due to the fact that Great Britain had always interdicted any restriction in the traffic, was an obstacle which intruded itself in carrying out the idea of a free constitutional government, and should be done away with. Hence, to that end they resolved that the members of the General Assembly should be urged to pass a law prohibiting the future importation of slaves into the province.

On March 20th a meeting of the committee of Chester County was held at the house of Richard Cheyney, in East Calm, where Messrs. Hockley, Johnston, Gronow, Lloyd, Frazer, Moore, and Taylor were appointed a committee to draft a petition to the Assembly, “with regard to the manumission of slaves, especially relating to the freedom of infants hereafter born of black women within this Colony,” and report at the following meeting, while each committeeman was instructed to “use his utmost diligence in collecting the several sums of money subscribed for the use of Boston, and pay the same” to Anthony Wayne, “treasurer,” at the next meeting, after which the committee adjourned to meet on Wednesday, May 31st, at the house of David Coupland. But before that date had come, the reverberation of the musketry volleys at Lexington and Concord had stirred the blood of the Whigs throughout the colonies, and nothing was considered but how preparation should be made to meet the storm which had now broken on the country. Hence, in Chester County the committee met at an earlier day than that named when they adjourned in March, and published the following extract from the proceedings then had:
     “IN COMMITTEE, CHESTER, May 22, 1775.
     “WHEREAS, it appears very necessary in order to avert the evils and calamities which threaten our devoted country, to embody ourselves and make all the military preparation in our power; and it appears absolutely impossible to carry this laudable design into execution without observing the greatest order, harmony, and concord not only under the laws of civil government, but also while under arms and in actual duty, we therefore unanimously recommend the following Association, to be entered into by the good people of this County:
     “We, the subscribers, do most solemnly resolve, promise, and engage under the sacred ties of honor, virtue, and love to our country, that we will use our utmost endeavors to learn the military exercise and promote harmony and unanimity in our respective companies; that we will strictly adhere to the rules of decency during duty; that we will pay a due regard to our officers; that we will, when called upon, support with our utmost abilities the civil magistrate in the execution of the laws for the good of our country, and that we will at all times be in readiness to defend the lives, liberties, and properties of ourselves amid fellow-countrymen against all attempts to deprive us of them.
     “Extract from the minutes.
     “By order of the Committee,
     “FRANCIS JOHNSTON, Sec’y.”

The enlistment of soldiers was at once begun, for on June 29, 1775, at a meeting of several officers of the militia of Chester County, it was determined that for the better regulation of the military in this district it was advisable that a meeting of all the officers in the companies should be held at the public-house of Richard Cheyney, in East Calm, on the 21st day of July next, the day immediately after the Continental Fair, at which meeting it was proposed to divide the county into the most proper and convenient military districts, to form several battalions, and to elect field-officers. The next day, June 30th, the Assembly by resolution recommended to the boards of commissioners in all the counties in the province, “as they regard the Freedom, Welfare, and safety of their County immediately to provide a proper number of good new Firelocks with Baynets fitted to them, Cartridge Boxes with Twenty-three Bounds of Cartridges in each box and Knapsacks,” and in the apportionment five hundred of each of these equipments was the number the county of Chester was directed to procure.(2*) By the same act the Assembly appointed a Committee of Safety, consisting of twenty-four members, those named from Chester County being Anthony Wayne, Benjamin Bartholomew. Francis Johnston, and Richard Riley, only the latter residing within the territory now comprising Delaware County. On July 10th, for the first time, was any of the committee from Chester County present at the meetings of the body, and on that occasion Francis Johnston and Anthony Wayne both took part in the proceedings.

In a letter dated at Philadelphia, July 10, 1775, (3*) the writer says, “Travel through whatever part of this country you will, you see the inhabitants training, making fire-locks, casting mortars, shells, and shots, and making saltpetre, in order to keep the gunpowder-mills at work during the next autumn and summer. Nothing, indeed, is attended to but preparing to make a defence that will astonish the whole world.”

On July 17th the Committee of Safety determined that eight good rifles should be assigned to each boat now building, a part of which were to be put into the hands of such men as Capt. Francis, of Philadelphia, and Col. Wayne, of Chester County, should engage to go as minute-men on the boats when required. At this time Wayne was colonel of militia only. The same day the committee requested “the good women” of the province to supply their family doctors “with as much scraped Lint & old Linen for bandages as they can conveniently furnish, that the same may be ready for the service of those that shall happen to be wounded in the defence of the country.”

Considerable apprehension having been aroused among the members of the Society of Friends as to their position amid all this din and clash of approaching war, Congress, on July 18, 1775, by a resolution stated to those people “who from Religious Principles cannot bear Arms in any Cause, this Congress intends no Violence to their Conscience, but earnestly recommend it to them to Contribute Liberally in this time of universal calamity to the relief of their distressed brethren in the several colonies, and to do all other services to their oppressed country which they can consistently with their Religious principles.”

The allusion to riflemen to be placed on the boats, who were to be men selected by Capt. Francis and Col. Wayne, related to the defense of Philadelphia from a threatened attack by British vessels of war; hence a brief account of those defenses, so far as they refer to the history of Delaware County, should not be omitted from this work.

The obstructing of the Delaware River by vaisseaux-de-frise was the suggestion of Dr. Franklin, who also strongly urged the building of galleys,—vessels of considerable size, propelled by oars, and intended to be armed with heavy guns, besides carrying a number of marines,as well as locating fortifications at certain places on the banks. The chevaux-de-frise, as the obstructions were popularly termed, consisted of large frames of timber, filled in with stones to cause them to sink, and from these frames huge beams shod with iron extended to the surface of the water. So energetically did Franklin labor, that although he had returned, May 5, 1775, after many years’ absence in Europe, in four months he had three rows of these obstructions laid, the fort at Red Bank completed, and seven of the galleys afloat. One of the rows of vaisseaux-de-frise was sunk within the territory now of Delaware County, and extended across the main channel of the Delaware, opposite the upper end of Hog Island, and a mile and a quarter below Red Bank.

Subsequently a row was laid to Billingsport, N.J. On Sept. 13, 1775, Richard Riley, from Marcus Hook, wrote to George Gray,(4*) of the Committee of Safety, arguing that, as the provincial galleys would soon be finished, the entire fleet, in his opinion, should be stationed at the boundary of the province on the river, below the “shiver de fress’s,” and then, if they – the boats—” are any Protection, every Person above them will Receive a Benefit;” that as there was a large island opposite Marcus Hook, it would afford a harbor to the galleys; while if the fleet was stationed above the obstructions at the forts, “Chester and Marcushook may be reduced to ashes before any Relief can be obtained, which would be a Considerable Loss, as all the Records & other public papers of the county is their.” This matter of the defenses at Marcus Hook seems to have been presented to Council; for on Nov. 16, 1775, it was resolved “that two tier of Chivaux de Frize be sunk, for the further Security of this province, in the Channel opposite or near to Marcus Hook.”(5*) That this resolution as to locating obstructions at Marcus Hook was never carried into effect is apparent, for the proceedings of the Committee of Safety show that on Jan. 18, 1776, Col. Wayne states to the committee that as large vessels must come within musket-shot of the shore at and near Marcus Hook, in his opinion “a Line or two of Chevaux de Frize placed there would be of considerable Service. The Shore near this narrow channel is nearly as high as Red Bank, and a battery of Cannon there would greatly annoy an Enemy.” (68) On Feb. 15, 1776, Richard Riley again wrote to George Gray,(7*) calling attention to the exposed condition of Marcus Hook, where, should the enemy come up the river, they would certainly land. He therefore urged erection of a battery on the shore, or the stationing of a floating one there, together with one or two companies of riflemen, to protect that part of the province, “now Intirely exposed, without the least defence or the least means for defence, being without Battery, arms, or ammunition, & of course, if left to continue, will be obliged to abandon their Habitations.” In addition, as confirmatory proof that the obstructions did not extend below Chester, as late as July 24, 1777, Council ordered that before a master of a vessel could obtain an order for a “Chevax De Frize Pilot” he was compelled to swear that he would not permit such pilot to remain on the vessel from “the time she leaves the town of Chester.”(8*) The purpose of this order was to prevent any person knowing the unobstructed channel from getting access to British vessels, and for a reward imparting that knowledge to the enemy.

Early in the fall of the year the galleys were ready, as already stated, and, on Sept. 22, 1775, the Committee of Safety appointed Capt. John Moulder, of Marcus Hook, commander of the armed boat “Hancock;” but the latter, on the 10th of October following, notified the committee that he declined to act in that capacity.

