At a council of officers called by Washington, it was arranged that the divisions of Sullivan and Wayne, flanked by Conway's brigade, were to enter the town by the way of Chestnut Hill, while General Armstrong, **** with the Pennsylvania militia, should fall down
* The condition of the American soldiers was, at that time, deplorable, on account of a want of shoes. Washington, writing to the president of Congress on the 23d of September, says, "At least one thousand men are barefooted, and have performed the marches in that condition."
** It was at this time 'that Washington wrote to Gates and Putnam to send on re-enforcements from the northern armies amid the Highlands. See page 297.
*** On the approach of the British toward the Schuylkill, Congress, then in session in Philadelphia, adjourned to Lancaster, where they assembled on the 27th of September. They adjourned the same day to York, where they met on the 30th, and continued their sittings there until the British evacuated the city the following summer.
**** John Armstrong, a native of Pennsylvania, was a colonel in the provincial forees of that state during the French and Indian wars. He headed an expedition against the Indians at Kiltaning in 1756, which destroyed that settlement, dispersed the savages, and took possession of the stores which the French had sent there for the use of their native allies. For this service the corporation of Philadelphia passed a vote of thanks to Armstrong and his three hundred men, and presented him with a medal and a piece of plate. He was appointed a brigadier general in the Continental army in 1776, and did gallant service in defense of Fort Moultrie, at Charleston, in the summer of that year. He was engaged in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown in the autumn of 1777. Becoming dissatisfied concerning some promotions in the army, he resigned his commission at the close of 1777, and became a member of Congress afterward. He died at Carlisle, March 9, 1795. He was the father of Major John Armstrong, the author of the "Newburg Addresses," whose life and character is noticed on page 106.
Approach of the Americans to Germantown.—Attack on the British Pickets.—Chew's House a Defense.
the Manatawny road by Van Deering's mill, and get upon the enemy s left and rear. The divisions of Greene and Stephen, flanked by M'Dougall's brigade, were to enter by making a circuit by way of the Lime-kiln road, at the market-house, and to attack the enemy s right wing; and the Maryland and Jersey militia, under Generals Smallwood and Forman, were to march by the old York road and fall upon the rear of their right. Lord Stirling, with the brigades of Nash and Maxwell, were to form a reserve corps. *
After dark, on the evening of the 3d of October, Washington, with his army, moved silently from his camp on Metuchen Hill, upon Skippack Creek, toward Germantown. He accompanied the column of Sullivan and Wayne in person. Small parties were sent out to secure every man who might give the enemy notice of his approach, and every precaution was taken to insure complete surprise.
