The Philadelphia Campaign

by Thomas J McGuire

  All of these features made the Pine Barrens an eerie and sometimes dangerous place, a favorite hideout for smugglers and other outlaws. Inland were “Swamp Angels,” loners who lived by poaching, “many straggling, impertinent, vociferous Swamp Men.”87 And yet, “there is something grand, charming and desirable in this vulgarly despised Egg Harbour,” wrote Rev. Philip Vickers Fithian, a Presbyterian minister riding the circuit through the area in 1775. “I love the simplicity which I see in the manner of the inhabitants, the country, the sand, the Pines…it is Nature stark naked.”88

  This lonely route passed the ironworks of Atsion and Batsto, where bog iron, noted for its peculiar resistance to rust, was made into a variety of superb iron products, but other than these and the occasional tavern, there were few signs of habitation. The road, used mainly by heavy wagons transporting tons of smuggled cargoes, salt, timber, and iron goods, including cannonballs from Batsto, was little more than two sandy ruts that were deep in places, so travel was a tedious and exhausting chore, especially in the stifling humidity of late July.

  The speed with which Hunn and the other riders fulfilled their assignment is a tribute to their bravery and commitment, for Hunn himself commented, “There is but few that Nowes the way through the Jerseys.”89 And for the next week, the actions of Washington's army and Congress would be determined by his observations.

  “July 25—Dog-days begin,” announced the New-England Almanack for 1777.90 By early afternoon, Hunn and the others arrived near Little Egg Harbor—“that nest of rebel pirates,” in the words of Sir Henry Clinton—where there was a saltworks and a haven for American privateers. Hunn sent a message back to Philadelphia that from his vantage point, no British ships were visible.

  Portions of the fleet were within sight of the shore from time to time. Captain Montrésor observed from the schooner Alert on July 25, “Latitude at 12 this day 39.48,” about sixteen miles north of Little Egg Harbor. That afternoon, he “saw the Jersey Shore…supposed to be Great Egg Harbour,” twenty miles south of Little Egg Harbor.91

  Captain Hunn and his companions rode down to Great Egg Harbor that same afternoon, where they crossed from Somers's Point to Beesley's Point in Cape May County, but again saw nothing of the fleet. They continued on to the house of Capt. Nicholas Stillwell, a fellow sea captain and colonel of the Cape May County Militia, where they met five newly captured British naval prisoners from the brig Stanley who had been turned in by two deserters from HMS Roebuck, a forty-four-gun frigate. Among the captives were Thomas Slater, the ships master, and Roland Edwards, the chief pilot.

  Earlier that day, the British seamen had taken an armed whaleboat from the frigate and came into Corson's Inlet at the southern end of Peck's Beach, an uninhabited barrier island on the southeast side of Great Egg Harbor. Rimmed with shimmering white sandy beaches and infested with mosquitoes and bloodthirsty greenhead flies from the nearby salt marshes, the island was covered with prickly cedar thickets and grassy savannas used for grazing cattle.92 This small, heavily armed British expedition landed on Peck's Beach, looking for a cargo of rum from a schooner they had chased the previous day and possibly for cattle. Heat and fatigue built up a thirst, which induced the group to take a midday nap. While their companions were snoozing, the two sailors assigned to sentry duty took the opportunity to desert by stealing the whaleboat and rowing to shore. Upon reaching the mainland, they informed Stillwell of their situation; he promptly dispatched militiamen, who captured the rest of the crew. The spoils included all of their firearms, ships armaments, ammunition, and the source of their predicament, “1 Bottle Rum, & Two empty ones.”93

  But at that moment, the Roebuck was not part of Howe's fleet. It was a well-known British presence at the Delaware Capes, having been assigned to patrol duty there from time to time since 1775, chasing smugglers, interrupting Continental commerce, and gathering information from Loyalists. The wait for fleet sightings continued.

