CHAPTER IX

FROM THE DEFEAT AT BRANDYWINE TO THE CONCLUSION OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

On the afternoon of September 12th, the, day succeeding the battle, Maj. Gen. Grant, with the First and Second Brigades of the English army, marched from Chad’s Ford to Concord meeting-house, whence he sent out foraging-parties to bring in wagons, horses, provisions, and cattle from the surrounding neighborhood. Early the following morning (Saturday, the 13th), Lord Cornwallis, with the Second Battalion of Light Infantry and Second Grenadiers, made a junction with Gen. Grant and advanced to the Seven Stars, in Aston, within four miles of Chester. The day was very cold, as the noticeable equinoctial gale of the following Tuesday was already threatening. It may be that an advance party of the British troops that day went as far as Chester, for on Sept. 13, 1777, James Dundas wrote from Billingsport that “the people employed here begin to be very uneasy, since we have heard that Chester is in possession of the enemy.”* Notwithstanding this assertion, I doubt much whether the ancient borough was occupied by any of the commanding army officers at that time, for on September 15th Capt. Montressor records in his journal** that “the Commander in Chief went with his Escort only of Dragoons to Lord Cornwallis’ Post 3/4 of a mile west of Chester,” and under the same date he states, “This night at 8, the body with Lord Cornwallis moved from near Chester toward the Lancaster road.”

The day following the battle of Brandywine, Council called for the militia in the several counties – the fourth class in Chester County – “to turn out on this alarming occasion,” and to march to the Swede’s Ford, on the Schuylkill, unless Washington should command them to rendezvous elsewhere. On the 13th, Washington, whose army was resting at Germantown, instructed Col. Penrose to overflow the ground upon Providence Island, which necessarily meant cutting the banks at Darby Creek, so as to prevent the English army, should it march immediately to Philadelphia, from erecting batteries in the rear of Fort Mifflin, or carrying it by a land force in that direction. On September 15th, Washington broke camp at Germantown and marched his soldiers along the Lancaster road. From the Buck Tavern, in Haverford township, he called the attention of Council to the pressing necessity for an immediate supply of blankets for the troops, stating that, he had been “told there are considerable quantities in private hands, which should not be suffered to remain a moment longer than they can be conveyed away.”*** The American commander had fully determined to meet the British army again in battle before the city of Philadelphia should fall into the hands of the enemy. For that purpose he had turned his column westward, and that evening Washington was encamped in East Whiteland township, Chester Co., in the vicinity of the Admiral Warren Tavern.

Late in the afternoon of September 15th the report was received by Gen. Howe that the American army, as he supposed, in flight, was “pursuing the road to Lancaster,”(4*) and at eight o’clock that night, Lord Cornwallis moved from near Chester towards the Lancaster road, following the Chester and Great Valley road, “by way of the present village of Glen Riddle, Lima, and Howellville and by Rocky Hill and Goshen Friends’ meeting-house.”(5*) The next morning Gen. Howe, who had remained at Birmingham for five days after the battle,(6*) on the morning of the 16th, marched towards Lancaster by the way of the Turk’s Head (now West Chester), Goshen meeting-house, and the Sign of the Boot, On the Downingtown road, and at eleven o’clock made a junction with Cornwallis’ division, the latter column moving in advance until it had gone about a mile and a half north of Goshen meeting-house, where, about two o’clock, the two armies confronted each other, and Wayne attacked the British right flank with so much spirit that in a few moments the action would have become general, when, doubtless, owing to the discharge of musketry, the heavy, low-hanging, scudding clouds broke into a deluge of rain, accompanied by a tempest of wind, which resulted in separating the armies immediately. So far as the American troops were concerned, they were in a few moments wet to the skin. Their ammunition was ruined, owing to their cartouch-boxes and “tumbrels” being so defectively constructed that they were no protection from the rain. About four o’clock, Washington retired to Yellow Springs, which place his army reached in the night, and the next morning the commander-in-chief retreated with the main army up the Schuylkill, crossing it at Parker’s Ferry.

While the English forces lay at Birmingham, Jacob James, a loyalist of that neighborhood, recruited in Chester County a troop of light-horsemen, and when the army marched away, he and his company followed the British standard. “The Chester County dragoons, under Captain James, subsequently took part in the surprise of Col. Lacey’s Militia Brigade, lying at Crooked Billett,” on April 30, 1778, and in March, 1780, Capt. James was captured in North Carolina. President Reed, on April 18th of the latter year, wrote to Governor Caswell stating that James had been “a distinguished Partizan here in the Winter 1777, & particularly active in Kidnapping the Persons in the Vicinity of the City who were remarkable for their Attachment to the Cause of their Country. He was also extremely troublesome to the County by stealing & employing his Associates in stealing Horses for the British Army.” President Reed therefore requested Governor Caswell “that he may not be exchanged as a common Prisoner of War, but retained in close Custody untill a favorable Opp’y shall present to bring him to this State for Tryal.”(7*) The regular British officers, however, were not over-scrupulous in this matter of appropriating horses to their use, for, on Sept. 19, 1777, Lieut.-Col. Harcourt, with a party of dragoons and light infantry, came from Howe’s encampment in Goshen; on the Philadelphia road, and from Newtown Square brought a hundred and fifty horses to the enemy.(8*)

The British not only had made these advances by land, but on September 17th Howe was notified that several of the English vessels of war had arrived in the river, “and three vituallers, one at anchor, in the Delaware off Chester.”(9*) The “Roebuck,” Capt. Hammond, whose presence in the river, as heretofore noticed, had made that officer familiar with the navigation of the Delaware River, at least as far as Wilmington, was one of the advanced men-of-war. Admiral Earl Howe, after the battle of Brandywine, hastened with his fleet into the river and anchored his vessels along the Delaware shore from Reedy Island to New Castle. Washington, as well as Gen. Howe, when the latter by “doubling on his tracks” had crossed the Schuylkill and captured Philadelphia, knew that the English commander must have uninterrupted water communication to maintain his army, and while the enemy were resolved to do everything they could to force the passage of the river, the American authorities were equally resolved to keep up, if possible, the obstruction. “If these can be maintained,” wrote Washington to Congress, “Gen. Howe’s situation will not be the most agreeable; for, if his supplies can be stopped by water, it may easily be done by land.”(10*) When the city fell, on September 25th, Gen. Howe sent a messenger to notify the English fleet, then at Chester, that his had taken possession of Philadelphia. That communication by the river must be had was well understood by the English officers, for, in a letter from Lieut.-Col. William Harcourt to Earl Harcourt, dated at Philadelphia, October 26th, he remarks that “it was absolutely necessary we should open a communication with our fleet;”(11*) and in the letter he narrates the attempts, up to that time, made by the British commander to that end, the defeat of Col. Dunop at Red Bank, the attack on Fort Mifflin, the repulse of the English forces there, and the destruction of the frigate “Augusta” and sloop-of-war “Merlin,” classifying them as “checks following so close upon the back of each other.”