The Committee of Chester County seems to have had no meetings during the summer, but in pursuance of a notice of the chairman, Wayne, they met on Monday morning, September 25th, at the Turk’s Head Tavern,now West Chester, at which time the board of commissioners and assessors of the county were present. At this meeting the following disclaimer of all treasonable intentions on the part of the colonies was adopted and published in the Philadelphia newspapers of that day. The ignorance displayed in that resolution of the tendency of public affairs might be pardoned in Wayne, who was an admirable soldier but a wretched politician; but the committee certainly had among its members some men who could read the signs of the times better than to have issued such a document as that, particularly when it was known that statesmen like John Adams were openly advocating the independency of the colonies. The disclaimer was as follows:
     “WHEREAS some persons, evidently inimical to the liberty of America, have industriously propagated a report, that the military associators of this County, in conjunction with the military associators in general, intend to overturn the Constitution, by declaring an Independency in the execution of which they are aided by this Committee and the board of Commissioners and Assessors with the arms now making for this County; and as such report could not originate but among the worst of men for the worst of purposes, This Committee have therefore thought proper to declare, and they hereby do declare, their abhorrence even of an idea so pernicious in its nature; as they ardently wish for nothing more than a happy and speedy reconciliation, on constitutional principles, with that state from whom they derive their origin.
     “By order of the Committee.
     “ANTHONY WAYNE, Chairman.”

The committee, after adopting the foregoing document providing for an election by the people in the several townships on the 11th day of October following, for persons to serve on the committee for Chester County for the ensuing year, then adjourned to meet in the borough of Chester on that date. The next day, September 26th, the Council of Safety directed that an order for five hundred pounds should be drawn in favor of Chester County, the money to be expended in the purchase of arms and other munitions of war.

The Assembly, Oct. 19, 1775, reappointed the then Committee of Safety, and added new members thereto. So far as Chester County was concerned, the representation remained unchanged, excepting that it was increased by the appointment of Nicholas Fairlamb,(7*) the latter a resident of the present county of Delaware.

The new committee of the county of Chester which had been selected on October 2d, by which some slight change was made in the personnel of that body, met shortly afterwards, and gave official publication to the following proceedings:
     “CHESTER, Oct. 23rd, 1775.
     “Pursuant to public notice given, the Committee met at the house of David Coupland, in the borough of Chester. On motion ordered, that each member of this Committee do immediately make return to the Chairman, of the quantity of Powder which he already has or may collect within his district, together with the price and the name of the owner thereof, that the same may be paid for.
     “On motion resolved, that Anthony Wayne, Francis Johnston, and Elisha Price Esqrs., Mr. Richardsen, Mr. Knowles, Mr. Lloyd, and Mr. Brannan, he and they are hereby appointed a Committee of Correspondence for this County.
     “By order of the Committee.
     “FRANCIS JOHNSTON, Sec’y.’”

It may be doubted whether any of the muskets ordered for Chester County were delivered until this month, for on October 6th, Mr. Dunwicke, a gunsmith, “now employed in making the Provincial Muskets for Chester County,” asked Council for an order on the commissary for two pounds of powder, “to prove some of them now ready.” Which request was granted, and the commissary ordered to be present when the firearms were tried.(8*)

The necessity for a more thorough organization in the several counties became so apparent that the Assembly, on Nov. 25, 1775, adopted rules and regulations to that end, and at the meeting of the committee of Chester County, on December 26th, that body reorganized in conformity with the suggestions of the Legislature. At the same meeting the committee
     “Resolved, that Anthony Wayne, James Moore, Francis Johnston, Esq., Dr. Samuel Kenedy, Caleb Davis, William Montgomery, Persifor Frazer, and Richard Thomas, Gentlemen, or any five or more of them, be appointed, and they are hereby appointed to represent the county (if occasion be) in Provincial Convention for the ensuing year.”

The provincial authorities were very active in pushing forward military organizations, for Washington was constantly drawing the attention of Congress to the fact that in a short time the term of service of many of the troops with him, besieging Boston, would expire, and the army must be filled with fresh men. On Dec. 9, 1775, Congress resolved that four battalions should be raised in Pennsylvania, and on the 15th provided that the Committee of Safety should be requested to recommend proper persons as field-officers, from which names Congress would select and commission the colonels, lieutenant-colonels, and majors. Of all officers below the rank of major, the Committee of Safety were to make the appointments. On Jan. 2, 1776, the Committee reported the name of Anthony Wayne as colonel of the Fourth Battalion, which nomination was confirmed by Congress. On the 3d of January the Committee nominated Francis Johnston as lieutenant-colonel, and on the 4th, Nicholas Haussegger as major of the same battalion, which nominations were promptly confirmed. The next day the Committee of Safety appointed Persifor Frazer, Thomas Robinson, John Lacey, Caleb North, Thomas Church, Frederick Vernon, James Moore, and James Taylor captains of the several companies of the Fourth Battalion, and they were commissioned as of that date.(9*) The battalion rendezvoused at Chester on February 9th, and on the 17th, Col. Wayne reported that five hundred and sixty officers and men were present at camp, and that ten commissioned officers were absent, with recruits, the number of which was sufficient, he believed, to make the battalion complete. At that date he stated he “had only twelve rifles and twenty muskets,” and was in want of every other article. On January 22d, Congress ordered the companies, as fast as they were equipped, to march to New York. Robinson’s, Church’s, and Lacey’s companies, under the command of Maj. Haussegger, reported at New York on the 28th. The troops must have been housed even as far away from Chester as Darby, for on April 26th, Wayne arrived at New York, assumed command of his regiment there, and dispatched Maj. Haussegger to Philadelphia to immediately bring on the other five companies, and we find that the next day he ordered Capt. Lacey to return to Darby and settle for the board of his (Lacey’s) men. Capt. Lacey always asserted that Wayne had promised to settle that account himself, and he sent him (Lacey) back simply to have an opportunity “to give the command of his company to his ‘pet,’ Capt. Moore.”

On Jan. 17, 1776, five days before Congress ordered Wayne’s battalion to New York, the Committee of Safety resolved: “That Col. Wayne, Col. Johnston, Mr. Bartholomew, & Mr. Riley be a Committee to Examine the Fire-locks, Cartridge-Boxes, Knapsacks, &c., as ordered by Assembly to be provided for Chester County . . . and make return of the same to this Board.”

The following day, January 18th, a member of the committee suggested that a thousand chosen riflemen should be recruited for the provincial service, which body should be stationed near Chester to harass the enemy in their march to Philadelphia, should they attempt the capture of that city.(10*) At that time the general confidence in the efficacy of the obstructions in the river was such that the thought of an attack by water was rarely entertained. The suggestion was adopted, and in the spring of 1776, Col. Samuel Miles was appointed to the command of a regiment of one thousand riflemen, formed in two battalions. This body of men must have begun to assemble at Marcus Hook and Chester early in April, 1776, for on the 13th of that month the Committee of Safety had a report from Col. Miles that there was not sufficient “houses or other buildings” in or about the towns mentioned to quarter the troops then being raised, and Council authorized Col. Miles to purchase one hundred good tents on the most reasonable terms he could.(11*) On April 17th, Caleb Davis made application to the committee for money to pay for fire-locks made in Chester County for the use of the province. He received fifteen hundred pounds for that purpose, to the order of the commissioners and assessors of the county, and also one hundred pounds for saltpetre, and two quarter-casks of gunpowder were ordered to be delivered to him.(12*) On March 25, 1776, Henry Fisher, at Lewes, Del., by express, notified the Committee of Safety that a sloop-of-war was coming into Whorekill “Road with a Small Tender,” and it being night, he could not state whether she was bound up the bay or not, but every effort would be made to prevent her procuring a pilot. The express was started at seven o’clock on Monday evening, and reached Chester by half-past two o’clock on Tuesday afternoon, where, after stopping forty minutes, Richard Kane, the messenger, left that place for Philadelphia. On the receipt of the dispatch, Council ordered Commodore Caldwell to send four well-manned and armed boats down the river to Reedy Island, which galleys were directed to act with Capt. Barry of the brig “Lexington,” and endeavor to capture the English vessel. Caldwell subsequently returned, for Council on April 30th ordered the fleet to go down the river again, if Mr. Mease and Mr. Morris thought it necessary. It was ordered down, and in the mean time, as constant reports were being sent to the committee of the daily progress up the river of the British men-of-war, on May 7th, Robert Towers was directed to deliver to Col. Miles one thousand pounds of gunpowder and two thousand pounds of lead, “or as great a part thereof as is in store, and for the use of the Associators of Chester County, to be consigned there agreeably to Col. Miles’ direction, 20,000 Cartridges for Muskets.” At the date just mentioned the “Roebuck” of forty-eight, and the “Liverpool” of twenty-eight guns, were off New Castle, bound up the river, and the galley fleet was ordered to attack them, while at the same time Col. Miles, who was at the meeting of the Council, went at once to Marcus Hook with some powder and lead for his riflemen, and the next morning marched one hundred and fifty of his men – all of his troops for whom he had equipments to Wilmington, which place he reached in time (two o’clock in the afternoon) to see the action between the galleys and the British ships. “I am convinced,” he stated in his journal,(13*) “that had the galleys been sufficiently supplied with ammunition in due time (although one-half of them appeared very shy, and never came within point-blank shot of the ships) that these vessels, at least the ‘Roebuck,’ would have fallen into our hands.” Council, on June 12th, ordered Col. Miles to furnish from the provincial troops under his command guards over the powder-house, over the military stores deposited at the State House, as well as the materials collected for fire-rafts at Philadelphia, stating the reason for this order was that the Continental troops had been withdrawn. Col. Atlee, on June 13th, from Chester, wrote to John Morton(14*) that, under Col. Miles’ order, he had detached four companies of “musquetrey,” under Col. Parry, to Philadelphia, and would be pleased if the remainder of his battalion could be ordered there, “that they might jointly be properly Disciplined.” On the 17th, Atlee was directed to move his whole battalion from Chester to be quartered in the barracks at Philadelphia. On July 3, 1776, Congress desired the Committee of Safety to send as many troops as they could spare immediately to Monmouth County, N.J., and the same day it is noted that “In Consequence of the following Resolve of Congress, a Letter was wrote to Cob. Miles, requesting he would give orders for the most Speedy March of the Rifle Battalione to this city.”(15*) From a letter written by Col. Miles to Richard Riley, dated July 10th, it appears that when the troops left Marcus Hook, in obedience to the foregoing order, a number of men inoculated for the smallpox had been left there under charge of Dr. Davis, who was afterwards ordered to join his company in the Jerseys, and the sick men “still remained at the Hook under the notice of Doct’r Chapman.” Col. Miles therefore desired Mr. Riley to see that these sick men were served with every necessary provision.(16*)