  Up at Little Egg Harbor the next morning, Saturday, July 26, Dr. John McGinnis sent an urgent message to Col. William Bradford “at the L Caffee house Philadelphia,” the Old London Coffee House at Front Street and Market Street, the commercial hub of town: “This morning halfe after Eight I Discovered Seventy Saile Beating to windard the wind at South making Short Tackes and keeping the Shore Close aboard[.] Six hevy Ships just off the mouth of Little Egg harber.”94

  By Sunday morning, the note had arrived at the coffee house. This famous establishment, operated by Bradford since the 1750s, was the old Merchants’ Exchange, the main spot downtown for news and gossip and a center of Whig political activity. It was also where the Pennsylvania Board of War office was located. At 9 A.M., Gen. Thomas Mifflin, newly arrived in town, wrote to Washington, “A Gentleman well known in this City is this Minute come to Town from little Egg Harbour—he declares he saw Seventy Sail of Vessels at 4 Oclock Yesterday afternoon pass by little Egg Harbour toward Cape May. I enclos'd to you a Letter from Doctor McGinnis to Colonel Bradford on the same Subject.” With an authoritative air of certainty, Mifflin added, “The Destination of General Howe cannot now be mistaken, as Egg Harbour is but a few Hours Sailing from our Capes.”95

  A rumor flew through the city that the British had actually entered the Delaware Capes. It appears that Mifflin was the rumor's main source, for McGinnis's note says nothing about the fleet being anywhere but near Little Egg Harbor, about fifty miles above Cape May. Jacob Hiltzheimer, a prominent Philadelphia horse dealer, militia official, and very close friend of Mifflin, wrote in his diary that day that he “went to Mr. Joseph Morrises to see General Mifflin who came from our Army Last Night, and says that the Enemy are coming around to our Cape, where 70 Sail made their appearance all ready.”96

  The distorted news spread quickly and grew in the telling. Rev. Henry Muhlenberg, twenty-five miles out in the country, heard it that afternoon from a visitor, who “brought the terrible news that the British fleet of 160 transports which recently sailed from New York had made its way to and had already reached the capes of the Delaware.” With foreboding, he wrote, “At last the two storm clouds are approaching each other over Philadelphia, and it appears that a vial of wrath will be poured out upon Philadelphia and Pennsylvania. Woe unto those who live upon the earth!”97

  That night in town, Elizabeth Drinker witnessed a celestial phenomenon that would have sent Muhlenberg into further apocalyptic frenzy: “Evening between 9 & 10 o'clock, was seen by many, a Strange appearance in the Sky of Streamers, moveing in regular order, from the East to Westward.”98

  Washington's reply to Mifflin's letter was cautionary. “The appearance of the enemy's fleet off Little Egg Harbour, if it does not amount to a certain proof that their design is against Philadelphia, is at least a very strong argument of it,” he wrote from Flemington, New Jersey, about sixty miles north of the city. Washington went on to say that he would issue new orders “as soon as the movement of the enemy makes it more evident that Philadelphia is their object.” He told the Pennsylvania general, “It is far from impossible the enemy may still turn about and make a stroke” up the Hudson.99

  Several days passed, and although reports of as many as 190 ships passing Egg Harbor continued to circulate, no word came to Philadelphia from Cape May. This is not surprising; John Hunn had nothing to report, for out in the Atlantic, on foaming, gray seas swelling with gale-force winds, Montrésor noted on the twenty-seventh, “The fleet very much scattered.” The next day saw “a very wet and thick fog…wind Easterly and very squally with several continued showers of heavy rain…. Weather too thick for an observation.”100 Lord Cantelupe wrote in his diary, “28th: a fog till twelve at noon. The wind at N. E. by E. Thunder Lightening & rain.” The visibility was so poor that to keep in touch and prevent collisions between ships, “the Admiral fired Guns every half hour. In the Evening much Thunder & Lightning. Sounded twenty one Fathom water, black Sand.”101

  With only a few reliable men and horses, and well over 120 difficult miles to travel betw
een Philadelphia and Cape May, John Hunn could not afford to waste his resources on useless daily rides to report nothing. “The Reasons you have had No Express Since [the twenty-sixth] is the weather have Been So thick this three days past that it has Been Impossible to Discover Wheather thear was a fleet off or Not,” he told the Council on July 29. “But the wind is Now at N.W. & the weather Verry Cleare & No fleet in sight.” Years of experience as a sea captain allowed him to say, “if the fleet is Bound to Delaware By the accounts of the wind & Weather, they have had No Chance to arrive hear yet.” Hunn reassured them, “I have sent No Express to General Washington as it is hard to get horses for so Long a Journey, But if theare should Be a fleet in sight Mr. Jones will go Express Immediately to head quarters.”102