The enemy, however, had already made unwelcome visits to the section of country now Delaware County, for a resident of Philadelphia, under date of October 3d, records that “a foraging party went out last week towards Darby and brought in a great number of cattle to the great distress of the inhabitants.”(12*) We also learn that on October 5th (Sunday) a captain of the Royal Artillery, with thirty men, went to Chester to bring to Philadelphia two howitzers and a large number of mortars. A battalion of Grenadiers and the Twenty-third or Welsh Fusileers accompanied them as an escort.(13*) On September 29th, Col. Stirling, with two British regiments, crossed the river from Chester, and took possession of the fortifications at Billingsport, which was manned only by militia, who, after spiking the cannons and setting fire to the barrack, withdrew without firing a gun.(14*) The force under Stirling is stated by Col. Bradford to have been Highlanders and marines from the man-of-war. Capt. Montressor says the troops were the Seventy-first Highlanders. On October 4th the enemy retired; excepting three hundred men, after they had made some unsuccessful efforts to remove the obstructions sunk in the river there, and on October 6th the British set fire to all the works and house, and the men who had been left to garrison the fort were withdrawn. The same evening Commodore Hazelwood of the Pennsylvania navy came down the river with the row-galleys, and attacked the British vessels of war between Fort Island and Chester. The firing “was almost a constant cannonade,” and resulted in the British vessels getting under way, retiring to Chester, where nine of his Majesty’s war ships were then lying.(15*) The same evening the Forty-second and Tenth British Regiments, with two howitzers and two mortars, marched to Philadelphia to protect a large quantity of provisions landed at Chester for the use of the army, which were then being transported to the city. In the evening of October 11th, about three hundred American militia entered the town of Chester and captured the loyal sheriff of Sussex County, Del., who had sought shelter there under the British authorities. The night after the battle of the Brandywine, Governor McKinley, of that State, was taken from his bed and made a prisoner. In retaliation for that act the Governor offered a reward of three hundred dollars for the arrest of the sheriff; at whose instance it is said McKinley had been apprehended. The day previous to this bold movement of the militia, Col. Boyd, sub-lieutenant of Chester County, was instructed to call out the fifth class of the militia to defend the inhabitants from foraging parties, and that a troop of fifty horsemen should be organized for that purpose. The ammunition required for these hastily-assembled forces was ordered to be placed at Col. Boyd’s immediate disposal. On the 13th of October it was reported that Gen. Proctor; with sixteen hundred men, was then in Newtown township, almost sixteen miles from Philadelphia.(16*) Potter had been ordered to keep a sharp lookout for parties of English foragers, and if possible prevent any provisions from being taken from the west side of the Schuylkill to Philadelphia for the use of the British troops. Congress had also by resolution declared that any one who should furnish provisions or certain other designated supplies to the British forces, or who should be taken within thirty miles attempting to convey such interdicted articles to any place then occupied by his Majesty’s soldiers, would be subject to martial law, and if found guilty of the offenses, should suffer death.(17*) Gen. Armstrong, on the 14th, informed Council that his division had been separated, that Gen. Potter with his brigade had been “sent to Chester County to annoy the Enemies’ small parties, whether Horse or foot, that may be found on the Lancaster or Darby roads, prevent provisions going to the Enemy, &c. I have heard,” he continued, “of a fifth class of the militia of that County being ordered to remain for its own defence, which is very proper, the Commander of that Class ought to communicate with General Potter & occasionally take his instructions.”(18*) On the 15th the British fleet moved up the river and joined the “Roebuck” and “Vigilant,” that then lay at anchor off Little Tinicum Island, the latter having the day before come up the Delaware sufficiently near to exchange shots with Fort Mifflin. The Americans were still confidently relying on the strength of the chevaux-de-frise, being entirely unaware of the fact that Robert White, who had been employed to sink the obstructions, was a traitor, as his subsequent base conduct showed, and had designedly left the channel near the Pennsylvania side open.(19*) Yet even after the forts were in the hands of the British, the approach to the city of Philadelphia was regarded as so hazardous that most of the English vessels lay in the river below the Horse-Shoe, making the town of Chester the port where they discharged supplies for the army.

Richard Peters, as secretary of the United States Board of War, on Oct. 18, 1777, called President Wharton’s attention to information received, that a great number of the inhabitants of Chester County had furnished intelligence to and supplied the enemy with provisions while they were in that county, without which assistance it was believed the British would not have succeeded in the capture of Philadelphia. The authorities of the United States were determined to render such service impossible, and to that end urged upon the State that “the great principle of self Preservation requires that the most effectual means should be forthwith pursued to put it out of their Power to persist in their former Mal-Practices, by taking from them such Articles of Cloathing & Provisions, & of the former particularly shoes, stockings & Blankets, as might serve for the comfort & subsistence of the Enemy’s Army, & the Acquisition whereof is of absolute Necessity to the existence of our own.” The War Department, therefore, urged on Council that “spirited and determined militia,” commanded by discreet and active officers, should be immediately sent to Chester County to collect blankets, shoes, and stockings from all of the inhabitants that had not taken the oath or affirmation of allegiance to the State of Pennsylvania, and that all provisions and stock which might be useful to the enemy should be removed to a point beyond the latter’s incursions.

Gen. Washington, it was apprehended by Richard Peters, would order Gen. Potter to co-operate with the officers appointed for that purpose by Council.(20*) On the 21st, which was possibly the day Council received the dispatch just mentioned, for it had been sent from York to Lancaster, Col. Evan Evans, Col. William Evans, Col. Thomas, Col. Gibbons, Col. Thomas Levis, Capt. William Brooks, and Capt. Jacob Rudolph were appointed to collect the articles enumerated from persons who had not publicly given in their adherence to the State of Pennsylvania, and were instructed to give certificates to owners whose goods were taken, allowing them three pounds for new single blankets. The articles thus taken were to be delivered to the clothier-general. Dr. Smith tells us that this order bore with unusual harshness on the Quakers, who were indeed a class peculiarly situated, their religious principles prevented them from taking the oath of allegiance and abjuration, for not only did they suffer from the inconvenience of parting with the necessaries for their family, but in addition, “their conscientious scruples would not permit them to receive the proffered compensation.”(21*)

At this time the British were making every effort to forward the siege they had begun of Fort Mifflin, where, under the supervision of Capt. Montressor, batteries had been erected on Providence Island in the rear of the fort and communication had also been established with the fleet by way of Bow Creek. On the 23d of October an unsuccessful attack was made on the fort, twenty vessels taking part therein, but in the action the frigate “Augustas,” a new sixty-four gun ship, got aground, was set on fire, her magazine exploded and she was a total wreck, as was the “Merlin” sloop-bf-war, which ran on the chevaux-de-frise and sunk. The day before the attempt to carry Red Bank by assault had resulted disastrously for the British arms. On the 25th, Col. Joseph Reed, then at Darby, wrote to Council that a deserter from the Hessian Losberg regiment stated that the British army “must retreat in a few Days to Wilmington if they cannot get up their Provisions. Great Distress for Provisions in Town.” Hence, when the news of Burgoyne’s surrender was received in Philadelphia on October 31st well might Capt. Montressor record:
     “We are just now an army without provisions, a Rum artillery for Beseiging, scarce any amunition, no clothing, nor any money. Somewhat dejected by Burgoyne’s capitulation, and not elated with our late manoeuvres as Dunop’s repulse, and the ‘Augustas’ and ‘Merlin’ being burnt and to complete all, Blockaded.”

Gen. Potter was active in his efforts to harass the enemy and cut off their means of supply, for we learn from a letter to President Wharton, written on October 27th, that when he first went to Chester County with his command the country people carried to the city all kinds of marketing, but that he had put an end to that trade, no one being suffered to go to Philadelphia without a pass. At the time he wrote, sixty ships of the enemy were lying at and below Chester. From the best information he could get he learned that provisions “is very scarce and deer in the city,” and he also stated that he had moved all the beef cattle and the flour from that part of the county, the territory now included within the present limits of Delaware County.

Two days after the date of this letter Gen. Washington (Oct. 31, 1777) wrote to Gen. Potter:
     “As soon as the Schuylkill is fordable, I will send over a large body of militia to you, for the purpose of executing some particular matters. The principal one is to endeavor to break up the road by which the enemy have a communication with their shipping over the islands (by Bow Creek) if practicable; and to remove the running-stones from the mills In the neighborhood of Chester and Wilmington.”

