The Revolutionary Struggle to the Battle of Brandywine

morning of that day the British army landed at the head of Elk,¹ or, rather, some distance above the mouth of the Elk River.²

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

¹ "Journal of Capt. John Montressor," Penna. Mag. of Hist., vol. v. p. 409. There is an error in the day of the week on which the landing was made, as recorded in the journal. Capt. Montressor notes Aug. 25, 1777, as falling on Sunday, while the minutes of the Supreme Executive Council record Saturday as Aug. 23, 1777.

² Johnson's "History of Cecil County, Md.," p. 327.

On August 29th Gen. Armstrong wrote from Chester stating that matters there had "been that of a chaos, a situation more easy to conceive than describe." He had, however, forwarded at least eighteen hundred men, and also, in concert with Gen. Potter, he had formed a rifle regiment of three hundred men, had given Col. Dunlap, who was "not unacquainted with the business of a Partisan," command of it, and it would march to Marcus Hook the next day. The three hundred men, as well as the one hundred and sixty which he would send to Wilmington that day, were not included in the number he had mentioned as already forwarded to Washington's army. He stated that the want of arms was the "great complaint at a crisis like this."³ On August 31st Council authorized Gen. Armstrong to buy blankets for the use of the troops, but if purchasing was impracticable to make as equal and moderate a levy of blankets as circumstances would permit upon the inhabitants of Chester County, "confining the same to persons who refuse to bear arms or take an active part in the defence of their bleeding country, now invaded by a cruel enemy." He was instructed to employ proper and discreet persons to make the levy, to appraise the blankets, certify the number and value of the articles, from whom taken, as well as the townships wherein the levies were made. The general was recommended to keep account of the blankets collected that they might be returned to the militia, so that the troops subsequently called into service could be supplied therewith.⁴

⁴ Colonial Records, vol. ix. p. 285.

The two days immediately succeeding the landing of the British at Elk were stormy, with lightning and thunder, which delayed the advance of their army. On the morning of October 27th, two divisions of light infantry, under Howe, moved forward, and the army of invasion thus began its march in the direction of the city of Philadelphia. The lines of the royal troops, who had proceeded slowly and cautiously on Wednesday, the 3d day of September, extended from Aikentown (now Glasgow) to a point some distance northwest of the Baptist Church on Iron Hill, in Pencader Hundred, Del., when at the latter place their vanguard was encountered by Gen. Maxwell's brigade, consisting of a detachment of Continental and the Maryland and Delaware militia. An English officer records, "The Rebels began to attack us about nine o'clock with a continued smart irregular fire for near two miles."⁵ The American sharpshooters as usual did good service, but being inferior in number and without artillery, were pushed backward and finally compelled to retreat across White Clay Creek with a loss of forty killed and wounded. The English claimed that their loss was three killed and twenty wounded,⁶ but a woman who the following day had been in the British camp declared she saw nine wagonloads of wounded brought in.

⁶ Ib., p. 413.

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

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

On September 5th the American army was encamped