The Philadelphia Campaign

by Thomas J McGuire

  “The men being blown, we halted and formed to a fence,” a 17th light infantry officer revealed, “and were immediately joined by the 2nd grenadiers to our right.” The four light companies who had stormed the hill under the guns were still separated from the 1st Battalion, and Lord Bute's intrepid son was with them. “[Our] own battalion kept away more to the left; as soon as the men were fit to go on, out of gratitude to Major Stuart we desired to elect him our chief, and meant to have gone on under his command,” but spontaneous promotions by acclamation were not allowed, even in as innovative a group as the light infantry. Stuart's ascent to chief had been buoyed up by the euphoria of shared dangers and glory, and just as quickly it was scotched: “Before we could move, Col. Abercromby galloped to us, and we joined the battalion.”294

  On the far left, the Jägers, too, were exhausted. “We had no cavalry, our people were very fatigued, and in only a moment, the enemy were out of sight,” a Hessian report stated. “Therefore, we made no prisoners…and of the enemy we saw many dead and wounded.” As the British reorganized and prepared to move on, the Jägers stayed on the extreme left. “The 2nd Battalion of Light Infantry had attacked so far to the right, we stood at a great distance from the army and not until about seven o'clock in the evening, on order, were we rejoined to the army at Dilworth.”295

  The American forces took advantage of the reprieve. Count Casimir Pulaski, the impetuous Polish cavalryman, bought some time with a small handful of dragoons. “At the time when our right wing was turned by the victorious enemy pressing upon us, and the rapid retreat of the right and the centre of our army became the consequence, Count Pulaski proposed to General Washington to give him the command of his body guard, consisting of about thirty horsemen. This was readily granted, and Pulaski with his usual intrepidity and judgment, led them to the charge and succeeded in retarding the advance of the enemy.”296 In recognition of his initiative and bravery, Pulaski was afterward commissioned brigadier general of all the Continental Light Horse by Congress.

  “The enemy, however, moved with caution which gave those men who were obliged to give way, an opportunity to make their retreat with safety,” Col. John Stone of the 1st Maryland wrote afterward. “Never was a more constant and heavy fire while it lasted, and I was much amazed when I knew the numbers that were killed and wounded,” he added, amazed that they weren't higher. “We retreated about a quarter of a mile and rallied all the men we could, when we were reinforced by Greene's and Nash's corps, who had not till that time got up. Greene had his men posted on a good piece of ground, which they maintained for some time, and I dare say did great execution.”297 Lt. Ebenezer Elmer, a surgeon's mate with the 3rd New Jersey, recalled, “Genl. Greens Division being a reserve were sent & part of Nash's Brigade were sent to their assistance on ye right but it was almost night before they came up, they gave the Enemy some smart fire & it Coming on night they retired also.”298

  Weedon arrived around 6 P.M. and his troops took up positions about a mile southeast of Dilworth. American forces retreating through the crossroads hamlet fired at the 4th Brigade, “two Regiments of which, the 33rd and 46th, were ordered to scour the Village of Dillworth, and then formed in the Field” just outside, west of the Wilmington Road.299 Lt. Loftus Cliffe of the 46th told his brother, “Half of our Brigade 33 & 46 ordered to the left to take possession of the village of Dilworth were ready to obey when informed that our 2d Grenadier Battalion were out flanked and must give way if not immediately supported,” adding with pride, “we had the Honour” to come to their assistance.300

  The 2nd Grenadier Battalion had walked into a deadly surprise. As the British confidently advanced, having scattered one rebel line after another, Weedon quickly set up a trap to enfilade them. Retreating Continentals formed on a cleared rise about 100 yards east of and parallel to the Wilmington Road, near the intersection with Harvey Road, the road used by the troops to come up from Chads's Ford. Weedon formed his line behind them another 300 yards along a fence line on the reverse slope of the rise, still parallel to the road, but swung his right flank inward at a 90-degree angle along a second fence and some woods running toward the road. Other American forces, probably part of Weedon's and possibly some of Nash's Brigade, who were following Weedon, formed a concave line south of the intersection, with their left extending 500 yards into some woods and their right flank resting near the road to Wilmington, protecting the army's line of retreat. Both American wings were on the reverse slope and out of sight of the advancing redcoats. Any British forces moving near the road could now be surprised and enfiladed, or fired upon from three sides.