The commander-in-chief was very explicit in the orders to Gen. Potter, and the latter was instructed to execute them at once, and, if he had no teams or insufficient means of transporting the stones, he was directed to impress wagons. The grist-mills from which the stones were to be taken he designated thus:
    “Lloyd’s, about two miles on this side of Chester (afterward Lapadie, Leiper’s Snuff-mills); Robinson’s, on Naaman’s Creek; Shaw’s, about one mile back of Chester (now Upland), and the Brandywine mills. . . . The stones should be marked with tar and grease, or in some other manner, that it may be known to what mill they belong, that they may be returned and made use of in the future, and they should be moved to such distance that the enemy cannot easily recover them. If there is any flour in the mills it should be removed, if possible, after the stones are secured. I am informed that there is a considerable quantity in Shaw’s mill, particularly, which there is reason to believe is intended for the enemy. It is very convenient to the navigation of Chester Creek, and should be first taken care of. I beg you may instantly set about this work for the reason above mentioned. That no previous alarm may be given, let a certain hour be fixed upon for the execution of the whole at one time, and even the officers who are to do the business should not know their destination till just before they set out, lest it should take wind.”

In a postscript, Washington says, “I have desired Capt. Lee, of the Light-Horse, to give any assistance that you may want.”(22*)

That this order was carried into effect we learn from a letter dated Nov. 4, 1777, written by Maj. John Clark, Jr., to Washington, in which he informed the general that, “Near Hook fell in with Capt. Lee with a few dragoons and about sixty of foot, among whom were a few riflemen. . . . The mills are dismantled, and we drove off some fat cattle from the shore at Chester, which I believe were intended for the enemy.”(23*) I have been unable to find where the mill-stones were taken, or how long their owners were deprived of them. Certain is it that after the British evacuated Philadelphia, the mills mentioned were in full operation.

The service of light cavalry was indispensable in moving rapidly from place to place in order to intercept the enemy in their raids in the neighborhood of the city and in rescuing booty from their foraging parties or in driving cattle beyond their reach. So important was it deemed to have such bodies of men in Chester County that Council, October 31st, ordered Cols. Cheyney and Granow, without loss of time, to form three or four troops of light-horse, particularly in the southeastern parts of the county – now Delaware County – and in the formation of such mounted troops the advice and direction of Gen. Potter was to be taken. The militia officers designated immediately set about carrying out the orders they had received, for on November 8th, Gen. Potter, who then had his headquarters at Mr. Garret’s, in Newtown, wrote to President Wharton that considering the close approach of winter, he doubted whether the men could be raised and equipped sufficiently early to be of any service in the then campaign, and that he then had volunteers who were acquainted with the country, and answered every purpose of dragoons. If it was necessary to have dragoons for an emergency, Washington would send any number that might be required. The reasons assigned by Gen. Potter seem to have fully satisfied Council, for nothing more appears in reference to the troops of light-horses men from Chester County.

Meanwhile the British forces were making regular siege to Fort Mifflin, for the scarcity of provisions was such that already many articles of food had so advanced in price in Philadelphia that they had thereby been banished from the tables of all but the wealthier classes, and provender for animals was difficult to procure. Although the city had fallen, on the whole, considering the repulse of the fleet at Fort Mifflin and the defeat at Red Bank, together with the stirring tidings from the North that Burgoyne had been captured, the outlook for the enemy was in nowise promising. For a number of years before the war, the industrious residents of that part of Chester County bordering on the Delaware, at a considerable outlay of labor, time, and money, had constructed dikes or embankments of earth along the river bank, so that much of the low and swampy ground had been converted into rich meadow land. As a means of defense, Council had determined to cut these banks when necessary, and flood the meadows. Hence we find that on November 1st, Capt. Montressor, who was constructing the batteries on Carpenter’s and Providence Islands, and who had effected communication with the fleet by the way of Bow Creek, records on that day that “two hundred of the Rebels employed in cutting up the road to Bow Creek, and breaking down the darn to overflow us.” Previous to this, however, the meadows had been flooded, for in a letter to Gen. Potter, dated October 31st, Washington says, “I am glad to hear the flood had done so much damage to the meadows. Endeavor by all means to keep the breakers open.” Still the engineers strengthened the batteries, the work of reducing the fort and opening the river continued.

The American army even then, before the winter at Valley Forge set in, was miserably deficient in clothing, and as the State authorities were highly indignant at the peaceable position assumed by the Society of Friends, on Nov. 8, 1777, Council appointed collectors in the several counties in the State to collect from those persons who had not taken the oath of allegiance,(24*) or who had aided the enemy, arms, accoutrements, blankets, woolen and linsey-woolsey, cloth, linen, stockings, and shoes for the army. For Chester County, the following persons were named: Col. Evan Evans, Philip Scott, Esq., Elijah McClenaghan, Capt. John Ramsay, Patterson Bell, Esq., Thomas Boyd, Esq., Capt. Benjamin Wallace, William Gibbons, Col. George Pierce, Capt. McCay (Concord), Maj. Thomas Pierce, Capt. John Gardiner, Samuel Holliday, Col. William Evans, Capt. Israel Whellam, John Wilson, Capt. Samuel Vanlear, Thomas Levis, Esq., Capt. William Brookes, Capt. David Coupland, Col. Thomas Taylor, Capt. Allen Cunningham.

At this juncture John James, a loyalist, seems to have been especially objectionable to Council, hence on Nov. 13, 1777, all the officers of the commonwealth, both civil and military, were instructed to exert their utmost endeavors to apprehend him, so that he might be dealt with according to law; and the following day Col. Smith, lieutenant of Chester County, was notified that John James had been clandestinely sent out from Philadelphia by Gen. Howe into his territory, and the authorities were particularly desired to secure “that dangerous emissary and to bring him to condign punishment.” To that end Col. Smith was instructed to watch the quarterly meetings of the Society of Friends, where, it was believed, he would endeavor to promote the views of the invaders. That he might be more readily detected, Council furnished a personal description of James, setting forth that he was then about thirty-five years of age, five feet ten inches in height, slenderly made, with a stoop in his walk, leans side-wise, and his shoulders falling greatly. His eyes were dark, and his hair, for he wore no wig, was of a dark hue. His apparel, it is stated, was generally a light drab, in “the strictest Quaker fashion, being lengthy in the skirts and without pockets,” while his hat was very plain. He was, so the instructions stated, a native of Chester County, and would be better known to the people there personally than by any description Council could give of him. “For this man you have, under cover of this letter,” the order to Col. Smith stated, “a warrant, tho’ it is expected that all agents of the Enemy will be industriously sought after and apprehended by you and many other friends of their country without such formalities.”(25*) The arrest of John James and many other Friends had been specially ordered by Council in the month of August preceding the battle of Brandywine.(26*)

On Monday morning, Nov. 10, 1777, the batteries opened on Fort Mifflin, which was bravely defended until the Saturday, when, about a half-hour before midnight, the garrison evacuated it, the enemy’s fire having rendered it no longer tenable. Before they retreated the Americans applied the torch, and when the royal troops took possession and hauled down the flag, which had been left flying at the staff-head, it was almost a ruin. A noticeable incident of the siege, which shows the changes in the river, is thus mentioned in Howe’s dispatch:
     “On the 15th, the wind proving fair, the ‘Vigilant’ armed ship, carrying 16 twenty-four pounders, and a hulk with three 24-pounders, got up to the Fort through the Channel between Providence Island and Hog Island, those assisted by several ships-of-war in the Eastern channel, as well as by the batteries on shore, did such execution upon the Fort and collateral block-houses that the enemy, dreading our impending assault, evacuated the island in the night between the 15th and 16th and it was possessed on the 16th at daybreak by the grenadiers of the guards.”