As stated in the letter hereinbefore quoted, giving an account of the activity in military affairs in the provinces as early as July, 1775, the people were busy “in making saltpetre.” Grave apprehensions were entertained early in the war that possibly that commodity could not be had in sufficient quantity to meet the demand in making gunpowder. To prevent such a disaster the Committee of Safety made extraordinary efforts to instruct the people in the manner of preparing the necessary article. Hence the following advertisement appeared in the Pennsylvania; Packet in February, 1776:
     “To THE INHABITANTS OF THE COUNTY OF CHESTER:
     “Pursuant to the recommendation of the Committee of Safety for the Province of Pennsylvania to the Committee for Inspection for the County of Chester, Benjamin Brannan, Walter Finney, and John Beaton were appointed to attend the saltpetre manufactory in the City of Philadelphia, in order to perfect themselves in said art, We having complied therewith, do hereby give notice to all those whose public virtue and patriotic spirit would excite them to such a valuable and necessary undertaking at this crisis of time; that attendance will be given at the house of Benjamin Brannan, in Darby,(17*) on the 23d and 24th of February; at the house of Mr. Cochran, in East Fallowfield, on the 27th and 28th; at the house of Mr. Whithy (Withy), in the borough of Chester, on the 1st and second of March; at the house of Mr. Hood, in Oxford, on the 4th and 5th; at the house of Mr. Miller, in Birmingham, on the 6th and 7th; at the house of Mr. Bell, in Kennet, on the 12th and 13th; and at the house of Walter Finney, in New London, on the 14th and 15th of said month, in order to teach and instruct all persons who may please to apply at the times and places above mentioned.

“BENJAMIN BRANNAN,
“WALTER FINNEY.

“N.B. – The times and places in the North West district are not yet appointed.”

The Council next turned its attention to the erection and operation of powder-mills. On Feb. 3, 1776, Dr. Robert Harris proposed to the committee to build a mill on the Valley Stream, about twenty-five miles from the city, and stated that he would engage to be ready by the 1st of March to make one ton per week, on the same terms as the Committee of Safety would make with other parties.(18*) Dr. Harris and the committee entered into the agreement, but he did not locate his powder-mill at the place where he first intended to have built it, for in John Ladd Howell’s report to Owen Biddle, dated June 3, 1776,(19*) he describes his works thus:
     “Doctr.Robert Harris’s, on Crum Creek, about three miles from Chester, begun to Work about the 23d ult. The dimensions of the Mill House 30 ft. by 20 ft., Head of Water about 2 1/2 feet fall, about 6 ft. Water Wheel 12 ft.
     “The Shafts that Worke (Eighty Stampers of 2 3/4 by 3 3/4 Inchs & eleven ft. Length) is thirty-two ft. Long, five Mortars made of Two Inch Plank, about five foot each, one Stamper & Mortar for preparing Sulphur.
     “Drying House, 20 ft. by 15 ft., neither floor’d nor plastered. He has received one Ton of Salt Petre and five Hundred wht of Sulphur, or thereabouts, expected to deliver one Ton of Powder on the first Inst. & the same Quantity Weekly.
     “The sides of the Mill House & Gable Ends of that & the Drying House being enclosed by Boards not sufficiently seasoned, are very open & must have a bad effect on the Powder, yet the Doctr is of a Different Opinion.”

This mill was located in Springfield township at Strath-haven, on Crum Creek.

In the same month, June, 1776, as the enlisted troops would be in all probability ordered away from Chester County, it was necessary to put the militia in such a condition that they could be called on in an emergency. Hence we find that on June 1st Col. William Montgomery was ordered to purchase a quantity of lead for the use of the Associators of Chester County,(20*) and shortly after an estimate was made of the number of firearms in the county, and the following return was made(21*)

The dread that the enemy—whom it was known was preparing an expedition at Halifax—intended to make an attack on Philadelphia was so general that every means in the reach of the colony was employed to defend the city from the threatened assault. To that end, on June 19, 1776, Abraham Kinsey, the tenant of Samuel Galliway’s estate on Hog Island, was notified that it might be necessary to “lay that island under Water on the near approach of the Enemy,” but whatever injury he should sustain would be made good to him by the public. On June 20, 1776, George Bryan, the naval officer, was also instructed that no application for a cheveaux-de-frise pilot should be allowed unless the captain on oath declared that he would not take the pilot farther down the river than Chester, except in cases where the vessels should go down the bay under convoy of Continental sloops-of-war.

On June 22d the committee ordered Robert Towers, commissary, to deliver to the colonels of the Battalions of Associators in Chester County the following quantities of ammunition:

“To Colo. James Moore:
2300 Cartridges for Provincial Muskets.
2070 do., sorted, for the other different Bores of Firelocks.
1500 flints.

To Colo. Thom’s Hockly:
2300 Cartridges for Provincial Muskets.
2300 do., sorted, for the other different Bores of Firelocks.
1600 flints.

To Colo. Hugh Lloyd:
1840 do. for Provincial Muskets.
1610 do., sorted, for the other different Bores of Firelocks.
1200 flints.

To Colo. Wm Montgomery:
2760 Cartridges for Provincial Muskets.
2415 do., sorted, for the other different Bores of Firelocks.
1800 flints.

To Cob. Rich’d Thomas:
1840 Cartridges for Provincial Muskets.
1610 do., sorted, for the other different Bores of Firelocks.
1200 flints.

     “And to each of the said Colonels, the same proportion of loose powder and Lead, equal to the Quantity of Cartridges.”(22*)

By this time almost unconsciously the public mind in the colonies had been rapidly educated to an acceptance of the idea of absolute independence from the kingdom of Great Britain. The stirring sentences of Paine’s “Common Sense” had rung through the provinces like the blare of a trumpet, giving direction to the thoughts and ideas of the struggle, and “crystallized into fixed purpose the wishes and hopes for independence,” until those persons who, as members of the committee of Chester County, had only a few months before declared “their abhorrence even of an idea so pernicious” now gave support freely to the movement for the establishment of a new nationality on the earth.

Congress, on May 15, 1776, recommended “the respective Assemblies and Conventions of the United Colonies, where no government sufficient to the exigencies of their affairs has been hereunto established, to adopt such government as shall, in the opinion of the representatives of the people, best conduce to the happiness and safety of their constituents in particular, and America in general.” In Pennsylvania, where the legislative power had (by popular consent or obedience) been transferred to the Committee of Safety, the people were unwilling to submit the matter to an Assembly which had become simply the empty form of authority. Thereupon the Committee of Correspondence for Philadelphia communicated with all the county committees, appointing June 18th as a day for the meeting of a provincial conference to be held in Philadelphia. On that day the body thus summoned assembled in Carpenters’ Hall, and elected Col. Thomas McKean president; Col. Joseph Hart, vice-president; and Jonathan B. Smith and Samuel C. Morris, secretaries. The county of Chester, in that body, was represented by Col. Richard Thomas, Maj. William Evans, Col. Thomas Hockley, Maj. Caleb Davis, Elisha Price, Samuel Fairlamb, Capt. Thomas Levis, Col. William Montgomery, Col. Hugh Lloyd, Richard Riley, Col. Evan Evans, Col. Lewis Gronow, and Maj. Sketchley Morton. The conference unanimously resolved that the then form of provincial government was “not competent to the exigencies of our affairs,” and that it was necessary that a convention should be called for the purpose of forming “a new government in this Province on the authority of the people alone.” Thereupon the conference made provision for representation of every county in the province, and for an election of members to the proposed Constitutional Convention. On the 24th of June, 1776, the meeting adjourned, after each deputy had signed a declaration which stated their “willingness to concur in a vote of the Congress declaring the United Colonies free and independent States.”