  Col. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina, on leave from his unit in Charleston, appears to have attached himself to the headquarters staff at Brandywine. Pinckney was with Washington when Sullivan rode up to the commander in chief to report on the situation. It was “in the Evening, about the time that General Weedon's Brigade, was brought up to the Right,” Pinckney testified. Sullivan “appeared to me to behave with the greatest Calmness, and Bravery.” Refuting later charges that the hapless New Hampshire general “behaved like a madman,” the South Carolinian stated, “At that time I had Occasion to Observe his Behaviour, as I was then with General Washington, and heard General Sullivan, tell him that all the Superior Officers of his Division had behaved exceedingly well,” evidently not knowing what had become of de Borre. As commander of the entire wing, Sullivan asked Pinckney to ride over to Weedon and ask him to place Col. Alexander Spottswood's 2nd Virginia Regiment and the 10th Virginia under Col. Edward Stevens “in the Plough'd Field, on our right, & form them there.” After delivering the message to Weedon, Pinckney returned to the commander in chief, where, he said, “I was informed that General Sullivan while I was delivering his Orders, had his Horse shot under him.”301

  The task was now to cover the Continental Army's line of retreat. Capt. Joseph McClellan of the 9th Pennsylvania Regiment, in Conway's Brigade, Stirling's Division, stated that “the last he saw of Gen. Washington that day was in the Wilmington road, about a mile below Dilworthtown. The general finding some officers there during the retreat, rode up and inquired if any of them were acquainted with the country between that place and Chester. Capt. McClellan, being a native of the county…replied in the affirmative, whereupon Gen. Washington desired him to collect as many of the dispersed soldiery as possible and rendezvous at Chester the next morning.”302

  It was now dusk, but the action was about to get extremely hot. “On the approach of the Second Battalion of Grenadiers, the Rebels left the Hedge,” the line near where Pickering earlier had seen Washington and Knox, “and were observed drawn up in the Field” on the rise about 800 yards away, east of the Wilmington Road.303 This line was probably composed of remnants of Stirling's and Stephen's Divisions, who then withdrew further through Greene's Division. They were luring the British grenadiers into Weedon's trap.

  As the sun sank below the horizon and the Americans seemed to melt into the twilight, Captain Ewald decided to gather his Jäger vanguard together. “Now, since I believed that the action had ended, I told Colonel Monckton, whom I knew quite well, that I wanted to ride with him and ordered the jäger officers to assemble the advanced guard.” Apparently believing that the houses and farm buildings scattered along the Wilmington Road south of Dilworth were part of the village, Ewald wrote, “We had hardly reached the village when we received intense grapeshot and musketry fire which threw the grenadiers into disorder, but they recovered themselves quickly, deployed, and attacked the village.”304 Capt.-Lt. John Peebles of the 2nd Grenadier Battalion stated that “they came upon a second and more extensive line of the Enemys best Troops drawn up and posted to great advantage, here they sustain'd a warm attack for some time & pour'd a heavy fire on the British Troops as they came up.”305 Howe's chief engineer, Captain Montrésor, recalled that the British “pursued them through Dilworth Town and drove them for one mile & a 1/2 beyond it, to the skirt of a wood, where they had collec
ted and from whence they poured out on us particularly on the Guards [sic; Grenadiers] and 4th Brigade, the heaviest fire (for a time) during the action.”306 Sullivan confirmed, “Weedens Brigade was the only part of Greens Division which was Ingaged. They Sustained a heavy fire for near 20 minutes when they were posted (about Sunset) to Cover the Retreat of our Army & had it not been for this the Retreat must have been attended with great Loss.”307

  Monckton's grenadiers had entered the left concave pincer of Weedon's trap; the British commander asked Ewald “to ride back and get assistance.”308

  “We took the front and attacked the enemy,” wrote Lt. James McMichael of the Pennsylvania State Regiment, part of Weedon's Brigade, “and being engaged with their grand army, we at first were obliged to retreat a few yards and formed in an open field, when we fought without giving way on either side until dark. Our ammunition almost expended, firing ceased on both sides, when we received orders to proceed to Chester.” McMichael went on to say, “This day for a severe and successive engagement exceeded all I ever saw. Our regiment fought at one stand about an hour under incessant fire, and yet the loss was less than at Long Island; neither were we so near each other as at Princeton, our common distance being about 50 yards.”309