We are told by Marshall(27*) that the water between Providence and Hog Islands had been deepened because the obstructions in the main channel had forced a strong current in that direction, which fact was entirely unknown to the garrison. The sharpshooters from the round-top of the “Vigilant” kept the American guns silenced, for no sooner would a man show himself than he was fired at from the vessel with fatal effect. The American galleys endeavored to drive the English man-of-war away, but without success, and the evacuation of the fort became absolutely necessary. Lord Cornwallis, who was incensed at the stubborn resistance, and the loss its capture had occasioned to the British forces, with a round army oath denounced it as “a cursed little island.”(28*)

Fort Mercer, at Red Bank, still floated the rebel colors, and it was determined by the invaders to effect its reduction. Hence, to that end, Gen. Howe, on the evening of the 18th,(29*) dispatched Cornwallis from Philadelphia with three thousand men, comprising the Fifth, Fifteenth, Seventeenth, Thirty-third, and Fifty-sixth Regiments, exclusive of the Hessians and Light Infantry, with twelve pieces of cannon and several howitzers,(30*) together with a number of baggage-wagons, which body marched across the Middle Ferry on their way to Chester. On the morning of that day a numerous fleet of British vessels sailed up to and anchored off Billingsport,(31*) where was disembarked a large body of troops, estimated by the American scouts as nearly six thousand men. They had “arrived a few days before from New York,” under the command of Maj.-Gen. Sir Thomas Wilson, with whom were Brig.-Gens. Leslie and Patton.(32*)

As the division under Cornwallis was on the march to Chester they drove in the American pickets on the Darby road, who, retreating, sought shelter in the Blue Bell Tavern, on Crum Creek, and from the windows fired at the advancing English. Two men of the Thirty-third Regiment were killed, one of the slain being the sergeant-major.(33*) The Grenadiers, enraged, broke ranks, rushed into the house, and there bayoneted five of the Americans who had taken refuge in the inn. They would have killed all the militiamen had not the British officer interfered, and the whole picket, which had numbered thirty-three including the killed, were captured. The column then resumed the march and encamped a few miles eastward of Chester, from which point marauding parties plundered the inhabitants. The next day they reached Chester, where the whole of Cornwallis’ command was embarked on transports by sunset, and it was conveyed across the Delaware to Billingsport, where he united his forces with those of Gen. Sir Thomas Wilson.

Washington, who had been apprised of this movement, ordered Gen. Greene to repair to the support of Gen. Varnum at Red Bank, and Gen. Huntingdon was immediately detailed with a brigade to reinforce the garrison. It is not within the scope of this work to narrate the circumstantial story of the unnecessary abandonment of Fort Mercer, which was vacated on the evening of the 19th, and the destruction, two days thereafter, of eight American armed vessels and two floating batteries to prevent them from falling into the hands of the enemy. On the 20th, at mid-day, Cornwallis took possession of Fort Mercer, the force under his command amounting to six thousand men. Thus the great water-way- the Delaware – was opened to the British fleet, and supplies could easily and without opposition be forwarded to the city in vessels of light draught. Notwithstanding the river was cleared to the enemy their ships seemed not, in most instances; to have gone above Chester. The day that Cornwallis crossed the river to Billingsport, Maj. Clark, who was then at Mrs. Withy’s tavern, now the Columbia House, stated that “eighty sail lie opposite to Bridgeport.” Capt. Montressor’s journal shows that in most instances the British vessels ascended the Delaware no higher than Chester. On Nov. 21, 1777, he records: “This morning sailed from Chester, dispatches for New York.” On April 8, 1778, he tells us: “Arrived the ‘Brune’ frigate at Chester, having sprung her mainmast in the late Gale. Arrived also the ‘Isis,’ ship of war, with 8 transports, part of 12 separated in ye gale.” On the 22d: “This day arrived at Chester a fleet of 35 sail from New York with forage, &c. Also arrived the ‘Eagle’ (the flag-ship) with Lord Howe.” On the 28th, “The ‘Lord Hyde’ Packet only sailed from Chester this morning,” and on May 7, 1778, “The ‘Porcupine’ sloop of war arrived at Chester this evening from England, where she left 25th of March last.” Joseph Bishop, an octogenarian resident of Delaware County, who died many years since, related that when a boy he stood on the porch of Lamoken Hall, now the Perkins mansion, in South Ward, and watched the fleet practicing, and on several occasions when receiving distinguished passengers, the yard-arms were manned and the vessels gayly dressed with many flags and streamers. Even Gen. Howe, when he sailed for Great Britain, was compelled to descend to the vessel by land, for on May 26, 1778, Montressor notes: “Early this morning sailed from below Billingsport for England the ‘Andromeda’ frigate, Brine commander, in whom went General Sir William Howe.” The day before Montressor had gone with Howe to Billingsport.

When it was determined that the Continental troops should go into winter quarters, the English general must have been speedily apprised of that movement, for on the 11th of December, the very day the army under Washington began its march from Whitemarsh to Valley Forge, and a portion of his troops had crossed the Schuylkill at Matson’s Ford, Cornwallis was in force on the other side, where Gen. Potter met him, we are told by Washington, “with a part of the Pennsylvania militia who behaved with great bravery, and gave them every possible opposition till he was obliged to retreat from their superior numbers.” Cornwallis had in all probability made this movement as a reconnoissance, for portions of his command had been in the townships of Radnor, Haverford, and Darby. On the 10th, the next day, from Matson’s Ford he returned to Haverford, his command encamping for the night at the hillside on which Haverford meeting-house stands, and the next day he returned to Philadelphia. The residents of those townships had cause to remember the merciless plunderings of the British troops during that raid.

We learn that at this period some of the militia of Chester County had organized as a troop of horse, for on December 19th, Council ordered that in addition to their pay as infantry they should be allowed all the expenses of forage, when it could not be supplied by the commissary. In the same month Lord Cornwallis had been sent to England by Gen. Howe as bearer of dispatches, and subsequent thereto the English commander-in-chief on December 22d, with seven thousand men marched out from Philadelphia, leaving Gen. Knyphausen in command in that city, and encamped on the heights of Darby, his lines extending along the road from Gray’s Ferry to the heights below the village, extending along the Springfield road to the dwelling then of Justice Parker, while their pickets in that direction were at the intersection of Providence and Springfield roads, near the house then of Mr. Swain. This movement of the British general was made for the purpose of protecting the transporting, by water, of a large quantity of forage, which the enemy had collected from the islands and in the neighborhood of Darby. Gen. Howe states that about a thousand tons were secured in this raid, sufficient, he estimated, for the winter consumption of the British army.(34*) On the 24th, Col. John Bull notified President Wharton that “By Certain Intelligence Just Recd from Head Quarters the Enemy are in a Large Body in Chester County with Genl. Howe at their head,” and in consequence of that movement he had been ordered to march to Germantown or below, towards the enemy, with six regiments of militia. Gen. Potter, in a letter dated from Radnor, Dec. 28, 1777,(35*) wrote to President Wharton that to annoy Howe as much as possible, a detachment of Continentals with Morgan’s riflemen had been sent from the American encampment to operate in connection with the militia under his command, and that they had kept close to the enemy’s lines; that on Tuesday, the 23d, thirteen of the British light horses had been captured, and ten of their horsemen, while the next day two more of their horses and riders had been taken. The activity of the Americans had prevented the enemy from plundering the inhabitants, as they usually did, but there had been little skirmishing, and but one of the American soldiers had been killed and two wounded, while upwards of twenty of the English had been captured, and a number of deserters had made their way to his lines. On the other hand, Gen. Howe reported that “the detachment returned on the 28th of December without any further attempt from the enemy to retard the progress of the foragers, than from small parties skulking, as is their custom, to seize upon the straggling soldiers. One of these parties, consisting of two officers and thirty men, were decoyed by two dragoons of the Seventeenth Regiment into an ambuscade and made prisoners.” Potter, it seems, agreed with Howe in the results of this raid, for he stated that the English had carried off large quantities of hay, and had provided themselves with winter fuel and forage, “and will bless themselves, and sit down in peace this winter in the city.” Perhaps the militiamen captured by the British, mentioned by Howe, was the same party of whom Dr. Smith records, that, under the command of Capt. William Brooke, of Haverford, who during the second war with England was a general of the Pennsylvania troops, they were enjoying themselves in a house a mile below Darby, when the enemy suddenly surrounded the house. Brooke jumped from a window and made his escape, but in getting over a fence found that in his leap he had partially dislocated his foot, to which he was subject. “Putting his foot through the fence, and giving his leg a quick extension, the joint was brought into a proper condition,” and he continued his flight until he reached a place of safety.(36*)

While the British forces held possession of the city and river, many acts of inhumanity are recorded of their foraging-parties. The marine service was more objectionable in that respect than the army, and many cases are recorded of this brutality.

