The fighting had now gone on for the better part of the morning. “’Twas then about 10 o'clock,” Sgt. Thomas Sullivan noted, “and the 2nd Brigade with all the Hessians and Artillery joined us, after we pursued the Rebels as close as we could without being in danger of their Cannon above the Ford, all the men lay upon their Arms in a close valley covered with wood.”27
“About 8 or 9 o'clock this morning a very heavy fire began in front, which continued some time between our advanced corps and the rebels, who were posted very strongly in the woods and on the hills facing the ford of the creek,” Captain Downman of the Royal Artillery wrote.
The heavy artillery was ordered to make haste, and we galloped our horses some time, but were prevented from continuing the road by reason of trees being cut down and laid across. We turned into a wood and after a little difficulty got into a road that brought us to a very advantageous situation within shot of the rebel batteries on the other side of the creek. We immediately began to fire upon them from our 12 pounders and howitzers, and they returned it very smartly. This continued for some time, likewise a heavy fire of infantry and artillery in the woods to our right.28
There was a midmorning lull as both sides paused to regroup, and the fight downgraded to sniping and occasional cannon fire. From Proctor's battery at Chads's Ford, Jacob Nagle watched as “the adjudent rode down to the ford to water his horse.” Mistaking the green uniforms of Ferguson's riflemen for Hessian Jägers, he observed that “a Hession laying in the brush fired at him and missed him but wounded the horse in the right shoulder. The horse stagered, the adjutent jumped off with his pistols in hand and run up to the spot, which was not more than 15 yards from him, and several of the artilery run down to him, but the Hission could not be found.”
Nagle also observed a peculiar tactic of one of Maxwell's riflemen. “The Hessions and Morgans [sic] rifelmen being both in this wood and some of the American rifelmen in the buckwheat field, I took notice of one in a white frock laying on his back to lead his gun,” using a crossed leg to steady the rifle barrel.
On the edge of the wood next to the road was some trees cut down, and the Hessions got amongst them; this riffelman fired 7 or 8 shots at them as fast as they came there. The buckwheat being in bloom, they could not see him, but we ware on the highth over him. At length finding no more coming, he crawled on his hands and knees to the fence where he fell in with six more. They all rise and crossed the ford and went to the place he had been firing at them, as we supposed to overhall them.29
Patrick Ferguson also described the action that Nagle had witnessed:
Whilst Knyphausen was forming the Line within a Mile of the Rebell Camp to wait for G. Howe's attack, their Rifle men were picking off our men very fast by random shots from a wood some hundred yards in front as it is easy to do execution upon such large objects. I had only 28 men with me (a few having been disabled by the Enemy the rest from Fatigue) who however proved Sufficient, for my Lads first dislodged them from the skirts of the Wood, then Drove them from a breast work within it, after which our purpose being answered we lay down at the furthest skirt of the wood—not unnecessarily to provock an attack, being so few without Support.
During this lull, one of the stranger and more controversial episodes of the battle took place. “We had not layn long when a Rebell Officer, remarkable by a Huzzar dress, passed towards our army within 100 yards of my right flank, not perceiving us.” Hussars were light cavalry that originated in central Europe. Their peculiar clothing was Hungarian in style and garish, with a cylindrical cap topped by a hanging bag; a heavily laced jacket; a pelisse, a small, fur-trimmed jacket, slung over one shoulder; tight-fitting, laced breeches; and gaudy riding boots. It was a popular style among fashionable European cavalry officers. Ferguson, though, spotted someone else with the hussar:
He was followed by another dressed in Dark Green or blue, mounted on a very good bay horse, with a remarkable large high cock'd hat. I ordered three good Shots to Steal near them and fire at them, but the idea disgusted me and I recalled them.
The Huzzar in returning made a Circuit, but the other passed within 100 yards of us, upon which I advanced from the wood toward him. Upon my calling he stopd, but looking at me, proceeded. I again drew his Attention, and made Signs to him to Stop, levelling my piece at him, but he slowly continued his way. As I was within that distance at which in the quickest firing I have seldom missed a Sheet of paper and Could have lodged half a dozen balls in or about him before he was out of my reach, I had only to determine, but it was not pleasant to fire at the back of an unoffending individual who was acquitting himself very coolly of his duty, so I let him alone.