  Timothy Pickering witnessed this regiment in action. “I saw Col. Walter Stewart's Pennsylvania regiment engaged with the enemy,” he wrote. “This regiment was close up to the edge of a thick wood in its front, and firing briskly.” The twenty-one-year-old “Irish Beauty” was no mere pretty boy; Pickering saw “Stewart on foot, in its rear, animating his men.” He continued, “But although I was within 30 or 40 yards of this regiment, I could not see any troops of the enemy at whom they were firing.”310 The rapidly descending darkness and remarkable, strobe-like effect of the gunflashes and smoke in the dark would have made it difficult to see.

  In the final glimmers of twilight, Ewald found assistance for the grenadiers. “In the distance I saw red coats and discovered that it was General Agnew with his brigade. I requested him to support the grenadiers, and pointed out a hill which, if he gained it, the enemy could not take the grenadiers in the flank.” This was the clear rise that Stirling's and Stephen's men had fired from and then vanished over. It was about 300 yards to the left of the 2nd Grenadiers, just east of the Wilmington Road. Agnew advanced up the slope, unaware that Weedon's men were below the summit on the other side, positioned like an inverted wedge along a fence in his front and around his left flank. “He followed, and he no sooner reached the hill than we ran into several American regiments, which were just about to take the grenadiers in the flank and rear,” Ewald recalled. “At this point there was terrible firing, and half of the Englishmen and nearly all of the officers of these two regiments (they were the 46th and 64th) were slain.”311

  Ewald's description vividly captures the intensity of the final phase of the Battle of Brandywine, though as in many of the accounts, his perception of losses was distorted. It is possible that some of these British troops threw themselves to the ground, as the light infantry had done, but many of them were, in fact, shot down. The 46th's losses were negligible, but the 64th Regiment of Foot, 420 strong, took the brunt of the firing and was decimated, losing just over 10 percent of its strength. Seven officers, including one ensign, four lieutenants, and thirty-nine-year-old Maj. Robert McLeroth, were hit, of which six fell wounded; Capt. Henry Nairn, a forty-two-year-old veteran with more than twenty years of service, was killed, as were four privates; and five sergeants and thirty-one privates were listed as wounded, for a total of forty-seven casualties, the largest reported loss for a single British regiment at Brandywine.312 An officer of the 17th Light Company confirmed, “A considerable Body which form'd part of the Rebels second Line & which remain'd in order to cover their Retreat being perceiv'd by the 4th Brigade, they advanc'd with great Spirit in the Attack assisted by the 2nd LI, part of the 1st LI & 2nd Grenadiers. The heat of the Action fell chiefly on the 64th Regt. who suffer'd considerably, enduring with the utmost steadiness a very heavy fire, which lasted till Dark, when the Rebels retreated in great Panick taking the Road to Chester.”313 Archibald Robertson noted, “The second Battalion of Grenadiers advanced, and the 4th Brigade wheel'd up to their left in the position” where Weedon's right flank turned at 90 degrees to enfilade, “when a very heavy Fire commenced from Hedges and Woods where the Rebels had retired, from which they were very soon driven on all sides, but it being by this time almost Dark, unacquainted with the Ground, and the Troops very much fatigued, it was impossible to pursue further the Advantage they had gained.”314

  “I certainly believe that the affair would have turned out to be an even more dirty one if an English artillery officer had not hurried up with two light 6-pounders,” the battalion guns of the 4th Brigade, “and fired on the enemy's flank with grapeshot,” Ewald commented, “whereupon the enemy retreated to Chester. Night fell over this story and the hot day came to an end.”315 Montrésor clarified the details: As chief engineer, “I directed the position and attack of most of the field train,” the heavy 6- and 12-pounders, “and late in the evening, when the action was near concluded, a very heavy fire was received by our Grenadiers from 6,000 Rebels, Washington's Rearguard, when Col. Monckton requested me to ride through it to Brigadier-General Agnew's Brigade, and his 4 Twelve Pounders; which I did time enough to support them; and by my fixing the four 12 pounders, Routed the Enemy.”316

