“The third is a piece of the famous elm under which Penn’s first treaty with Shackamaxum was made. It fell from old age in 1810, but a branch from it is now growing, and in a flourishing state, in the garden of the hospital, and our fellow citizens delight to recount the story of its origin whilst protected by its shade.
“The fourth awakens recollections of yet more olden time. It is a fragment of the first house raised by European hands upon the American shores! It is a piece of mahogany of the habitation constructed and occupied in 1496, by the immortal Columbus. Honour to the Haytien government, which still watches with care for the preservation of this precious monument.
“I offer you these reliques with confidence,” continued Mr. Watson, “persuaded, as I am, that it is with interest you receive every thing connected with the remembrance of the first movements of a nation that has received so many proofs of your friendship.”
General Lafayette was, indeed, highly flattered by Mr. Watson’s present. He received it with gratitude, and a pledge that it should find a place amongst the most precious memorials of his tour. To this first present Mr. Watson added also another not less valuable; a piece of the American frigate “Alliance,” in which Lafayette had twice crossed the ocean during the revolutionary war.
On the 21st, we went to spend the day in the state of Schuylkill. But before speaking of the honours conferred there on the voyager, a few words of explanation of this “state,” will be requisite. “In 1731 some citizens of Philadelphia united themselves into an association having both pleasure and beneficence for its design. They purchased a large tract of land near the falls of the Schuylkill, built a house for the accommodation of their meetings, elected a governor, council, secretary of state, treasurer, and judge, established a seal, and constituted themselves the ‘Colony of the Schuylkill.’ More than half a century passed away without the slightest circumstance transpiring to give occasion of trouble to the colony: every day was marked by its benefactions, and delight and mutual confidence presided at all the periodical festivals, at which the members were assembled at a common table. But subject to the destiny of states, all of which have their vicissitudes, the colony of Schuylkill was also to experience a revolution. In 1783, at the conclusion of a dinner of more than fifty covers, the colony rose and declared independence: resolved to revise their constitution, and the Colony of the Schuylkill became, in the course of a few hours, the ‘republic of the State of Schuylkill,’ and no attempt was made on the part of the mother country to oppose it. Since that time the new republic has gone on advancing in strength and riches; its pleasures and its acts of benevolence followed at an equal rate. Possessed now of an enlarged estate acquired by a treaty with a farmer, she has transferred her seat of government, that is, her nets, her kitchen and cellar, three miles farther down the stream, under the cool shades on the banks of the river.”
Here it was that General Lafayette was received by the citizens and magistrates, who in the costume of fishermen, awaited his arrival on the frontier of their state. In a short and eloquent address, the secretary of state recounted to him the history of the republic, from its establishment to the present time, and concluded by announcing to him that the title and all the rights of citizen had been granted to him by a unanimous vote. As soon as the general had expressed his acceptance of the honour and his gratitude, he was invested with the national costume, and, his head being protected with the large straw hat, he entered into the occupations of the community. Mr. George Lafayette, Mr. de Syon, and myself, were also admitted to partake of the duties of the day; people and magistrates, all with one accord, assisted without distinction in the work. We embarked in the batteaux belonging to the republic, and obtained an abundant supply of fish, and in four hours we were seated at the banquet prepared by our own hands. Never was a repast attended with greater gaiety, nor cheered by better wine, and long shall we have the pleasure of remembering the delight and good cheer we found in the state of Schuylkill.
The week we had just spent in Philadelphia, as it were in his own family, had entirely composed the fatigue of the general; and although the heat continued excessive, he undertook, on the 25th, his journey to Wilmington, where a great number of Pennsylvanians and Virginians were in waiting to conduct him to the field of the battle of Brandywine. This field was not rendered illustrious by a victory, as has been said, but its remembrance is not less dear to Americans, who gratefully recollect the blood spilled there by their fathers, and by young Lafayette, in the defence of their rights, and to secure their independence. Happy that country in which events are appreciated more by their influence on its destinies than by the eclat of the moment! The men who took the first steps in procuring the liberties of the United States in the battles of Bunker’s hill and on the banks of the Brandywine, are at this day not less honoured in the eyes of the nation than those who sealed it last, at the battle of Yorktown.