A few minutes after this, Ferguson was hit by a sharpshooter; the ball shattered his right elbow, a painful wound which did not heal for more than a year. He was taken to a hospital and related:
The day after I had just been telling this Story to Some wounded officers who lay in the same room with me, when one of our Surgeons who had been dressing the wounded Rebell Officers come in and told us that they had been informing him that Genll Washington was all the morning with the Light Troops, generally in their front, and only attended by a French Officer in a huzzar Dress, he himself mounted and dressed as above described. The oddness of their dress had puzzled me and made me take notice of it.
He ended his story with a cryptic remark: “I am not Sorry that I did not know all the time who it was. Further this deponent saith not, as his bones were broke a few minutes after.”30
Who the hussar was is not certain. Ferguson said he was told that the man was a French officer, possibly one of Lafayette's entourage. It is more likely that the officer was Count Casimir Pulaski, an impetuous Polish cavalryman who had left Philadelphia earlier, too impatient to wait for Congress to give him a commission. Pulaski, who wore a mustache and dressed in hussar clothing, could easily have been mistaken for a French officer. He was with Washington for much of the battle, and his bravery at the end of the day earned him command of the Continental Light Dragoons.31
The artillery of both sides now began to pound away at Chads's Ford. Sergeant Sullivan reported on the action:
We played upon them with two 6 Pounders for half an hour, and drove them out of the breastworks which was made of loose wood, upon the declivity of the hill. The 2nd Brigade British [5th, 10th, 27th, 40th, 55th Regiments] formed on another hill upon our left and played their two six pounders also upon the Enemy's Battery at Chad'sford. As we crossed the brook they formed behind another fence at a field's distance, from whence we soon drove ’em, and a Battalion of Hessians which formed at the left of our Brigade, fell in with them as they retreated, taking them upon their Right flank, and after a smart pursuit from the Hessian Battallion, they crossed the Brandywine, and took post on that side; leaving a few men killed and more wounded behind.32
Capt. John Marshall of the 15th Virginia Regiment, part of Weedon's Brigade, viewed the fighting from the heights northeast of Chads's Ford. “By ten, Maxwell's corps, with little loss on either side, was driven over the Brandywine below the ford. Knyphausen, who commanded this column, paraded on the heights, reconnoitered the American army, and appeared to be making dispositions to force the passage of the river.” The firing resumed on a smaller scale as numerous skirmishes with Knyphausen's force erupted. “A skirt of woods, with the river, divided him from Maxwell's corps, small parties of whom occasionally crossed over, and kept up a scattering fire, by which not much execution was done.” Marshall witnessed one of the skirmishes: “At length one of these parties, led by Captains [Andrew] Waggoner [12th Virginia] and Porterfield, engaged the British flank guard very closely, killed a captain with ten or fifteen privates, drove them out of the wood, and were on the point of taking a field piece. The sharpness of the skirmish soon drew a large body of the British [the 10th and 40th Regiments] to that quarter, and the Americans were again driven over the Brandywine.”33
Sgt. Thomas Sullivan's unit, the 49th, engaged in this skirmish,
which he described as follows:
A Company of the 28th and a Company of our Regiment advanced upon the Hill to the right of the ford, and in front of the Enemy's left flank, in order to divert them, who were posted at 100 Yards distance in their front, behind trees, to the amount of 500, all chosen marksmen. A smart fire was maintained at both sides for two hours, without either party's quitting their Posts. Out of the two Companies there were about 20 men killed and wounded during that time; and two 6 Pounders [commanded by Lt. George Wilson of the Royal Artillery] were ordered up the hill to dislodge the Enemy if possible and assist the part engaged: Those guns played upon them for some time, but they were so concealed under the cover of the Trees, that it was to no purpose to endeavour to bring the Cannon to do any execution: In the mean time, by our Guns being in an open field, there was one man killed, and a man and a horse wounded.34
Artilleryman Jacob Nagle, across the ford with Proctor's battery, recalled, “The Brittish being in the open ploughed field, we could perceive when they saw the flash of our guns they would leave the gun 2 or 3 yards till the shot struck and then close. We then ceased about an hour, excepting a few shot at different times.” Washington remained in the area, observing the fighting.