The momentous event which made the year 1776 one of the most noticeable in the history of the world was at hand. For some time the fact that a separation was inevitable between the United Colonies and the mother-country was apparent, and the declaration of the deputies to the conference at Philadelphia, just mentioned, exhibits how popular the movement had already become, Hence, when the committee of Congress appointed to draft a formal Declaration of Independence reported to that body on the 28th of June, it needed no prophet to foretell the fate of the measure when the question as to its adoption should be submitted to the members, and it occasioned no surprise when, after some alterations had been made in the document, on July 4, 1776, it was sanctioned by the vote of every colony. Of the eight members from Pennsylvania on the day of its adoption, Robert Morris, John Dickinson, and Andrew Allen were absent; Benjamin Franklin, John Martin, and James Wilson voted in the affirmative, while Thomas Willing and Charles Humphreys recorded their voices against the Declaration. Of these men deemed worthy to represent the then wealthiest province in the colonies in a Congress of the leading minds of the continent, it is a highly honorable record that there were two who were natives of the territory now Delaware County, John Morton, of Ridley township, who voted in the affirmative, and Charles Humphreys, of Haverford township, who voted in the negative on the final question of the adoption of the Declaration.

The convention which had been called to prepare a constitutional form of government for the republic of Pennsylvania met in Philadelphia July 15, 1776. Dr. Benjamin Franklin presided over the assemblage. The representatives from Chester County were Benjamin Bartholomew, John Jacobs, Thomas Strawbridge, Robert Smith, Samuel Cunningham, John Hart, John Mackey, and John Fleming. This convention absolute1y assumed the chief legislative and executive power in the province, appointed a Council of Safety, ratified the Declaration of Independence, and filled all the offices under the new order of things. The body continued in session until Sept. 28, 1776, when it adopted the constitution it had made, which went into effect immediately without being submitted to a vote of the people. By its provisions the legislative power was reposed in a General Assembly acting as one House, the executive authority was vested in a president, who was to be chosen annually by the Assembly and Council in joint ballot, the Council consisting of twelve persons who were elected in classes for a term of three years. A council of censors was provided consisting of two persons from each city and county, the first members of which were to be chosen in 1783 and elected every seven years thereafter, whose province was to see that the legislative and executive branches had performed their duties properly, neither failing in nor exceeding their powers. On Nov. 13, 1783, the only council of censors ever chosen in pursuance of this constitution met at the State-House, Philadelphia, and continued its session until Sept. 25, 1784. Chester County was represented in that body by Anthony Wayne and John Evans. The latter dying while a member of the council, James Moore was chosen in his stead, being present Dec. 30, 1783, for the first time.

After the Declaration of Independence, the men who had led the people forward to that step, now that the bonds that held them to the mother-country had been severed, put forth additional energy. It was the days when the bullets used in the chase and in war, at least in America, were cast of lead, and generally by those who used them; hence the authorities were anxious to gather material which could at once be utilized for that purpose. On July 8, 1776, the Committee of Safety ordered certain gentlemen to collect “all the Leaden Window-weights, clock-weights, and other Lead in Germantown and its Neighborhood, for which the Liberal price of six Pence per pound will be allowed.” I do not find that the county of Chester was distinctly named so far as gathering lead is concerned, but on July 17, 1776, the Committee of Safety made a general demand as follows:
     “The Families who have leaden Window, or Clock-Weights are earnestly requested to give them up immediately to the Persons appointed to Collect them. Such Families may be assured that they will be supplied as soon as possible with Weights of Iron, and it is hoped the trifling Inconvenience of being for a few days without them will not be put in Competition with the Danger that may Arise to this Country from the want of a sufficient quantity of Lead for our Defence.”(23*)

Guard boats were stationed in Darby Creek,(24*) for on July 26th, Capt. Charles Lawrence, William Watkin, and Robert Tatnall represented to Council that the inconvenience of going to the fort for provisions was such that they desired Sketchley Morton might be appointed to furnish their supplies, which order was made.(25*) The uncertainty as to the destination of the English expedition still hung over all the provinces, and extraordinary efforts were made to meet the storm when it should burst. On July 29th, Council ordered that fifty muskets should be delivered to Col. James Moore, of Chester County, for the use of his battalion,(26*) and on August 1st, Col. Moore made application for “50 Bayonets or Tomhawks, 30 Hatchets, 100 screws, & 100 worms, for the use of his Battalion,” and Commissary Towers was ordered to deliver these articles to the colonel.(27*) At this time there must have been an encampment of troops at Chester, for on August 5th, Council ordered £4 6s. 3d. to be paid James Pennell for wood delivered at that place “for the use of the Pennsylvania Musketry.”(28*) The report that the British fleet had rendezvoused off Sandy Hook on the 28th of June had allayed somewhat the dread of an attack on Philadelphia, but the long delay in disembarking the troops and the constantly receiving tidings that daily reinforcements were being made by transports and vessels of war to the armada that was to subjugate the colonies kept alive the apprehension that at any moment the fleet might weigh, and almost before the news could be carried to Philadelphia the guns of the hostile vessels would announce their presence in the Delaware. Hence the alarming condition of the time demanded constant vigilance and preparation on the part of those men who, advocating independence, must do everything to resist the capture of the foremost city of the colony. August 6th, one hundred stand of arms was delivered to Col. Richard Thomas, of Chester County, for his battalion, and the following day thirty stand of arms was sent to Col. Moore.

The same day the muster-master, Davis Bevan, of the borough of Chester, was instructed “to Pass Col. R’d Thomas’s Battalion of Chester County with the Present number of Officers and Men,” and the commissary was directed to supply the battalion with accoutrements, as also to immediately deliver to Col. Thomas sixty stands of arms.(29*) The alarm increasing, as news of unusual activity in the British fleet was received by express, the militia was hastily armed and, mustered into the service, hence we find that on

August 8th the muster-master was ordered to pass Capt. Thomas Heslep’s company of the First Battalion of Chester County, commanded by Col. Moore, with the number of officers and men then recruited. There was intense anxiety in the county of Chester at that time and unusual activity, as is evidenced from the minutes of the Council of Safety. On August 12th, Col. Richard Thomas received £196 3s., the price he had paid for eighty-one firelocks, bought of non-associators,(30*) and on the 14th of the same month fourteen pounds was paid for cartridge-boxes and bayonet-belts for Col. Thomas’ command, while the same day £75 4s. 6d. was paid for like articles for the use of Col. Moore’s battalion.(31*) On the 20th of August the news, borne by express, reached Chester that the British fleet, under Sir Peter Parker, had been signally repulsed at Fort Moultrie, and a few days subsequently that the English army had disembarked on Long Island, and hence the “Flying Camp” was dispatched immediately to New York. On August 23d, the day following that of the landing of Gen. Howe’s army on Long Island, Maj. Caleb Davis was paid £202 lOs. for necessaries for the Chester County quota of the Flying Camp, and the same day John Hart was paid £5 14s. 3d. mileage for his company of Col. Lloyd’s Chester County battalion, and Capt. Pierce of the same organization received £6 8s. 7d. for mileage. The next day, August 24th, Capt. Andrew Boon Of the Second Battalion received £6 2s. 6d. to purchase drums, fifes, etc., for his company. Many of these men who marched from Chester County with the Flying Camp never returned, but in the early gray light of the morning of the 27th of August, 1776, their ghastly faces stiffened in death, when the first pitched battle of the war was begun by an attack on the Pennsylvania “Flying Camp” on Long Island. How severely the troops from Chester County suffered on that disastrous day can be inferred from the letter of Capt. Patrick Anderson to Benjamin Franklin, dated from West Chester County, N.Y., Sept. 22, 1776,(32*) and how bravely the women of Chester County acted at that time is shown by the following extract from the Mw England Courant of Sept. 5, 1776 (37*)

     “Philadelphia, Augu8t 27, 1776. THE WOMEN OF CHESTER COUNTY, PENNA. Since the departure of the able-bodied men from the forks of the Brandywine, in Chester County, in the service of their country, the patriotic young women, to prevent the evil that would follow the neglect of putting in the fall crop in season, have joined the ploughs, and are preparing the fallows for seed; and should their fathers, brothers, and lovers be detained abroad in defense of the liberties of these States, they are determined to put in the crops themselves, a very laudable example, and highly worthy of imitation.”

The Council of Safety, on September 16th, resolved that the members of the Constitutional Convention, then in session, should recommend proper persons in their respective counties, to be appointed by Council, to purchase “blankets, coarse Woolens, Linens, & Stockings for the use of the Troops belonging” to Pennsylvania, and on the 4th of October, William Evans was desired “to purchase all the Coarse Cloths, Blankets, & Stockings in Chester County for the use of ye State, and draw on the Board for the Cost.” (34*)

The following summons from the Council of Safety to the justices of Chester County(35*) explains itself so far as known, for there appears no further reference to the matter in the official records of Council:

“IN COUNCIL OF SAFETY,
“PHILADELPHIA, Oct’r. 9th, 1776.

“GENTLEMEN:
     “You are hereby required to appear before this Council at Ten o’clock on Saturday morning, then and there to answer for your conduct in holding an Election on Tuesday of the first Instant, at the Borrough of Chester, apparently with a view of supporting the late Government of the King of Great Britain, in direct Violation of the resolves of Congress and of the late Convention of this State.

“By order of the Council.
“THOS. WHARTON, JUN., Pres’t.”