  On the thirtieth, John Adams expressed his growing frustration with all the rumors. “Howes Fleet has been at Sea, these 8 days,” he scribbled impatiently. “We know not where he is gone. We are puzzling ourselves in vain, to conjecture his Intention. Some guess he is gone to Chesapeak, to land near Susquehanna and cross overland to Albany to meet Burgoine.” He added sardonically, “They may as well imagine them gone round Cape Horn into the South Seas to land at California, and march across the Continent to attack our back settlements.”103

  But through the mists off Cape May that morning, John Hunn's watchfulness was finally rewarded. He hurriedly wrote to Thomas Wharton, president of Pennsylvania's Supreme Executive Council, at 11 A.M. and sent Abraham Bennett with this news: “The fleet to the Number of 30 sail is Now in Sight, upon which I have sent off Mr. Bennet Express, as it is Not Seven Miles farther to head quarters By Philadelphia.” Prudently sizing up the situation, he told Wharton, “I've not sent Mr. Jones off yet, but as soon as I am convinst they are bound up the Bay, I shall send the Express, but as there is but few that Nowes the way through the Jerseys, the Intilligence will go By Philadelphia as quick any way. The wind is E.S.E., & the Ships is now standing off.”104 Keeping Benjamin Jones in reserve, at 5 P.M. he sent another express rider, James Wilson, and reported to the Council, “45 sail in sight, & more of Cors will be in Sight…it appears to me they are bound up our Bay, but I may be deceived.”

  Loyalist activity was strong in parts of New Jersey, and Hunn was very concerned about the message getting safely through to Washington, whose headquarters was, to his knowledge, still up on the New York–New Jersey border at the Clove. He told President Wharton, “Mr. Jones comes off to Morrow Morning by way of Philadelphia, as going through Menmouth [Monmouth County in North Jersey] is attended with Dainger of being Stoped, as the people heare inform me.”105

  Unbeknownst to Hunn, Washington was well on his way to Philadelphia, with the army strung out for miles on the march from the Clove to Coryell's Ferry on the Delaware, thirty miles above the city.

  Farther south, on board Amity's Admonition off the Delaware and Maryland coast, Lord Cantelupe wrote in his diary, “30th: The wind at N. E. fine weather. This Morning saw land which was Mary land.”106 Curiously, Lord Cantelupe, whose proper name was William Augustus West, made no remark about his first view of the Delaware Bay, which was named after his ancestor Thomas West, Baron de la Warr, the governor of Virginia who succeeded Capt. John Smith in 1610. Cantelupe's father, Lt. Gen. John West, Baron and Earl de la Warr, was colonel of the 1st Troop of Horse Guards, one of the most prestigious positions in the British Army. Lord de la Warr died in November 1777 while his son was in Philadelphia; thus, ironically, while stationed in the Delaware Valley, young Lord Cantelupe inherited the title from which the river, bay, and state had received their name.

  Montrésor, whose schooner was farther up the coast, sighted the lighthouse at Cape Henlopen, the southern cape of the Delaware Bay: “Latitude at 12 o'clock 38.39…at which time the light-house bore N. W. ½ north about 5½ leagues.” This lighthouse, erected ten years earlier by Philadelphia merchants, was a octagonal structure seventy feet tall, built solidly of Brandywine River granite and perched on top of “the Great Dune” nearly fifty feet above sea level. “Discovered the Pennsylvania [Delaware] Shore at 7 to the Southward Cape Henlopen,” the engineer wrote. “Sea pretty smooth. Could discover Cape May only from the masthead.”107

  Cape Henlopen Light was the tallest structure around the flat coastal plains and was visible for miles.108 From the lantern, forty-two-year-old Henry Fisher, Esq., of Lewes, a top-notch Delaware Bay ship pilot, and Col. David Hall, commander of the Delaware Continental Regiment, spotted the bulk of the British fleet that morning. Hall wrote to Gen. Caesar Rodney, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and commander of the Delaware Militia, “On Wednesday we first discovered them & in a little time we could make out 23 Sail from the Light-House; they had every Appearance of coming into our Bay.” To guide the fleet away from a treacherous shoal called the Hen and Chickens, just east of the cape, Hall reported that “one of the small Vessels was placed in the Tail of the Hen & Chickens with a large flag as a Beacon for them & a Ship anchored in the Channel.”109