Notwithstanding his advanced years, David Coupland, of Chester, was earnest in his advocacy of the cause of the colonies, and previous to the battle of Brandywine having entertained the Marquis de Lafayette at his home, he became very obnoxious to the Tories; hence, when the British authority was temporarily supreme, he was held under suspicion of communicating with the Continental authorities. In the spring of 1778, when the “Vulture,”(37*) a British man-of-war, lay off Chester, in the middle of the night, a boat’s crew came ashore, and, going to David Coupland’s dwelling, the present Stacey house, he was taken out of bed and conveyed to the vessel, where he was detained for many weeks a prisoner. His age, as well as the anxiety consequent on his forced detention from home, his inability to learn aught of his family, the exposure and harsh treatment, induced a low, nervous fever. At length, when the disease began to assume alarming symptoms, the commander of the “Vulture” had him conveyed ashore and returned to his home, but without avail. He died previous to Aug. 26, 1778, for his will was admitted to probate at that date. About the same time Capt. John Crosby, of the militia in the Continental service, was captured at his home and taken on board the vessel of war, sent to New York, and detained there in the old “Jersey” prison-ship for six months. So extreme were the privations and hardships he had to undergo, that for the remainder of his life he suffered from their effects.

The incidents happening during the Revolutionary struggle within the territory now comprising Delaware County were few, and generally comprise the adventures of a resident seeking to save his property from seizure, or an American soldier who, while on leave of absence, had had narrow escapes from being captured by the British troops. Most of these events which have come to my knowledge will be related in the history of the townships wherein the incident happened. Still, it should be remembered that while the, army lay at Valley Forge the authorities were active in preparation to place the forces in as effective condition as their limited means would permit. Hence, on Jan. 9, 1778, Col. Thomas Moore was appointed wagon-master of Chester County, and on the 30th of that month a requisition for sixty wagons was made on the county, and on February 17th, recruiting being enjoined to fill out the depleted regiments, Council, on Washington’s recommendation, ordered Lieut. James Armstrong, Lieut. John Marshall, and Lieut. William Henderson to Chester County in that service. On March 11th, Robert Wilson was appointed one of the sub-lieutenants of Chester County instead of Col. Thomas Strawbridge, and on the 23d of that month Col. Andrew Boyd, holding the like office in the county, received two thousand musket cartridges for the use of the militia, in all probability for the use of the men instructed to prevent the farmers of the county carrying to Philadelphia and the enemy their produce, an act on their part which might call down upon them the severest punishment, since Council had authorized persons so violating their orders to be subject to military law, and if found guilty to pay the penalty with their lives.

The collection of the militia fines was a frequent source of trouble in Chester County, and on several occasions we find that complaints were made to Council by the officers there that they were unable to execute the duties imposed by law upon them. On May 22, 1778, Col. Boyd, one of the sub-lieutenants, represented that in the townships in the southeasterly parts of the county, necessarily part of the present county of Delaware, many of the inhabitants were “disaffected,” and “in a riotous & seditious manner commit Treason & felony, & oppose the execution of the Law.” The lieutenant of the county, Col. Smith, was thereupon instructed to select seventy-five men from the militia, with a captain, lieutenants, an ensign, and the proper number of non-commissioned officers, which company was to be employed in arresting all persons who should so resist the execution of the laws. This specially-detailed body was placed by Council in charge of Col. Boyd, who was expected to use the men only in making arrests, but “that nothing be done by them by way of Punishment,” which was to be reserved until trial and sentence, for any other course would “be discreditable not only to Counsel but to the cause of Freedom.” However, on June 4th, Cols. Hannum and Cheyney informed the authorities that there was no occasion for the guard of men mentioned in order to collect the fines for non-service in the militia; that the ravages made by the enemy in their march through and raids in the county, as well as the great quantities of provisions, forage, and other supplies furnished to the American army were such that the residents there had great difficulties in raising money for substitutes and militia fines. Council thereupon ordered the company of soldiers under Col. Boyd to report to camp, and directed that in all cases where the parties to whom the certificates for articles furnished the government tendered those certificates in payment of their substitute money or for fine, they should be accepted by the officers, but this tender was not to include any who had obtained a certificate by assignment.

On May 6, 1778, Council appointed William Evans, Thomas Cheyney, Thomas Levis, Patterson Bell, and John Hannum to act as commissioners for, Chester County in enforcing the act of attainder, and on July 15th the Supreme Executive Council issued a proclamation calling on a large number of persons “who it is said have joined the Armies of the Enemy to render themselves & abide their legal ‘trial for their Treasons, &c.,” and among the number were the following persons formerly residents of that part of Chester County which is now included within the present boundaries of Delaware County:
     “George Davis, Husbandman, now or late of the Township of Springfield; John Taylor, Tavern-keeper; John Moulder, Waterman; John Talbot, wheelwright; & Thomas Barton, Sawyer, all now or late of the Township of Chichester; . . . Edward Grissil, Laborer; & John Wilson, Taylor; both now or late of the Township of Thornbury; William Muson, Taylor; Isaac Bullock, Laborer; Benjamin James, Cooper; & John Bonnet, Jun’r, Laborer; all now or late of the Township of Concord; William Maddock, Tavern-keeper; William Dunn, Laborer; Joseph Edwards, Mason; George Dunn, Taylor; James Malin, Laborer, & Gideon Vernon, Husbandman; all now or late of the Township of Providence; And Christopher Wilson, Husbandman, & John Taylor, Grazier, both now or late of the Township of Ridley;. .. Joshua Proctor, laborer, now or late of the Township of Newtown; Aaron Ashbridge, Waterman; Joseph Gill, Malster; Elias Wernon (“Vernon”), Taylor; all now or late of the Township of Chester; And David Rogers, Carpenter, now or late of the Township of Egmant; And John Supplee, William Caldwell & James Hart, Husbandmen ; John Musgrove, Trader; and William Andrews, Fuller; all now or late of the Township of Darby; And William Smith of Tinicum Island; & William Anderson, Laborer, both now or late of the Township of Ridley; Henry Effinger, Junior, Hugh O’Cain, William Kennedy, Darby O’Cain & James McClarin, Laborer; & Isaiah Worrell, Miller, all now or late of the Township of Springfield; And Isaac Buck, Abraham Talkenton, Thomas Burns, William Clarke & George Good, laborers; and William Henry Taylor; all now or late of the Township of Providence. And George Dunn & David Malis, Taylors; & William Bell, Laborer; all now or late of the Township of Newtown ; and Robert Kissack, Weaver; James Brown, Wheelwright; James German & Enoch German, Cordwainers; & Michael Crickley, Laborer; all now or late of the Township of Haverford, all now or late of the County of Chester. . . . And Malin Dunn, Taylor; now or late of the Township of Providence; have severally adhered to & knowingly & willingly aided & assisted the Enemies of the State & of the United States of America, by having joined their Armies at Philadelphia, in the County of Philadelphia, within this State. . . . We the Supreme Executive Council . . . do hereby strictly charge and require the said George Davis &c. to render themselves respectively to some or one of the Justices of the Supreme Court, or of the Justices of the Peace . . . on or before the third day of August next ensuing & also abide their legal trial for such their Treasons on pain that every of them the said George Davis &c. not rendering himself as aforesaid & abiding the trial aforesaid, shall, from and after the said first day of August, stand & be attained of High Treason, to all intents & purposes & shall suffer such pains and penalties & undergo all such forfeitures as persons attainted of High Treason ought to do. And all the faithful subjects of this State are to take notice of this Proclamation & govern themselves accordingly.”(38*)