In the beginning of September, 1777, General Howe, at the head of eighteen thousand men of the British army, embarked on board the fleet commanded by his brother, and left New York without the possibility of the Americans ascertaining precisely the object of his expedition. A few days after it was ascertained that he had entered the Chesapeake, and had landed at the Head of Elk, for the purpose of marching to attack Philadelphia, Washington immediately marched through this city, where the congress were then in session, and advanced to meet the enemy, annoying him with several attacks between the point of his debarkation and a small stream, the Brandywine, behind which the American army, greatly inferior in number, and composed almost wholly of militia, had just taken their position. Chads-Ford was in front of their encampment, where it was contemplated to give them battle, but General Howe leaving a body of troops on the opposite side of the stream, in order to cover his manœuvre, marched forward to pass another ford on the right of the Americans. This movement was so much the more difficult to reconnoitre, as the banks of the stream were densely grown with wood, and, by a singular fatality, the two parallel roads leading to the two fords were called by the same name, so that the reports received by Washington from his scouts, though apparently contradictory, were nevertheless true. This confusion of names threw the American general into a most painful anxiety; he hesitated too long on the course he was to pursue, and lost a most precious moment which might have given him the victory. Had he been able to procure definite intelligence of the movements of the enemy, he would have passed the ford before him, and most certainly would have defeated the British division which remained at Chads-Ford, commanded by Knyphauzen, and then falling suddenly on the body under General Howe, surprising him by an attack in flank, would almost inevitably have succeeded in a complete defeat of the English army; but the occasion passed rapidly, and the firing of muskets on his right soon apprized Washington of the danger of his situation. Happily he had established a position behind the second ford, of three brigades, commanded by Sullivan and Sterling. These three brigades sustained the attack with vigour, and for a short time arrested the British by a deadly fire: but their line being attacked both right and left, by superior forces, the wings gave way. The centre continued its position firmly, in defiance of the shower of broken brass that was poured in upon them. But this centre itself at last began to yield, and was about to beat a retreat, when young Lafayette, notwithstanding his rank of brevet-major, was yet serving as a simple volunteer near the commander-in-chief, dismounted from his horse, and went, sword in hand, to place himself at the head of a company of grenadiers, who, reanimated by this noble effort, maintained themselves firmly for a few moments. Soon, however, Lafayette received a shot below the knee, and was obliged to retire with his grenadiers; but he had already reaped the reward of his devotedness, for he had procured the opportunity for Washington to join the division of General Greene, and of recommencing the action in a second line. Here the fight raged on either side with obstinate perseverance, and the astonishing spectacle was exhibited of militia rallying after a first check, and fronting with firm step an enemy superior in numbers and in discipline. The event of this second contest was yet doubtful, when suddenly Washington learned that the pass of Chads-Ford was forced, and that Knyphauzen was about to fall on his left flank; he immediately resolved to secure a retreat to Chester, where he arrived with his army the same evening.
The battle was lost, but the British had paid dear for their victory, and the moral force of the Americans was augmented even by their defeat. In this day’s engagement Lafayette had sealed with his blood his alliance with the principles for which he had crossed the ocean, and forever secured to himself the gratitude of a nation amongst whom generous and noble sentiments outlive the ravages of time.
It was once more to evince their gratitude for their long tried friend, that the revolutionary soldiers of Pennsylvania and Virginia had now assembled with their sons to conduct Lafayette to the field of the battle of Brandywine. We left Chester on the 26th of July, with a retinue, at the head of which appeared the two oldest revolutionary officers of the neighbouring counties, Colonel M’Lean and Captain Anderson. Numerous bodies of militia had preceded us, and were already gone to take their position at the ancient encampment of the American army, where may yet be discovered traces of one of the redoubts. It was about noon when we arrived on the borders of the Brandywine, along which we were to travel to the point at which, as we had been informed, the army had passed. But on approaching the stream, General Lafayette cast a glance on the surrounding country and said, “It cannot be here that we passed in 1777, it must be a little higher up the stream.” It was in fact ascertained that the passage had been effected just above the spot we occupied. This accuracy of observation and vivid recollection excited in a high degree the admiration of the numerous witnesses.