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Chapter VIII
The Battle of Brandywine | |||
tressor tells us that the British troops had sixty killed and three hundred wounded. Certain it is that the English not continuing the pursuit is some evidence that they were in no condition to do so. Thomas Paine declared that Brandywine, "excepting the enemy keeping the ground, may be deemed a drawn battle," and that as Washington had collected his army at Chester, "the enemy's not moving towards him next day must be attributed to the disability they sustained and the burthen of their wounded."1 The dead of both armies, it should be remembered, were left on the field and had to be burned, while the number of wounded was so great, that on the Sunday following the battle (September 14th) Drs. Rush, Leiper, Latimer, Way, and Coates, with Mr. Willet, a mate in the hospital, with their attendants, who had been sent by Washington, arrived at headquarters of the British army, or, as Capt. Montressor records the incident, came "to attend the wounded Rebels left scattered in the Houses about the field of Battle unattended by their Surgeons until now." | 1 Paine's letter to Franklin, Penna. Mag. of History, vol. ii. p. 283. | ||
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To return to the army, which was drifting down the road to Chester in a confused mass. The artillery saved from the enemy's clutches jolted and surged along as rapidly as the tired horses could be made to go under the goading whip, while the baggage-wagons crowded to the front amid the oaths of the teamsters and the panic-stricken men who were forced to make room for the vehicles to pass. Fortunately the early evening was still and clear, and the moon looked down on the defeated, demoralized men, who tiring at length of their senseless flight, the disorder in a measure ceased as the weary journeying came near an end, so that the guard at Chester bridge, placed there by Lafayette, succeeded in gathering the men into something like company and regimental order without much difficulty. Greene's division, as well as many of the men from other commands, preserved a military organization, and they marched front the field in columns becoming the brave soldiers they had proved themselves to be on the heights of Brandywine.
In Chester the noise of the distant cannonading could be distinctly heard, like far-away mutterings of thunder, and after the battle had been lost, the bearer of ill tidings traveled fast with their unwelcome intelligence. Before dusk the first of the discomfited American forces began to straggle in, spreading all kind of rumors regarding the results of the contest, and the ancient borough was never so aroused. In Philadelphia all was excitement. Paine states that he was preparing dispatches for Franklin "when the report of cannon at Brandywine interrupted my (his) proceedings."2 Far into the night the American army kept marching into Chester, and it is related that after the moon had set Col. Cropper, then a captain in the Ninth Virginia Infantry, - a part of Greene's command covering the retreat, - because of the darkness, and to prevent his men being crowded off the approaches to the bridge at the creek, fastened his handkerchief on a ramrod, and stood there holding it aloft as a signal until his command had filed by. | 2 Penna. Mag. of Hist., vol. ii. p. 283. Irving (Life of Washington, vol. iii. p. 222) thus describes the excitement in Philadelphia: "The scene of this battle, which decided the fate of Philadelphia, was within six and twenty miles of that city, and each discharge of cannon could be heard there. The two parties of the inhabitants, Whig and Tory, were to be seen in groups in the squares and public places, awaiting the event in anxious silence. At length a courier arrived. His tidings spread consternation among the friends of liberty. Many left their homes; entire families abandoned everything in terror and despair and took refuge in the mountains." | ||
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Hon. William Darlington has recorded the escape of Col. Samuel Smith, of Maryland, from the field, as related to him by the old veteran, who subsequently defended Fort Mifflin so determinedly. Having become separated from his command in the retreat, and, apprehensive of falling into the hands of the enemy, the colonel rode to the house of a Quaker farmer, whom he desired forthwith to conduct him by a safe route to Chester. The latter protested against the undertaking, but Col. Smith drew a pistol, stating that if he did not get his horse at once and do as he asked, he was a dead man. The Quaker, in alarm, exclaiming, "What a dreadful man thou art!" did as he was told. "Now," said Col. Smith, "I have not entire confidence in your fidelity, but I tell you explicitly that if you do not conduct me clear of the enemy, the moment I discover your treachery I will blow your brains out." The terrified farmer thereupon exclaimed, "Why, thou art the most desperate man I ever did see." However, he brought the colonel safely to Chester and was rewarded for his services. At midnight Washington addressed a letter to Congress, apprising that body of the loss of the battle. The missive is dated Chester, and traditionally in the Kerlin family, it is said, he wrote the letter at the Washington House, on Market Street. It was published by the order of Congress, and is as follows:
"Chester, September 11th, 1777.
"But though we fought under many disadvantages, and were from the cause above mentioned, obliged to retire, yet our loss of men is not, I am persuaded, very considerable; I believe much less than the enemy's. We have also lost seven or eight pieces of cannon according to | |||