Gen. Benedict Arnold, after the British army had evacuated Philadelphia, June 18, 1778, was placed in command of that city. While there, as is well known, he used his official position to further his own personal ends, and one of his speculations finally resulted in casting on his reputation and character, which seemed to have had only remarkable physical bravery as a redeeming trait, the suspicion that murder, as well as treason, was among the crimes of which he had been guilty. The circumstances are briefly these: Jesse Jordan, a deputy wagon-master of Chester County, on Sept. 27, 1778, with a brigade of twelve wagons in his care, was ordered by Col. Andrew Boyd, the wagon-master of the county, to Philadelphia, there to load with provisions, and thence to New Windsor. Jordan was absent much longer than was expected. On his return Col. Boyd demanded the reason, and was told that when he reached Philadelphia, Deputy Quartermaster-General John Mitchell had ordered him, with his train of empty wagons, to Egg Harbor, N.J., then a harbor for American privateers, where he was instructed to load with merchandise belonging to private persons. This he did, and when he returned to the city the goods were delivered to stores kept by private individuals. Col. Boyd immediately laid the matter before Council, and on Jan. 18, 1779, that body demanded an explanation of this transaction from Gen, Mitchell. On the 23d the latter replied that he had sent the wagons to New Jersey by order of Gen. Arnold, whereupon Council requested the general to inform them whether the goods transported were public or private; if the latter, to whom they belong; also desiring Arnold to refer them to the authority by which “public wagons of Pennsylvania were sent into another State to do business merely of a private nature.” On January 30th, Jesse Jordan was fully examined respecting the circumstances of this trip. While the matter was pending Arnold left the city, and Jordan and his teamsters being then “in great necessity,” the Council considered that “the board ou’t to relieve them, so far as to advance £450 until they can procure further redress.” On the 25th of February, Deputy Quartermaster-General Mitchell appeared before Council, acknowledged that the blot in his memorandum book under date of Oct. 30, 1778, was done by his orders to conceal an entry of his clerk “of the return of Mr. Jordan’s Brigade of waggons from Egg Harbor, & that the obliteration was made after the charge against Gen. Arnold for having used the public waggons for his private business had come to his (Mitchell’s) knowledge.” He subsequently, on March 1, 1779, in a lengthy letter to President Reed, gave a circumstantial account of the matter, and on March 27th, Timothy Matlack, the secretary of Council, wrote to Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant, stating that Council had advanced Jordan four hundred and fifty pounds, to be repaid when he should recover compensation for the use of the wagons from Gen. Arnold, and the body was anxious to learn whether legal proceedings had been instituted. There appears no reference to the subject until October 10th, when Mr. Sergeant informed Council that he had instituted suit for Jesse Jordan against Gen. Arnold, but the action had at that time abated by the plaintiff’s death, for “Jesse Jordan has been lately murdered in Chester County.” That Arnold personally did that deed no one believed, but there was a general impression that of all men he had the greatest interest in the wagon-master’s death, and after the former’s treason many there were who thought that perhaps he knew more of the particulars of Jesse Jordan’s “taking off” than he cared to tell.

The privateer brig “Holker,” named in honor of the French consul at Philadelphia, was owned by Robert Morris, and it is related that on one occasion the vessel, in lead ballast, reached the city very opportunely, for, at the time, the American troops were entirely out of bullets. Her owner immediately turned her cargo over to the authorities for the use of the army. On July 20, 1779, the “Holker” was lying at Chester, where a crew was being recruited for the privateer, and Maj. George Harvy was instructed by Council to allow the then owner of the vessel, Mr. McClanachan, to have ten tons of disabled cannons for ballast. The price was not exactly stipulated, but the major, as some guide for him in adjusting that matter, was informed that when these disabled cannon were delivered at Chester the iron-master would give one ton of bar iron in exchange for four tons of the old metal. The brig, as before stated, was then lying at Chester, commanded by Capt. Matthew Lawler, and at that place, from July 17th to August 2d, a crew was recruited for the vessel by Davis Bevan, captain of marines, who had before been mustering officer for the county of Chester. The following list gives the names of the crew, as well as the sums paid each man at the time of enlisting: (39*)

July 28, 1779, Barney Cuningham receipted for L11. 5s. for one hand-vice for use of brig “biker.”

July 30, 1779, Thomas Fell receipted for thirty-six pounds for two muskets for use of brig “Holker.”

Aug. 2, 1779, Thomas Lee receipted for fifteen pounds in part of prize money.

Aug. 2, 1779, George Geddey receipted for two hundred and four dollars by bounty paid David Forsyth and James McNeil, masters-at-arms.

The April preceding the “Holker” had captured a schooner of ten guns and forty men, and also two armed sloops early in the month of July, before she lay at Chester to refit and recruit her crew. In July, 1780, the “biker” had an engagement off the coast of New Jersey with the loyal privateer “Lord Rodney,” in which the cutter, after an action of an hour and a half was captured, her commander, Samuel Moore,(40*) and five of her crew killed, and twenty wounded. The “Holker” suffered severely in the engagement, her loss being six killed, including the first lieutenant, and fourteen wounded.(41*)

The war-cloud had drifted away from Chester County, and never since that time have the good people of this section of the commonwealth been disturbed by the tread of hostile forces in martial array. But, although the husbandmen could resume their labors without the constant dread that inimical parties might gather the harvests and lay waste their fields, the State of Pennsylvania still made heavy demands on the public both for men and means to carry on the war.

In the fall of the year 1778, when Sir Henry Clinton, in accordance with instructions from the ministry, had detached five thousand men to the West Indies and three thousand to Florida, the destination of these troops being unknown, the mysterious preparations aroused widespread apprehension as to the objective point of the expedition. Naturally the public disquietude was increased when the attack on Little Egg Harbor and the butchery of the sleeping, unarmed infantry attached to Pulaski’s brigade, was known. On October 19th, Council ordered that the militia in the counties of Philadelphia, Chester, Bucks, and Lancaster should be held in readiness to march at the shortest notice, but the minute-men were not further called out that year, nor were they in June, 1780, when Gen. Knyphausen crossed from New York and made an incursion into New Jersey. The purpose and extent of that movement being unknown, Council, on the 12th of that month, ordered the fourth class of the militia of the counties of Philadelphia, Bucks, and Chester to hold themselves in readiness to march to the support of the Continental army, should later intelligence indicate that such a movement was necessary. But orders to take the field were not issued. Not long afterwards, on July 28th, President Reed wrote a complaining letter to Col. Robert Smith, that Chester was lagging behind the other counties in forwarding volunteers, and urged him to exertion in furnishing the quota of militia, which must report, he said, according to Washington’s command, at Trenton, by the 12th of August. In September of the following year (1781), after the army had gone. southward, and Benedict Arnold was making preparations to undertake his infamous expedition, under the British flag, against New England, on September 25th, Col. Smith was again ordered to hold the militia of the county in readiness to march on a moment’s notice to Newtown. Bucks Co., notwithstanding there was no recent tidings of the movements of the enemy at New York. The troops had assembled on the occasion, and had already begun to move as required, for, on October 10th, Col. Smith wrote Council that, as ordered, the fourth class of the militia of Chester County had twice marched, but as often the orders had been countermanded, and the men were on furlough till further commands were issued. The order to march had been countermanded before the troops left the county, and as but few of the enrolled men failed to appear, the fines on the delinquents would amount to a very small sum. The cost of supplying necessaries for the men was considerable, and hence, as the time was short, there was a general objection to assessing on the delinquents the “whole costs of the tour.” No further particulars respecting the calling out of troops appear during the remainder of the war; although on Jan. 30, 1781, James Moore received five hundred pounds to enlist men into the Pennsylvania line from Chester County.