  Peebles, across the Wilmington Road with the 2nd Grenadiers, wrote, “We briskly attack'd ye enemy & after a close fire for some minutes charged them again and drove them into the woods in the greatest confusion.”317 After coming to the rescue of the grenadiers, said Lt. Loftus Cliffe of the 46th, “we had the Honour & with our fire closed the Day. The fatigues of this Day were excessive.”318 Lt. Martin Hunter in the 2nd Light Infantry observed, “A very considerable body of the enemy formed in a wood to cover their retreat, but were immediately attacked by the 33rd Regiment and Light Infantry, and totally defeated.” This was Weedon's angled right flank. “It was now near dark, and our army so very much fatigued that we could not follow up our victory; indeed, it could not have been attended with much success, in a country so much intersected with rivers and woods, and it is always very difficult to come up with a retreating army with infantry.”319

  “The sun set when I left the Hill from whence I saw the fate of the day,” Joseph Clark of Stephen's Division wrote. “His Excellency I saw within 200 yards of the Enemy, with but a small party about with him & they drawing off from their station; our Army broke at the right & night coming on adding a gloom to our misfortunes. Amidst the noise of Cannon, the hurry of people, & waggons driving in confusion from the field, I came off with a heart full of Distress.”320 Timothy Pickering recounted, “Very soon after this, the General retired still farther. The sun had for some time disappeared: it began to grow dusky: and as we proceeded, in retiring, the General said to me—‘Why ’tis a perfect rout.’”321

  The British did not pursue any further; the field was dark by 6:45, illuminated by starlight and a bright yellow moon high in the southwestern sky. Ens. George Inman of the 17th Light Company wrote of him and his men, “[We] began the attack after 4 in the afternoon and before nine were able to sitt down and refresh ourselves with some cold Pork and Grogg, on the Ground the Enemy had first posted themselves, which we enjoyed much, as our march before the attack was better than 18 miles.”322 An officer of the 2nd Light Infantry Battalion wrote, “They all gave way, leaving 15 [sic; 11] pieces of brass cannon, 2 Iron ditto, 70 Wagons of ammunition, baggage and provisions 150, with horses completed at 4 for each gun and wagon, but night came on, and brave Howe not knowing the country was obliged to halt that night.” The Jägers and part of the 2nd Light Infantry Battalion came to a halt on the far left, at the 1704 Brinton Great House on the Wilmington Road. The same officer wrote that “Genl. Sir William Erskine [was with] the Flying Army [the light troops] on the left of the Grand Army, the Brigadier Generals c
ommanding their different brigades in station.”323

  A story came down through the Brintons, who have been a prominent and numerous family in the area since the 1680s, that “about the time the Americans had retired and left the invaders masters of the Brandywine battle-ground, Sir William Erskine, quarter-master-general of the British army, came, with some of his companions, to the house of Edward Brinton, Esq., near Dilworthtown.” Edward was a first-generation American, the son of William Brinton Jr., who came from Staffordshire, England, with his parents in 1684. William built the impressive stone house with steep, high gables in 1704, the same year Edward was born.

  [General Erskine] took possession of the parlor, and caused his servant to produce some bottles of wine from his baggage, when the company sat down, and had a jolly time over their liquor. Edward Brinton was then an aged man [he was seventy-three years old], had long held the commission of judge and justice of the peace from George II, and was the respected ancestor of many families…. When the visitors had thus regaled themselves after the fatigues of the day, Sir William addressed the venerable squire, saying, “Well, old gentleman, what do you think of these times?” The worthy patriarch of Birmingham replied, very frankly, “Our people may have been a little rash sometimes, but I do think the mother-country has treated us very badly.” “Indeed, sir,” said Sir William, “I think so, too; and had it not been for your Declaration of Independence, I never would have drawn my sword in America.”324

  Grant had the final word. “General Sunset saved the Rebell Artillery & prevented a pursuit, but they retreated in the utmost confusion to Chester & many of them never stopt till they got to Philedelphia,” he told General Harvey. “Thus ended the 11th of September.”325