On the 8th of November, 1776, Council order the sergeant-at-arms “to arrest Richard Swanwick, of’ Chester County,” and bring him before that body, for what offense does not appear;(36*) and the next day an order was made that Rev. Mr. Rodgers be “paid £70, being part of his wages as Chaplain to late Miles’s and Atlee’s Battalion.” On the 8th, too, we learn that Council gave orders requiring “Provisions to be made at Chester for Troops to Rendevous there.” That such an encampment was located at that place at that time is inferentially established by the fact that on November 14th, “Intelligence was rec’d by Express that several hundred Transports had sailed from New York & steered their Cource to the Southward, & expected to be intended for this City; whereupon the Council wrote a Circular Letter to the Commanding Officers of the Battalions of Militia, earnestly requesting them to march their respective Battalions to this city Immediately.”(37*)

The next day Col. Bayard was paid fifty-seven shillings for expenses going to Chester with Gen. Armstrong,(38*) and on the 21st, George Weiss received £5 for riding express to Chester County to order the militia to be in readiness to march at short notice.(39*) On the 23d, Council determined that the salt then in possession should be divided among the committees of the several counties, the proportion allotted to Chester being eighty bushels, which was to be sold to the people at the rate of fifteen shillings per bushel, and in no greater quantity than half a bushel to any one family. The salt was to be distributed equally according to the necessities of the people, “for which purpose they are to require a declaration of what quantity they are possessed of more than their just proportion of the necessary article at a time of such very great scarcity of it.”(40*) On the 28th, Council declared that the salt sent to the various counties, as mentioned, should be sold only to the militiamen who entered the service, or to their families(41*) and reiterated the like order on November 30th.

On Nov. 27, 1776, Dr. Thomas Bond wrote from New Brunswick, stating that he had obtained permission to carry the sick American soldiers under his care, and stated that it would be well to consult Gen. Mifflin on the desirability of locating hospitals at Darby, Chester, Marcus Hook, Wilmington, and New Castle. “I think the Water Carriage from Trenton to these Places would save much Carting, & this plan much better than one propos’d, of sending the Sick to East Town, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Reading, etc.”(42*)

The times were unpropitious for the American colonists. The battle of Long Island had been fought and lost, New York had fallen, and Washington, apparently driven from post to post, was retreating across New Jersey, followed by the victorious foe. It was to prepare for the attack which threatened Philadelphia, alike by sea and land, that Council issued the order of Nov. 14, 1776, for all owners of cattle along the Delaware River to make arrangements to remove their stock inland at least five miles, notifying the owners that if they failed to act promptly in carrying out the order when required, the board “may be under the disagreeable necessity of giving the most peremptory order for the removal and to see that the same be punctually and suddenly complied with.”(43*) At the same time the minutes of Council show that the utmost anxiety prevailed, and the activity displayed in collecting troops, for that time, was proportionally as great as when, ninety odd years later, the Confederate forces, under Lee, invaded Pennsylvania. As Washington drew nearer to Philadelphia, retiring before the exulting enemy, his army dwindled to a mere handful of war-worn, ill-clad, ill-fed, ill-armed troops, fleeing across New Jersey, sorely pursued by Lord Cornwallis’ overpowering force of twenty thousand men, the flower of the English soldiery, the nation’s fate trembled on the verge of ruin. On November 30th, Council resolved “that in the present alarming situation of affairs” no vessel should be permitted to leave the port of Philadelphia, and all shipping was interdicted passing through the chevauxde-frise. Money was immediately dispatched to the colonels of the militia organizations in the counties of Chester, Philadelphia, Bucks, Northampton, and the city of Philadelphia to furnish support to “the families of such associators as go into actual service and may stand in need of the same,” which money was to be distributed among the families requiring supplies, “from time to time, according to their need, in the most discreet manner.” (44*) On December 1st dispatches were sent by expresses to Chester, Philadelphia, Bucks, and Northampton Counties to hasten the march of militia to reinforce Gen. Washington in New Jersey. On the 3d, Council desired the members of Assembly from the counties of Philadelphia, Chester, Bucks, and Lancaster to recommend immediately in the respective counties, proper persons to be appointed by the board to hire all the wagons in those counties.(45*) On the 4th, Dr. Robert Harris was paid fifty-eight pounds for making powder at his mills, at Strathhaven, on Crum Creek, and the same day Mr. Towers was ordered to deliver to Dr. Harris a ton of saltpetre and sulphur, in proportion to make gunpowder.(46*) The same day John Morton was paid £3 6s. for wharfage of the floating-battery “Arnold,” in the preceding March. This, doubtless, must relate to expenses incurred while the war-boats and galleys lay in Darby Creek.

On the 8th of December the American army crossed the river from New Jersey to the west bank, and so eager were the pursuing enemy that they came in sight but a few moments after the rear-guard had passed over and destroyed the bridges. The English commander was so assured that the armed resistance of the colonies was virtually at an end, that leave was given Lord Cornwallis to return to England, and he had gone to New York with the intention of embarking for Europe. The hopes of the colonists were over-clouded with doubts. The Council, however, hurried forward the raw levies of militia to reinforce the wasted ranks of the Continental army. On December 11th, Col. Evan Evans, of Chester County, was paid £2 9s. 4d. for the transportation of the baggage of his company, as well as £2 Os. 5d. for flints and lead for his battalion. Col. James Moore received one hundred pounds to advance a month’s pay to his battalion,(47*) and on the 14th, Col. Evans received “1O00 dollars to pay his Battalion of Militia a month’s wages advance.”(48*)

On Dec. 11, 1776, Capt. Hammon, of the British vessel-of-war “Roebuck,” landed Davis Bevan and Benjamin Canby at Lewes under parole, with instructions to proceed to Philadelphia and make arrangement for an exchange of prisoners of war. It seems that the schooner “Nancy,” of which vessel Davis Bevan was master, had been captured by the “Roebuck,” and he, Canby, and other Americans, prisoners of war in the hands of the Commander of the British vessel, were exchanged Dec. 30, 1776.

The cause of the united colonies seemed, previous to the holidays of 1776, almost beyond hope; only the most patriotic citizens could bear up against the constant reverses which attended the Continental arms, and it is not surprising that less than a week before the brilliant affair at Trenton Col. Francis Johnston, in a letter dated from New London Cross Road, December 21st, should present the following gloomy picture of the uncertainty that maintained among the inhabitants of Chester County respecting the outcoming of the struggle, and their hesitancy to part with any commodities in exchange for Continental currency. He says,—.
     “I think it my Duty to inform you of the strange and perverse Change in Politicks which hath taken place through a great part of this County.

“Even some quondam associators, as well as conscientiously scrupulous men, totally refuse to accept Congress money as payment for old Debts, And there are some so maliciously averse to our support of Liberty that they refuse to part with any commodity whatsoever, even the Necessaries of Life, unless they can get hard money or the old Paper Currency of this Province. Most of the Tavern Keepers who are friends on the Lancaster Road have pull’d down their Signs, & refuse the Soldiery Provisions or drink – they will assign you no reason for such conduct; the reason, however, is too evident, they are afraid to receive Congress Money.”(49*)

Col. Johnston was not only incensed at the conduct of the people of Chester County, but on Jan. 7, 1777, he gave Council to understand that the appointment of junior officers over his “head” was objectionable; particularly the case of Lieut.-Col. Penrose brought forth his indignation, but his wrath was mollified when, on Feb. 21, 1777, Congress promoted Col. Anthony Wayne to the rank of brigadier-general, and he (Johnston) was made the colonel of the Fifth Pennsylvania Regiment, Persifor Frazer its lieutenant-colonel, and Thomas Robinson its major. The term of the Fourth Pennsylvania Battalion had expired on Jan. 5, 1777, but it remained over until January 24th to allow other troops to be enlisted and forwarded to take its place. It is, however, not to be inferred from the foregoing remark that the Fourth Battalion marched away from the field in a body, for the fact is that the greater number of Wayne’s men, being of Irish birth or descent, re-enlisted, under their old officers, in the Fifth Regiment of the Pennsylvania line.(51*) Those who did not re-enter the service were ordered to Chester, where the battalion was mustered out Feb. 25, 1777. On the same day John Evans, of Chester County, was notified that he had been elected a member of the Council of Safety, the duties of which office he assumed shortly afterwards.