The incidents happening in the county now became of little general interest. On March 30, 1780, Col. Robert Smith was appointed lieutenant of the county, with Col. Thomas Cheyney, Lewis Gronow, Andrew Boyd, Thomas Levis, and Robert Wilson as sub-lieutenants. On June 8th the quartermaster-general stated that Col. Boyd had been instructed to send sixty wagons and teams from Chester County, but none had up to that time reported. Council, therefore, on the 21st, ordered a requisition on the several counties for wagons, fixing the quota of Chester at forty, which, if “cannot be procured in any other way, must be impressed.” On July 25th, Council made requisition for supplies for the army, and Chester County was required to furnish eight hundred barrels of flour per month, two thousand bushels of forage per month, two hundred horses, forty wagons, and five hundred militia; and, on August 8th, David Denny for First; Owen Thomas, Second; Joseph Luckey, Third; David Wilson, Fourth; Thomas Strawbridge, Fifth; John Crosby, Sixth; George Price, Seventh, and Joseph Spear for Eighth Battalion, to collect quota of horses in Chester County, under direction of Col. Andrew Boyd, wagon-master. On August 10th, John Beatan was appointed paymaster of the militia, with instructions that Continental money was to be paid out at the rate of sixty dollars for one in that of State issues. As an illustration of the depreciation of Continental money, owing to the fact that Congress then could not levy a tax to provide for the redemption of these issues, some of the payments made for cattle in 1780 are annexed:

June 20, 1780, John Crozer received $6000 for 5 head of cattle.

June 27, 1780, Gideon Gilpin £2400 for 6 cattle.

June 27, 1780, Israel Gilpin £700 for 20 sheep.

June 27, 1780, James Hannum £2000 for 5 cattle.

June 27, 1780, Caleb Pyle £1240 for 5 cattle.

July 12, 1780, Isaac Sewell £19,106 for 14 head of beef cattle.

In the latter month, Commissary-Gen. Ephraim Blame gave notice that William Evans was his representative in Chester County to receive live stock,- and that “the magazine” for such supplies was located in Philadelphia.

Early in April, 1782, for the vessel did not sail from Philadelphia until the 8th of that month, occurred in Delaware Bay the remarkable engagement between the Pennsylvania vessel-of-war “Hyder Ali,” commanded by Capt. Joshua Barney, and the British ship “General Monk.” The American vessel carried sixteen six-pound guns and a crew of one hundred and ten men, while that of the English had one hundred and thirty-six men and twenty nine-pounders. The victory of the former was largely due to the fact that the understanding between Barney and his men was that every order should be executed as though an exactly opposite command had been given. Thus, while the two vessels were approaching each other, Barney cried out,” Hard a-port your helm; do you want him to run aboard of us?” The Englishman heard the order and made preparations to counteract the movement, as the American captain hoped, so that when Barney’s vessel answered the helm, which had been clapped hard a-starboard by the men at the wheel, the enemy’s jib-boom caught in the fore-rigging of the “Hyder Ali,” and there remained during the short engagement which followed, giving the latter a raking position. The same confusion of orders mystified the British captain throughout the action, for, as understood, when Barney gave the command “Board!” his men were to fire, and when he shouted “Fire!” they were to board. When the vessels ran together, as stated, Barney in a loud voice gave the order “Board!” and the stubborn Englishmen crowded forward to repel the enemy, when a broadside was discharged at close range; and so rapidly did the American gunners load, that in twenty-six minutes, the time the action lasted, the “Hyder Ali” had fired twenty broadsides. The English vessel kept her colors flying until she had twenty killed and thirty-three wounded. Among the former were the first lieutenant, purser, surgeon, boatswain, and gunner; among the latter Capt. Rogers and every officer on board, except a midshipman. The American loss was four killed and eleven wounded. Captain Barney left the “Hyder Ali” at Chester, at which place he took Capt. Rogers ashore to the house of Quaker lady, who nursed him until he had entirely recovered from his wounds. The victor proceeded to the city in his prize.

In the latter part of 1782, Col. Hannum, Col. Frazier, and Dr. Gardner, as representatives of the Council in Chester County, seized a quantity of British goods while passing through the county, designed for the prisoners of war at Lancaster. The wagon-train was under a flag of protection granted by Washington. The seizure was made because of some alleged violation of the passport granted to those having the goods in charge. Congress, immediately after receiving information of the fact, took action in the matter, and it was presented to the attention of Council in such a manner that the latter required the opinion of Attorney-General Bradford as to whether Council could summarily dispose of the case, and thus prevent a trial of the cause in Chester County. Bradford was clearly of opinion that Council had no authority to interfere, asserting that if the goods seized were necessary for the prisoners of war and were covered by a passport issued by the commander-in-chief, they were not contraband or liable to condemnation; if the passports had been violated the offense was one against the law of nations, and punishable in our courts of judicature. On Jan. 17, 1783, Congress appointed a committee to confer with Council on the subject, and the following day President John Dickinson, in a special message, called the attention of the attorney-general to the matter. On the 21st the committee of Congress, a committee from the General Assembly, and Council met in the chamber of the latter body, where the question was discussed, and the position of each fully understood, and adjourned to the 23d, when a representation of the case as agreed on was drafted, which, after being signed by Cols. Hannum and Frazier and Dr. Gardner, was referred to Congress, and thus the difficulty terminated; although on March 24, 1783, John Gardner, sheriff of Chester County, a brother of the doctor, was instructed by Council to proceed with the utmost diligence in securing such of the goods seized in the county which had not as yet been delivered to the person designated by the Secretary of War to receive the articles.

The surrender of Cornwallis on the afternoon of Oct. 19, 1781, was virtually the last great struggle of the Revolutionary war, although some sharp engagements followed that decisive event, and, as will be noticed in the preceding narrative subsequent to that date, the public records demonstrate the belief so general that the end was at hand, that matters other than the preparation and march of troops occupied almost exclusively the attention of the authorities. On the 15th of April, 1783, Council issued a proclamation announcing a cessation of hostilities, but the treaty of peace was not concluded until November 30th. The independence of the United States was announced by the king of Great Britain, in his speech on Dec. 5, 1783.

* Penna. Archives, 1st series, vol. v. p. 616.

** Penna. Mag. of Hist., vol. vi. p. 35.

*** Penna. Archives, 1st series, vol. v. p. 624.

(4*) Penna. Mag. of Hist., vol. vi. p. 35.

(5*) Futhey and Cope’s “History of Chester County,” p. 78.

(6*) See “A plan of the Operations of the British & Rebels Army in the Campaign, 1777,” under Descriptive Letter F. “The Evelyns in America,” p. 252.

(7*) Penna. Archives, 1st series, vol. iii. p. 191.

(8*) Penna. Mag. of History, vol. vi. p. 38.

(9*) Ib., p. 37.

(10*) Sparks’ “Correspondence of Washington,” vol. v. p. 71.

(11*) “The Evelyns in America,” p. 246.

(12*) “Diary of Robert Morton,” Penna. Mag. of Hist., vol. i. p. 12.

(13*) “Journal of Capt. Montressor,” Penna. Mag. of Hist., vol. vi. p. 42.

(14*) Marshall’s “Life of Washington,” vol. iii. p. 176.

(15*) Penna. Archives, 1st series, vol. v. p. 648.

(16*) Penna. Mag. of Hist., vol. i. p. 18.

(17*) Marshall’s “Life of Washington,” vol. iii. p. 172.