About this time General Washington came riding up to Col Procter with his Life Guards with him and enquired how we came on. He informed the general that there was two field pieces on our left wing behind the wood which anoyed us very much and could not be seen except by the flash of the guns and he was then ordering four field pieces to play upon them. Accordingly they aimed for the flash of their guns, so direct, though they could not see the guns, that in 15 or 20 minutes we received no more shot from that quarter. Their guns were either dismounted, or otherwise it was two [sic] hot to remain there any longer.35
It was part of a ruse to draw Maxwell's men on, according to Sergeant Sullivan. “The Guns were ordered back and also the two Companies, in order to draw the Enemy after them from the trees, which scheme had the desired effect, for they quitted their post and advanced to the top of the hill, where they were attacked by four Companies of the 10th Battallion, in front, while the 40th made a charge upon their left flank, by going round the hill, and put them to an immediate rout. The 10th Battallion took up the ground the enemy left.” Lt. Col. Thomas Musgrave, commanding the 40th, testified later that “at the Battle of Brandywine Lt. Wilson was attached to the 40th Regt. with two 3 pounders…upon the Brigade being ordered to form, there was a Wood thro’ which he thought it might be difficult for the Guns to pass, he therefore ordered them to wait, but Lt. Wilson soon after brought them up, before he (Col. Musgrave) sent for them.”36
The orderly book of Capt. James Wilson of the 49th Regiment was captured and sent to Washington, who reported to John Hancock that “Maxwell pushed over with his Corps, and drove them from their Ground with the loss of thirty Men left dead on the Spot, among them a Captn. Of the 49th.”37 Capt. James Wilson, though, was neither killed nor wounded; he either dropped his orderly book, or it was in someone else's possession. A few months later, “Capt. James Wilson of the 49th Regiment…deposed that at the Battle of Brandywine, Lt. Wilson was ordered with two Guns to support his Company which was then engaged, and was the principal means of first driving back the Enemy…that one of his Men were killed, and another wounded, & a horse in the Ammunition Waggon also wounded.”38
As Knyphausen was pushing toward Chads's Ford, Sir William Howe and Lord Cornwallis were also well on the march, heading north with the main body of the army. Cornwallis's Division had encamped in a perpendicular fashion to Knyphausen; the head of this column was at Marlborough Friends Meeting, about three miles north of Kennett Square. The finest troops in Howe's army made up this force: the 1st and 2nd British Light Infantry Battalions (1,300), two squadrons of the 16th Queen's Light Dragoons (200), the 3rd Brigade of Artillery (six 6-pounders, four 12-pounders), the 1st and 2nd British Grenadier Battalions (1,400), the foot Jägers (500), three Hessian grenadier battalions (1,300), the Guards Brigade (1,000), the mounted Jägers (100), and the 3rd and 4th British Brigades (3,000).39 Each brigade also had its own field artillery, typically consisting of two or four 3- or 4-pounder light guns. As cover, “a thick fog contributed greatly to our march,” said Montrésor.40
The advance guard was made up of sixty Hessian foot Jägers led by Capt. Johann Ewald, fifteen mounted Jägers under Lt. Wilhelm von Hagen, Capt. James McPherson's Light Company of 42nd Royal Highlanders, and the Light Company of the 17th Regiment, commanded by Capt. William Scott. Guiding the column through the maze of narrow country roads were local Loyalists, including John Jackson, a clockmaker from East Marlborough, and Curtis Lewis, a blacksmith and large landowner in West Bradford Township, both of whom had scouted the fords of the Brandywine the night before. These men were under the direction of Joseph Galloway, Pennsylvania's leading Loyalist, who also accompanied General Howe. “Lord Cornwallis had sent me a guide who was a real geographical chart,” Ewald commented, without naming the man. “I often spoke with him regarding the area which was beyond the horizon. His description was so good that I was often amazed at the knowledge this man possessed of the country.”41
American patrols, both horse and foot, scoured the roads on the west side of the Brandywine above and below the Forks, looking for British activity. According to Ewald, “I had hardly marched half an hour when I ran into a warning post of the enemy,” and skirmishing continued from place to place until noon.42 Who made up this “warning post” and exactly where this skirmish occurred is not known, but reports began filtering back to Washington's headquarters that Cornwallis was marching up the Great Valley Road toward the Forks of the Brandywine.