Although early in the year the storm of war, owing to Washington having assumed the offensive, had rolled away from Philadelphia, the Council did not lessen its efforts to place the Continental army in as efficient condition as possible, and to that end, on Jan. 13, 1777, it required the commissioners in the several counties in the State to furnish thirty-eight thousand bushels of horse feed, and of that total, four thousand bushels were required for Chester County. At this time the prevalent idea was that Gen. Howe proposed to make an attempt to capture Philadelphia by water, and this impression was confirmed when, on March 25th, James Molesworth, who bore a lieutenant’s commission from Gen. Howe, was arrested in Philadelphia, charged with attempting to obtain a chevaux-de-frise and two bay pilots, to bring the British fleet up the Delaware. Not only did he attempt to corrupt pilots to that end, but he strove to have accomplices, whose duties it should be to spike the guns at Fort Island (Fort Mifflin), and to destroy the posts and ropes at the ferries. Molesworth was tried by court-martial, on the charge of being a spy, was found guilty, and hung March 31, 1777.(51*) Previous to his execution he made a confession, and accused a number of persons as being implicated in the design to restore the royal authority in Philadelphia. Council hastened its preparation to meet the threatened invasion, and on April 3d a hundred wagons drawn by four horses was called for by the Board of War, to remove public stores from Philadelphia to the west side of the Schuylkill. Col. Caleb Davis, Maj. Evans, Col. William Dewees, and Isaac Webb were designated to hire such wagons in Chester County. On April 21st Council instructed the committees of the counties of Bucks, Philadelphia, and Chester “to take an Inventory of all the Flour, Wheat, Rye, and Indian Corn, Oats, Beef, Pork, Horses, Neat Cattle, Sheep, Hogs, &c., also Wagons, Carts, &c.,” in each county, and make return as quickly as possible, so that in the event of sudden alarm the provender and live stock might be removed to a place of safety. This was the ostensible reason for this order, but in all probability the purpose was to ascertain how much and where located were the articles enumerated, so that, if necessary, they might be impressed for the use of the American army.

Robert Smith had been appointed lieutenant of Chester County on March 12, 1777, which office gave him the rank of colonel, and devolved on him the duties of raising, arming, and provisioning the military contingent in his district, and preparing the troops when called into service. They remained under his command until ordered to take the field. On April 12th, Col. Smith reported that Chester County then contained five thousand men capable of bearing arms, and he promised to use his utmost exertions to get his contingent in the greatest possible state of forwardness.(52*) On April 24th, Congress requested that three thousand of the militia of Pennsylvania, exclusive of the militia of the city of Philadelphia, should be called, one-half of the “troops to rendezvous at Chester, on the Delaware.” The following day Council ordered the lieutenants in the several counties to furnish men, although the number from Chester County was not designated. Each man was to be provided with a blanket, which was to be purchased; if that could not be done blankets were to be impressed, but in a way that should give the least offense to the public. The troops from the counties of Chester, Lancaster, and York were ordered to form a camp “at or near Chester.” Col. Smith acted promptly, as did the other counties’ lieutenants, for May 30th Council notified Congress that the militia called out by the recommendation of that body was encamped at the places named, part of the troops being already there and the remainder preparing to march; that as Council had but few arms fit for service, Congress was requested to furnish arms, tents, and camp equipage. On June 11th, Benjamin Brannon, sub-lieutenant of the county of Chester, applied to Council for a cannon, that several companies of artillery had been formed in the county, hence he desired that the men might practice with the gun, and to that end also asked for a few pounds of powder. On the 14th, Council ordered that the first class of militia should be immediately forwarded to camp, and the second class be ordered to march, and the third class be held in readiness to move on short notice. The same day Col. Robert Smith received one thousand pounds to equip the militia of Chester County, and he was also instructed to send to Philadelphia thirty wagons. This activity was due to the intelligence Congress had received that Gen. Howe proposed marching to and reducing Philadelphia. When the British army, on June 13th, actually made an advance in two columns from Brunswick, the news was dispatched by Washington to Congress, and being received the next day, prompt measures were taken to meet the threatened attack. On the 17th, Lewis Granow, sub-lieutenant of Chester County, received four thousand dollars to purchase substitutes, blankets, etc., and on the 20th four hundred stand of arms was delivered to Col. Smith. The next day he received a like number each of canteens, knapsacks, priming-wires, brushes, and cartouch-boxes. John Beaton was appointed paymaster of the Chester County militia. On the 21st two thousand dollars were appropriated for paying substitutes in Chester County, and on the 24th a like sum for the same purpose. On July 12th Col. Smith reported that notwithstanding repeated orders only three hundred and twenty men of the Chester County militia had arrived at Chester, and two hundred of these were substitutes. Col. John Hannum was then commanding officer at that station. The alarm having passed away on the return of the British army to Brunswick on the 25th, Council, considering “the extreme inconveniency arising from the march of the militia in the time of Harvest,” countermanded the order for the levies to go to camp, but instructed the lieutenants of the counties of Philadelphia and Chester that it was unnecessary to move the second class of militia, but that it should be held in readiness to march at the shortest notice. On July 9th, Council requested the magistrates of the counties of Philadelphia, Chester, and Bucks to return the names of persons well qualified to take an account of all flour, wheat, grain, and other stores in the several counties, so that it might be removed “in case the Enemy’s movements should make it necessary,” and on the 29th Council appointed John Pearson, Nicholas Deihl, Isaac Hendrickson, Isaac Serrill, Harvey Lear, and Jacob Richards, to be added to a committee consisting of Samuel Levis, William Kerlin, and Sketchley Morton, which had been appointed to drive off the stock in the county of Chester on the approach of the British forces. On July 20, 1777, Congress received information that a British fleet of one hundred and sixty sail was in the Narrows, on the way to Sandy Hook. On the 22d, Washington, perplexed as to the destination of Howe, requested that trustworthy persons should be stationed at the Capes of the Delaware to give prompt notice if the fleet should appear in that quarter. In the early morning of July 23d the expedition sailed, but owing to light winds and fog the fleet did not get in sight of the Capes until the 30th, when expresses from both Cape May and Lewes were sent to Council apprising that body that the fleet of two hundred and twenty-eight vessels was in sight. Gen. Mifflin was at the time in Chester, for he signed for and indorsed the time of departure from that place on the dispatch from Lewes. Late on the 31st the hostile vessels bore away to the southward. Gen. Howe, in his narrative, states, “that finding it hazardous to sail up the Delaware, he agreed with the admiral to go to Chesapeake Bay, a plan which had been preconcerted in the event of a landing in the Delaware proving upon our arrival there ineligible.”(54*)

On July 9th, Gen. Washington had requested Council to have a plan of the shore of the Delaware River made, and on the 18th that body notified the commander-in-chief that General Du Coudray. had produced a plan of a fortification to be erected at Billingsport to prevent the enemy removing the chevaux-de-frise at that place, and the chart would be made of the shore of the river as soon as proper surveyors could be procured. On the 24th the “proper surveyors” were procured, for four persons were directed to make “A Survey of the Shore of the River Delaware and of the land for about four miles to the Westward, taking in the Great Road leading to the Southward, when they may extend further than that distance from the river, and remarking the several places where an enemy may land and the kind of ground adjoining, whether marshy, hilly, open, or covered with woods, and when there are several heights near each other remark’g their altitudes and distances apart, remarking particularly the several Creeks and streams of water as high up, at least, as the tide flows, and the places where they may be forded or passed by bridges. Where there are Swamps near the river, or roads, not’g particularly their kinds & size nearly. Passes of difficulty to an army to be accurately surveyed and well described.”

Nathan Sellers was directed to make the survey from the Schuylkill River to Christiana Creek, which included all the territory now Delaware County, in which duty he was enjoined to use secrecy and dispatch.

When the news of the arrival of the British fleet at the cape of the Delaware was received, Council prepared to meet the threatening attack, and as many of the militia were without guns, it was ordered that those persons who had not taken the oath of allegiance to the colonies should immediately be disarmed, “and their arms made use of by those who are willing to risk their lives to defend their liberties and property.”(55*) On August 1st the justices of Chester County returned the names of a number of citizens in the county who were, in their opinion, proper persons to take an account of the grain and other stores within twenty miles distant westward from the river Delaware, and also persons to provide for the poor who might be compelled to leave Philadelphia in the event of an attack on that city by the British forces. The major part, if not all, of the persons thus suggested resided without the present county of Delaware.

Washington was at this time in Philadelphia, and on August 1st, in company with Lafayette, whom the commander-in-chief had met for the first time the day previous at a dinner-party,— he inspected the fortifications on the Delaware River,(56*) and proceeded as far as Chester, from which place Washington, on the date just mentioned, addressed a letter to Gen. Putnam.(57*)

On Aug. 14, 1777, Col. Galbraith wrote from Lancaster that he had dispatched nearly one thousand militia on foot for the camp at Chester, but they had neither arms, accoutrements, camp-kettles, etc., nothing except blankets.(58*) Two days subsequently, John Evans, member of Council, wrote from Chester that about one thousand militia was assembled at that place from Berks County, part of two classes; from Cumberland one company, and part of two companies from Lancaster; the Chester County class “was about half completed, and when completed” would have arms sufficient for their own use, but several companies from other counties must be supplied. The quartermaster reports, he says, “that it will be difficult to find shelter for any more troops at this place, all the empty houses being now occupied.(59*) The next day, Col. Jacob Morgan wrote from Reading that the greater part of the twelve companies from Berks County – two battalions under Cols. Daniel Hunter and Daniel Udree, comprising six hundred and fifty-six men—had marched for Chester, and by that time were doubtless at that place.(60*) On the 18th, Col. Benjamin Galbraith notified Council that the third class of Lancaster County had marched to Chester, and requested that commissions for the officers of the three classes of militia from that county be sent there.(61*)