  Fisher, who kept a tireless watch for British activity in the bay all during the war, fired off a letter at 10 A.M. to Philadelphia, 130 miles away by land. “The Fleet is in sight, and at this time about 4 leagues from the Light House,” he told the State Navy Board. “There is 228 (two hundred and twenty eight) sail…. They to all appearance will not be in till this afternoon.”110

  The express rider moved as quickly as possible up Delaware's sandy roads through Sussex County, another hotbed of Loyalist activity. “From the best information I have been able to Collect, & from my Own Observations, it appears that a large Majority of the Inhabitants of this County are disaffected,” Col. William Richardson of the Maryland Militia wrote from Sussex County a few days later, “and would I believe afford the Enemy every Aid in their Power, except Personal Service in the Field, which the greater part of them want Spirit to do.” With fatuous contempt, he added, “They are a set of Poor Ignorant Illetorate People, yet they are Artful and Cunning as Foxes, ’tis hardly possible to detect the most Open Offenders, yet they are almost every Day Offending.”111

  The report was delivered to General Rodney in Dover, fifty miles from Lewes, at 5 P.M. “Just now by Express from Lewis I am informed that two hundred and Twenty Eight of the Enemy's ships have appeared in the offing,” Rodney told John Hancock. “I have Sent a fresh man and Horse that this Inteligence may be the sooner with you.”112 The “fresh man” was Thomas North, to whom Rodney gave a note stating that he “must be furnished with a Horse wherever he stands in need.”113

  Heading northeast toward New Castle, North galloped over the sandy coastal plains through terrain similar to the Jersey Pine Barrens: flat, heavily wooded territory, with many creeks and swamps. He continued on to Wilmington, where the land gets hilly. Illumination, if any, was provided by starlight, the moon being near the end of its last quarter.

  A little over ten hours later, in the predawn darkness of July 31, the message arrived in Chester, Pennsylvania, sixty-five miles north of Dover, where it was received by General Mifflin at “10 Minutes after 3 O Clock at Chester and forwarded at 30 Minutes after Three.”114 John Hancock received it in Philadelphia at 5 A.M. and immediately sent an express to Washington at Coryell's Ferry on the Delaware, thirty miles farther north, where it arrived between 9 and 10 A.M., twenty-four hours and an astounding 160 miles after it was sent from Lewes.

  Washington ordered the troops in motion, and later that day, he set out for the city.115 In Philadelphia, “about 6 this morning the alarm guns fired, & an express came in which says that 280 sail appeared at the Capes standing in for our bay,” noted Sarah Logan Fisher. “About 11 today another express arrived which says that two divisions have got in the bay & the third was coming in, but whether to believe the account or not we cannot tell, as we have been so frequently disappointed with so many false reports.”116 Out in the country at Trappe, Pastor Muhlenberg commented, “Nothing is said or heard now except war and rumors of war.”117

  In response to the i
mpending invasion, a resolution was passed in Congress recommending to the Pennsylvania Supreme Executive Council that it immediately “make prisoners such of the late crown & proprietary officers and other persons in and near this city as are disaffected or may be dangerous to the publick liberty & send them back into the country.” Heading the list of those to be arrested was Gov. John Penn, the founder's grandson, and Chief Justice Benjamin Chew, one of Philadelphia's most prominent lawyers. It was also resolved “that the militia of the states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland be immediately called out to repel any invasion of the enemy in the said states.”118 The Council replied to Congress that day, pleading, “The approach of the Enemy and the necessity of making every possible exertion, calls for large sums of money…. The Council, therefore, in these Circumstances, pray Congress to consider the business that presses on Council, and to order 100,000 Dollars to be furnished for public purposes.”119

  Washington arrived in town around 10 P.M., escorted by 200 light dragoons, and took up lodgings at the City Tavern.120 He was well ahead of the main army. The previous week had been brutal for the troops as they maneuvered through the rugged hills of northwest Jersey in summer heat and torrential rain. “My Dear Polly, I am once more in Penna. after a very fatiguing March,” Col. Percy Frazer wrote from Howell's Ferry on July 29. “We have March'd 2 Divisions consisting of 16 Regiments 90 Miles in four days, under several disadvantages. We cross'd the Delaware this morning with our Brigade. Orders arriv'd just then for the others to stand fast and for us to halt.” He added, “General Washington with the other divisions of the Army are now at Corryells Ferry about 4 or 5 Miles below this place[;] it seems uncertain whether We shall go further to the southward,” and reassured her, “I am still in good health tho a good deal fatigu'd.”121