Gen. John Sullivan, posted on the right of Washington's line, knew little if anything about what lay above his position at Brinton's Ford. “I enquired of His Excellency whether there were no Fords still higher up,” he asserted, “to which, the persons who were then giving him information of the Country, replied there is none within twelve miles, the Roads leading to, & from which, are almost inaccesable.” Washington issued instructions “that all the Light Horse of the Army were Ordered on the right Wing to give Information,” but Sullivan claimed, almost unbelievably, “I had no Orders, or even Hints to look at any other places, but those mentiond, nor had I Light troops, or Light Horsemen furnished for the purpose.” For communication, “I had but four Light Horsemen, two of which I kept at the upper Fords, to bring me Intelligence, the others I kept to send Intelligence to Head Quarters.”43
“Washington in his Accounts to the Congress, owns He did not look for an Enemy in force” on his right, Gen. James Grant sneered, and “makes an excuse for not having prepared for & complains of his want of intelligence,” adding with blistering sarcasm, “which in fact it was impossible for Him to procure unless Lord Cornwallis or I had sent it to Him.”44
Sullivan received information about the flank march sometime during the morning from Col. Moses Hazen, who was covering fords three or more miles away. “It was ever my opinion that the enemy wou'd come round on our Right flank,” Sullivan later insisted to John Hancock. “This opinion I often gave the general. I wrote him that morning that it was clearly my opinion: I sent him two messages to the same purpose in the forenoon & the very first intelligence I received, that they were actually coming that way, I instantly communicated to him.”45
Sometime in the midmorning, one American infantry patrol from Sullivan's Division on the west side of the Brandywine came to the farm of Joel Baily, situated on a high hill overlooking Trimble's Ford on the western branch of the Brandywine, two miles above the Forks and about four miles northwest of Brinton's Ford. Baily was a well-to-do Quaker farmer, a member of Bradford Friends Meeting, who owned nearly 250 acres and a gristmill.46 He was also one of “the great and strange people” of Chester County alluded to by Judge Peters. A self-taught mathematician and craftsman, Baily made clocks, built furniture, and occasionally did gunsmithing. He was also a surveyor and ast
ronomer who had assisted Mason and Dixon in their famous survey ten years earlier, building levels for them and carefully recording important weather data.47 Baily was part of a scientific team sent to observe the Transit of Venus at Cape Henlopen in 1769, for which he was elected to the American Philosophical Society.48 Baily's first wife was a niece of the noted scientist Humphry Marshall, whose home, botanical garden, and observatory were located a mile north of Trimble's Ford on the Strasburg Road by Martin's Tavern.
The patrol was commanded by twenty-two-year-old Capt. Mountjoy Bayly of the 7th Maryland Regiment.49 According to Captain Bayly, Joel Baily was “a namesake of his own and a zealous loyalist.” He described the farmhouse as comfortable, pleasantly situated on a high hill overlooking the western branch of the Brandywine.50 The road to Trimble's Ford passed near the dwelling, and the Baily homestead was located on the right bank of the looping, twisting Brandywine, on the side of the creek that is alternately east and south, across from James Trimble's mill and farm.
The Marylanders in Captain Bayly's patrol apparently were dressed in red uniforms, possibly old Maryland Guard coats, for according to the captain, “The hospitable old farmer mistook the Maryland company for British, and greeted them with a hearty welcome.” Baily was forty-five years old, but from the captain's description, he must have appeared considerably older. The patrol was provided with a meal, “of which they freely partook, and Mountjoy kept his aged host in pleasant conversation, without in any way correcting his misapprehension.”
While they were enjoying the generosity of a well-stocked Chester County farm, the front of Cornwallis's Division came into view on the Great Valley Road, a mile or so away to the south. “The advance of the British column was seen approaching, when Capt. Bayley concluded it was about time for his Marylanders to be moving. He so stated to the hospitable old farmer, who thereupon urged him to remain, assuring him that the approaching troops were certainly good friends.” With quick thinking, “Capt. Bayly, however, excused himself by alleging that the duty of his company was to keep some distance ahead of the column; and so he speedily made his escape from a rather critical position.”51
The Philadelphia Campaign Page 23