In the mean while no further intelligence being received of the movements of the British fleet, the opinion became general that one of the Southern seaports was the point of destination, and as the expense of massing the militia bore heavily on the indigent commonwealth, on Aug. 20, 1777, Council called the attention of the Pennsylvania delegation in Congress to the fact that the militia called into service had encamped at Chester, and were still reporting there; that as it was the season for sowing winter wheat, on which the country largely depended, it would be a relief to industrious people if public affairs would permit the discharge of part of the militia at Chester, “particularly as they were deficient in arms and blankets and wholly unprovided with tents.”(62*)

The following day a dispatch was received in Philadelphia, stating that on the night of the 14th instant the British fleet had been seen standing in between the Capes of Chesapeake Bay. Washington, who was restless in his encampment on the Neshaminy, had that very day apprised Congress that he would move his army to the Delaware the next morning, proposing to march thence to the Hudson River, which proposition on his part, notwithstanding the reported news from the fleet, was approved by Congress. The commander-in-chief, however, determined to halt until further intelligence was received, which came the next day confirmatory of the enemy’s presence in Chesapeake Bay. Washington at once ordered Gen. Nash, then at Trenton, N.J., to embark his brigade and Col. Proctor’s corps of artillery, if vessels could be procured for the purpose, and proceed to Chester; or, if vessels could not be had, to hasten towards that place by land with all possible speed.(63*) On the 23d the Continental army broke camp and moved for Philadelphia, through which city it passed early the next day, August 24th (Sunday), marching down Front Street to Chestnut, and up Chestnut to the Middle Ferry, Washington himself riding at the head of the column and Lafayette at his side. That evening the army encamped in and about Chester, and the next evening (the 25th) they reached Wilmington.(64*) On the morning of that day the British army landed at the head of Elk,(65*) or, rather, some distance above the mouth of the Elk River.(66*)

The effect of the news of the approach of Gen. Howe’s expedition aroused Congress and Council to renewed exertion. The former, on August 22d, requested the State of Pennsylvania to keep four thousand militia in readiness to assist in repelling the threatened attack. The following day Council ordered Col. Henry, of the city and liberties of Philadelphia, to complete the third class of Philadelphia militia, which was ordered to march to Downingtown, while the artillery of the same locality was to assemble in numbers equal to three-eighths of the whole corps, which (with cannon) were ordered one-half to Chester and the other half to Downingtown, there to await the commands of Washington. Maj.-Gen. John Armstrong, the veteran Indian fighter, was placed in command of the forces at Chester. On the 26th Deputy Wagonmaster-Gen. Thomas Hale applied to Council for wagons for Gen. Nash’s brigade, and the justices of Chester County were ordered to furnish seven wagons, which, if not immediately forthcoming, were to be impressed. The following day the justices were required to send to Philadelphia twenty-five wagons.

On August 29th Gen. Armstrong wrote from Chester stating that matters there had “been that of a chaos, a situation more easy to conceive than describe.” He had, however, forwarded at least eighteen hundred men, and also, in concert with Gen. Potter, he had formed a rifle regiment of three hundred men, had given Col. Dunlap, who was “not unacquainted with the business of a Partisan,” command of it, and it would march to Marcus Hook the next day. The three hundred men, as well as the one hundred and sixty which he would send to Wilmington that day, were not included in the number he had mentioned as already forwarded to Washington’s army. He stated that the want of arms was the “great complaint at a crisis like this.”(67*) On August 31st Council authorized Gen. Armstrong to buy blankets for the use of the troops, but if purchasing was impracticable to make as equal and moderate a levy of blankets as circumstances would permit upon the inhabitants of Chester County, “confining the same to persons who refuse to bear arms or take an active part in the defence of their bleeding country, now invaded by a cruel enemy.” He was instructed to employ proper and discreet persons to make the levy, to appraise the blankets, certify the number and value of the articles, from whom taken, as well as the townships wherein the levies were made. The general was recommended to keep account of the blankets collected that they might be returned to the militia, so that the troops subsequently called into service could be supplied therewith.(68*)

The two days immediately succeeding the landing of the British at Elk were stormy, with lightning and thunder, which delayed the advance of their army. On the morning of October 27th, two divisions of light infantry, under Howe, moved forward, and the army of invasion thus began its march in the direction of the city of Philadelphia. The lines of the royal troops, who had proceeded slowly and cautiously on Wednesday, the 3d day of September, extended from Aikentown (now Glasgow) to a point some distance northwest of the Baptist Church on Iron Hill, in Pencader Hundred, Del., when at the latter place their vanguard was encountered by Gen. Maxwell’s brigade, consisting of a detachment of Continental and the Maryland and Delaware militia. An English officer records, “The Rebels began to attack us about nine o’clock with a continued smart irregular fire for near two miles.”(69*) The American sharpshooters as usual did good service, but being inferior in number and without artillery, were pushed backward and finally compelled to retreat across White Clay Creek with a loss of forty killed and wounded. The English claimed that their loss was three killed and twenty wounded,(70*) but a woman who the following day had been in the British camp declared she saw nine wagon-loads of wounded brought in.

On September 1st, Gen. Armstrong had forwarded almost all the troops at Chester to Washington’s command, and proposed following them himself the next day after he had adjusted some matters requiring his personal supervision.

Three days later Council wrote to Gen. Armstrong stating that a part of the militia of Chester belonging to a class which had not been called into service had formed themselves into companies and had applied for ammunition and rations at headquarters, and had been refused. Council was willing to encourage those people “at this juncture,” and if they could be of use in the field, would “consider their two months service at this time as if they had served in future classes.” These men were from the southern part of Chester County, and Col. Smith the same day was directed to extend the like terms “to all other volunteers that may go forth in this common cause, they first accommodating their services to the ideas of Gen. A.”

On September 5th the American army was encamped on the east side of Red Clay Creek, and all the troops in Wilmington were ordered to march to Newport, excepting Gen. Irwin’s brigade, which was to remain in Wilmington, at work on the intrenchments at that place. “The enemy,” writes Gen. Armstrong, “as far as we yet learn, appear to spread over some considerable space of Country, but in a detached way from Couches Mills to some part of Nottingham.”(71*) The same day the Navy Board recommended to Council that as there were reasons to believe that some vessels of the English fleet would attempt to approach the city, a certain number of persons should be assigned to flood Hog Island, and that ninety or one hundred men should garrison the fort at Darby Creek. Council requested the Navy Board to see to the flooding of the Island, and ordered a company of artillery and a company of “Musqueters,” under the command of Col. Jehu Eyre, to the works at Darby Creek.

Congress having recommended, on September 5th, a call for five thousand militia of Pennsylvania, the following day Council directed the several lieutenants of the counties to order the militia to immediately march to Darby, where they were “to rendezvous on the heights,” and to “appear with what arms they have, or can procure, and otherwise equipped in the best manner they may be able.” These equipments, including blankets, Council assured the troops, would be paid for by the State in the event of their being “taken by the enemy or otherwise unavoidably lost.”(72*) This call for militia only included those of the counties of Philadelphia, Chester, York, Cumberland, and Northumberland.(73*) Why Lancaster was omitted does not appear on the records of the Executive Council.

We also learn from the journal of Capt. Montressor, chief engineer of the British army, that three fugitives came into Howe’s camp on the 5th of September and reported that Gens. Mifflin and Cadwallader were, “with what militia they have and can collect, at Chester, with an intention to harass our rear.”(74*)

Deputy Quartermaster-General Mifflin, on September 7th, wrote to Council from Newport, stating that the English army had disencumbered itself of all heavy baggage, and was then in light marching order. Washington, thereupon, had directed all baggage, excepting blankets and “a few small clothes,” to be sent away from the army, and for that purpose Quartermaster Mifflin desired a hundred wagons be at once ordered to headquarters. These teams were “to be placed in the rear of the divisions, and immediately on an alarm the tents and small packs left with the men were to be sent over Brandywine.” The following day Council directed one hundred wagons from Berks, and a like number from Lancaster County, to report to Mifflin.

Gen. Armstrong, on the 8th, stated that the night previous he had told Washington that in his opinion Howe’s intention was to re-embark on the Delaware, cross to the New Jersey side, march up to the “Shevar de frize,” clear the way for the fleet, and then bombard Philadelphia. He, therefore, was urgent for an attack on Howe in his camp.(75*) The commander-in-chief, however, had strengthened his position, intending to offer battle on Red Clay Creek, but on the very day on which Gen. Armstrong wrote to Council, Howe advanced in two columns, one as if threatening an immediate attack, while the other, extending its left, halted at Milltown. At once Washington detected the intention of the British general, which was to march by his right, throw his army suddenly across the Brandywine, occupy the heights on the north of that creek, and thus cut the Continental arms absolutely off from communication with Philadelphia. Had Howe succeeded in that movement it is not probable that anything other than the total surrender of the American forces could have followed its consummation. That evening Washington held a council of war, at which it was decided at once to change position. At two o’clock in the morning the army was on the march, and had already crossed the Brandywine. On Tuesday afternoon, September 9th, in pursuance of the enemy’s plan, Lieut.- Gen. Knyphausen, with the Third Division and two British brigades, marched for Kennett Square via New Garden. That afternoon, at half-past five o’clock, Gen. Howe ascertained that Washington had “evacuated Newport and Wilmington, and had taken post at Chad’s Ford on the Brandywine Creek.”(76*) Washington having moved almost due north from Newport on the afternoon of the 9th, was intrenched on the high ground immediately north of the present Chad’s Ford Hotel. During the night of the 10th, Maxwell’s Light Infantry, which had the advanced posts, dug intrenchments on the west side, covering the approaches to the ford, and at this point Washington decided to deliver battle in defense of Philadelphia.