(18*) Penna. Archives, 1st series, vol. v, p. 673.

(19*) Penna. Mag. of Hist., vol. vi. p. 192, note.

(20*) Penna. Archives, 1st series, vol. v. p. 686.

(21*) Smith’s “History of Delaware County,” p. 319.

(22*) Annals of Buffalo Valley, by John Blair Linn, p. 144.

(23*) Bulletin of Penna. Hist. Society, vol. i. No. 10, March, 1847, p. 34.

(24*) No wonder is it that the Society of Friends, as a body, were not zealous in the interest of the Continental authorities, a sentiment that the men most active in the Revolutionary war were mainly responsible for. Washington, usually so just in all his acts and deeds, was eminently unjust to Friends. Even at the time was this patent to careful observers, for in a letter written from Philadelphia by a British officer, shortly after the capture of that city, he says, in speaking of those who remained when it fell, “Till we arrived I believed it was a very populous city, but at present it is very thinly inhabited, and that only by the canaille and the Quakers whose peaceable disposition has prevented their taking up arms, and consequently has engaged them in our interests, by drawing upon them the displeasure of their countrymen.”

(25*) Penna. Archives, 1st series, vol. vi. p. 4.

(26*) Colonial Records, vol. xi. p. 342.

(27*) Marshall’s “Life of Washington,” iii. p. 178.

(28*) Penna. Archives, let series, vol. vi. p. 23.

(29*) John Clarke, Jr., on Nov. 20, 1777 (Penna. Archives, 1st series, vol. vi. p. 23), wrote to Paul Zantzinger, Esq., that at noon on the 17th, Cornwallis left Philadelphia for Chester with three thousand British and Hessian troops, but Gen. Howe in his report unequivocally asserts that the soldiers began their march on the night of the 18th, in which statement he is supported by Robert Morton (Penna. Mag. of Hist., vol. i. p. 28), and by Capt. Montressor (Penna. Mag. of Hist., vol. vi. p. 193). Clark in a postscript to this letter says, “I dined at Chester yesterday, caught a person supplying the enemy at the wharf with provisions, the boat pushed off, and about thirty pounds of butter and an excellent cheese fell into my hands.”

(30*) Bulletin Pennsylvania Historical Society, No. 10, March, 1847, p. 15. Robert Morton (Penna. Mag. of History, vol. 1. p. 28) says the troops numbered three thousand five hundred. Maj. John Clark, Jr. (Penna. Archives, let series, vol. vi. p. 23) in a letter to Paul Zantzinger places the command at three thousand, and in his letter to Washington in the Historical Society’s Bulletin, the first citation of authority in this note, he makes the number five thousand. Clark seems to have made a mistake of one day in the date he gives in the letters just quoted. He reports Cornwallis as coming from Philadelphia on the 17th instead of the 18th. and his crossing to Billingsport on the 18th instead of the 19th.

(31*) Penna. Archives, 1st series, vol. vi. p. 27.

(32*) Gen. Howe’s report, dated Nov. 28, 1777. Hazard’s Register, vol. ii. p. 288.

(33*) John Clark, already quoted, says there was a captain, a sergeant-major, and three privates killed on the part of the English. Morton says there were two grenadiers killed in the British forces, and Montressor put the enemy’s loss a sergeant-major. I have followed Morton both as to the number of men under Cornwallis, and the number killed at the Blue Bell.

(34*) Gen. Howe’s report, Jan. 19, 1778. Hazard’s Register, vol. ii. p. 288.

(35*) Penna. Archives, 1st series, vol. vi. p. 141.

(36*) Smith’s “History of Delaware County,” p. 325.

(37*) Martin’s “History of Chester,” p. 175.

(38*) Colonial Records, vol. xi. pp 513—18. Governor Guerard, of South Carolina, having applied for the name of all the persons who has been proclaimed as traitors in Pennsylvania, on Nov. 28, 1783, John Morris prepared a certified list from which are taken the following names of persons from the present county of Delaware, and those who were then recorded as from Chester, without designating the townships where they resided: Aaron Ashbridge, Chester, discharged; William Andrews, fuller, Darby; William Anderson, laborer, Ridley; Isaac Bullock, laborer, Concord; Isaac Buck, laborer, Providence; Thomas Burns, laborer, Providence; William Bell, laborer, Newtown; James Brown, wheelwright, Haverford; William Caldwell, husbandman, Darby; William Clark, laborer, Providence; Michael Crickley, laborer, Haverford; George Davis, husbandman, Springfield; William Dunn, laborer, Providence; George Dunn, discharged; Malin Dunn, tailor, Providence; George Dunn, tailor, Providence; Henry Effinger, Jr., discharged; Abraham Falkenston, laborer, Providence; Samuel Fairlamb, yeoman, Chester; George Good, laborer, Providence; Joseph Gill, maltster, Chester; William Henry, tailor, Providence; Benjamin James, cooper, Concord; William Kennedy, laborer, Springfield; John Moulder, waterman, Chichester; John (William) Millson, tailor, Concord; William Maddock, tavern-keeper, Providence; John Musgrove, trader, Darby; David Mans, tailor, Newtown; Hugh O’Kain, laborer, Springfield; Darby O’Kain, laborer, Springfield; Joshua Proctor, laborer, Newtown; John Taylor, tavern-keeper, Chichester; John Talbot, wheelwright, Chichester; John Tayler, grazier, Ridley; Nathaniel Vernon, late sheriff; Nathaniel Vernon, Jr., laborer, Gideon Vernon, husbandman, Providence; Christopher Wilson, husbandman, Ridley, tried and convicted; Isaiah Worral, miller, Springfield. Of Chester County – Thomas Bulla, husbandman; Timothy Hurst, gentleman; Henry Skyles, husbandman; John Swanwick, late of Custom-house; Richard Swanwick, late of Custom-house; Joseph Thomas, late sub-sheriff. A John Taylor, of Chester County, was pardoned May 30, 1783, on taking oath of allegiance and giving bonds for good behavior during the war. By the time this list was made out it became a question which of the John Taylors herein mentioned had received the Executive clemency, and the master of the rolls himself acknowledges in a quere that he could not determine the controversy. Penna. archives, 1st series, vol. x. pp. 250—60. On June 3, 1783, John Briggs, who had been convicted of harboring Gideon Vernon, “an attainted traytor,” was sentenced to a fine of fifty pounds and imprisonment to the 14th of October following, appealed to Council, who mitigated his punishment by remitting the imprisonment, on his entering security for payment of the fine, fees, and costs, and to be of good behavior for three years. On Sept. 13, 1783, President John Dickinson issued a proclamation offering a reward for the noted Doan brothers, and charging many others with being implicated in their crimes, among the number Gideon Vernon. The proclamation stated that any one who should kill any of these persons fleeing from arrest, “he or they so killing shall be and hereby are justified, and in case of any prosecution shall be commenced against any person or persons for the same, he or they may thereto plead the general issue and give this act in evidence.” Moreover, any person who should kill any of the persons named in the proclamation, on proof of that fact produced to the president of the State should receive a reward of three hundred pounds in good money. Colonial Records, vol. xiii. pp. 687—90.

(39*) From the manuscript receipt-book of David Bevans, captain of marines on the “Holker,” now in the Delaware County Institute of Science, Media, Pa.

(40*) Penna. Mag. of Hist., vol. vi. p. 255.

(41*) Penna. Archives, 2d series, vol. i. p. 370, in note C, it is said that the captain of the “Holker” was killed. The captain of the “Lord Rodney” was, but Matthew Lawler, captain of the “Holker,” lived to be mayor of the city of Philadelphia from 1801 to 1804, both years inclusive.

Source:  Page(s) 65-77, History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, by Henry Graham Ashmead, Philadelphia: L.H. Everts & Co. 1884

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