* Dr. Smith’s “History of Delaware County,” p. 282.

** Colonial Records, vol. x. p. 279.

*** Hazard’s Register, vol. iii. p. 248.

(4*) Pennsylvania Archives, 2d series, vol. i. p. 550.

(5*) Colonial Records, vol. x. p. 404.

(6*) Pennsylvania Archives, 2d series, vol. i. p. 471.

(7*) lb., p. 572.

(8*) lb., 501. Nearly two years before the order, Nov. 7, 1775, the Committee of Safety had ordered that five of the ten licensed pilots should be in readiness at Philadelphia to carry vessels down to Chester, and, having performed that service, were immediately to return by land or in skifts to the city. The other five were to be at Chester to bring vessels up the river, and are, immediately after piloting the vessel, to return to Chester by skift or land. In Chester the pilots were directed to be at the house of Mrs. Withy, to receive applications from owners or masters of vessels, every day from 10 to 1 o’clock, amid none are to be absent except when on duty.—Colonial Records, vol. x. p. 396.

(7*) Colonial Records, vol. x. pp. 373—74.

(8*) lb., 356.

(9*) Penna. Archives, 2d series, vol. x. p. 119—136. Fourth Pennsylvania Battalion, Col. Anthony Wayne.

(10*) Pennsylvania Archives, 2d series, vol. i. p., 471.

(11*) Colonial Records, vol. x. p. 540.

(12*) lb., 545.

(13*) Pennsylvania Archives, 2d series, p. 619. (See Pennsylvania Archives, 1st series, vol. iv. p. 748, for Col. Miles’ report. From some of the reports made by the commanders of the galleys and Pennsylvania vessels of war, it is evident that they had no great longing for the allotted task, that of capturing the British men-of-war.)

(14*) lb., 1st series, vol. iv. p.772.

(15*) Colonial Records, vol. x. p. 628.

(16*) Colonial Records, vol. x. p. 783.

(17*) Dr. Smith states (Hist. of Delaware County, p. 288) that at that time Brannan lived in Upper Darby.

(18*) Penna. Archives, 1st series, vol. iv. p. 709.

(19*) lb., p. 765.

(20*) Colonial Records, vol. x. p. 592.

(21*) Penna. Archives, 1st series, vol. iv. p. 776.

(22*) Colonial Records, vol. x. p. 613.

(23*) Colonial Records, vol. x. p. 649.

(24*) In a letter from David Joy to Samuel Howell, Jan. 16, 1776 (Penna. Archives, let series, vol. V. p. 700), the former suggested that a few fire-rafts should “be kept in some creek below the Chevee de Prizes, in order to sett them on the Enemy on the flood. Darby, Chester, or Racoon creeks will do.”

(25*) Colonial Records, vol. x. p. 656.

(26*) lb., p. 659.

(27*) lb., p. 665.

(28*) lb., p. 670.

(29*) lb., pp. 672—73.

(30*) lb., p. 681.

(31*) lb., p. 685.

(32*) Penna. Archives, 1st series, vol. v. p. 26. See, in addition, Col. Atlee’s journal, as well as that of Col. Miles, 1 Penna. Archives, 2d series, vol. i. pp. 512 to 522.

(33*) Futhey and Cope’s “History of Chester County,” p. 66.

(34*) Colonial Records, vol. x. p. 741.

(35*) Penna. Archives, 2d series, vol. 1. p. 652.

(36*) Ib., p. 644.

(37*) Colonial Records, vol. xi. p. 3.

(38*) lb., p. 5.

(39*) lb., p. 11.

(40*) lb., p. 13.

(41*) lb., p. 20.

(42*) Penna. Archives, lst serie, vol. v. p. 79.

(43*) Colonial Records, vol. xi. p.4.

(44*) lb., p. 23.

(45*) lb., p. 28.

(46*) lb., p. 30.

(47*) lb., p. 44.

(48*) lb., p. 50.

(49*) Penna. Archives, 1st series, vol. v. p. 100; see also 2d series, vol. i. p. 657. lb., 1st series, vol. v. p. 125.

(50*) In Gen. Henry Lee’s “Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department,” vol. ii. p. 203, the personnel of the Pennsylvania Line is thus described: “Wayne had a constitutional attachment to the decision of the sword, and this cast of character had acquired strength from indulgence, as well as from the native temper of the troops he commanded. They were known by the designation of the Line of Pennsylvania, whereas they might have been with more propriety called the Line of Ireland. Bold and daring, they were impatient and refractory, and would always prefer an appeal to the bayonet to a toilsome march. Restless under the want of food and whiskey; adverse to absence from their baggage, and attached to the pleasures of the table. Wayne and his brigade were more encumbered with wagons than any equal portion of the army. The general and his soldiers were singularly fitted for close and stubborn action, hand to hand, in the centre of the army. Cornwallis, therefore, did not miscalculate when he presumed that the junction of Wayne would increase rather than diminish his chances of bringing his antagonist, Lafayette, to action.”

(51*) Penna. Archives, lst series, vol. v. p. 282; Colonial Records, vol. xi. p. 197.

(52*) Penna. Mag. of Hist., vol. iv. p. 84: “The onerous duties of his office were discharged in an active, untiring, self-sacrificing spirit, and much of his property melted away during the war, partly from direct gifts to the army and to the needy families of the soldiers, and partly because his public duties gave him no time to attend to his private business. On one occasion when foragers were sent into Uwchlan to procure supplies for the famishing army at Valley Forge, Col. Smith assisting to load corn from his own stores into the wagon, was urged by his wife to keep enough to subsist his own family through the winter. He replied, saying that the soldiers’ needs were greater than their own, and continued his work till the wagons were filled and his granary was almost empty. He spoke with feeling in his latter life of taking, on another occasion, unthreshed wheat to Valley Forge, and being met on his arrival at the edge of the encampment by numbers of hungry men, who seized the sheaves and mitigated the pangs of hunger by eating the grains, which they rubbed out with their hands.” lb., p. 86.

(53*) Penna. Archives, 1st series, vol. v. p. 321.

(54*) George H. Moore, a gentleman whose assertion on any historical topic is always worthy of consideration, states in his work, “The Treason of Charles Lee,” that this movement was made by Gen. Howe, at the treasonable suggestion of Gen. Lee, the English soldier who had received so many honors at the hands of the American Congress.

(55*) Penna. Archives, 1st series, vol. v. p. 472.

(56*) Sparks’ “Life of Washington,” p. 232.

(57*) Sparks’ “Correspondence of Washington,” vol. v. p. 2.

(58*) Penna. Archives, 1st series, vol. v. p. 521.

(59*) lb., p. 529.

(60*) lb., p. 530.

(61*) lb., p. 532.

(62*) lb., p. 536.

(63*) Penna. Mag. of Hist, vol. i. p. 282.

(64*) “Washington’s Encampment on the Neshaminy,” by William J. Buck; Penna. Mag. of Hist., vol. 1. p. 284. Irving says, in speaking of the 25th of August, “The divisions of Gens. Greene and Stephen were within a few miles of Wilmington; orders were sent for them to march thither immediately. The two other divisions, which had halted at Chester to refresh, were to hurry forward.”—Irving’s “Life of Washington,” Riverside edition, vol. iii. p. 205. In Townsend Ward’s most interesting “Walk to Darby” (Penna. Mag. of Hist., vol. iii. p. 262) it is said,” It was here, along the higher ground on the left bank of the Kakari Konk (Cobb’s Creek), that Washington, when moving towards the field of Brandywine, was forced, by rains so heavy as to swell the stream almost beyond precedent, to remain three days inactive.” Did not the incident thus described occur when the army was moving southward to meet Cornwallis in Virginia?

(65*) “Journal of Capt. John Montressor,” Penna. Mag. of Hist., vol. v. p. 409. There is an error in the day of the week on which the landing was made, as recorded in the journal. Capt. Montressor notes Aug. 25, 1777, as falling on Sunday, while the minutes of the Supreme Executive Council record Saturday as Aug. 23, 1777.

(66*) Johnson’s “History of Cecil County, Md.,” p. 327.

(67*) Penna. Archives, 1st series, vol. v. p. 563.

(68*) Colonial Records, vol. ix. p. 285.

(69*) Capt. Montressor’s Journal, Penna. Mag. of History, vol. v. p. 412.

(70*) lb., p. 413.

(71*) Penna. Archives, 1st series, vol. v. p. 587.

(72*) lb., p. 592.

(73*) Colonial Records, vol. xi. p. 293.

(74*) Penna. Mag. of Hist., vol. v. p. 414.

Source:  Page(s) 40-55, History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, by Henry Graham Ashmead, Philadelphia: L.H. Everts & Co. 1884

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