The whole effective force then present and fit for duty consisted of about eleven thousand men, including about eighteen hundred of the Pennsylvania militia.
Washington established his head-quarters at Wilmington, and made immediate preparations to oppose the march of the enemy, he having been informed, by scouts, of their arrival at the head of Elk. The Pennsylvania and Delaware militia—the former under General Armstrong, the latter under General Rodney—were ordered to press forward to the head
* Manuscript letter from General Agnew to his wife, dated "Camp on the River Elk, August 30th, 1777." In this epistle he wrote, "I have not had the happiness to receive any letter since the one which brought me the plan of a house, in which I trust in God yet to pass many, many happy years in the society of my worthy Betty and the two dear children, as the best and true real reward for all we have undergone." Alas! five weeks afterward he was slain in the battle at Germantown, and wife and children saw him no more.
** This is a view of the southerly front of the meeting-house. The building is very substantially built ol stone. Much of it is serpentine, whieh abounds in that region, and of which several houses are constructed. I was informed that the stains made by the blood of the wounded carried in there at the time of the battle are yet visible upon the floor. The Hicksite party hold present possession of the house; the Orthodox have built a place of worship near.
Encampment on Red Clay Neck.—Howe's Proclamation.—Retreat of the Americans across the Brandywine.
of Elk, and to secure the stores deposited there. In this, however, they failed, for, before their arrival, the British army had debarked, and all the stores, among which was a large quantity of salt, * fell into their hands. Generals Greene and Weeden thoroughly reconnoitered the country between Wilmington and the Elk; and Washington himself rode through August 26, 1777 heavy rains to the head of that river, to make personal observations. An eligible place was selected by Greene for the American army to encamp, within six miles of Howe's position on Gray's Hill; but, before information of the selection reached Washington, it had been determined in a council of war to take a position on Red Clay Neck, about half way between Wilmington and Christiana, with the left of the army on Christiana Creek, and the right extending toward Chad's Ford, upon the Brandywine. Greene's sagacity foresaw the hazard of the chosen position, and he expressed his opinion that the Americans must abandon it on the approach of the enemy. The sequel proved the correctness of his opinion.
Distressed for want of horses, hemmed in by strong parties of the American militia, and almost daily annoyed by the attacks of Captain Henry Lee's and other smaller detachments of cavalry upon his pickets, Howe did not move forward until the 3d of September. On the 27th of August he issued a proclamation to the people, assuring them that he did not come to make war upon the peaceable, but to put down the rebellious; that private property should be respected; that their persons should be secure, and that pardon should be extended to all who should return to their allegiance, and surrender themselves to any detachment of the royal forces within a specified time. But the people of Lower Pennsylvania had heard of the falsity of professions put forth in his proclamation to the inhabitants of New Jersey the year previous, and his "Declaration," as he termed it, produced very little effect in his favor. The people had learned to suspect the flattering words of British officials, whether in Parliament or in the camp, and, instead of "remaining quietly in their houses," they flocked to the standard of the patriots, and annoyed the common enemy on every side. The advance of the royal forces toward the Brandywine was marked by a series of skirmishes, in which the Americans made a number of prisoners. **
Cornwallis, with Knyphausen, at the head of one division of the royal army, moved forward and encamped above Peneander, where a brief but severe skirmish ensued between the enemy and Maxwell's regiment of foot, formed in ambuscade, in which the patriots lost forty in killed and wounded. The loss of the enemy was somewhat less. On the 3rd, General Grant, having rejoined the army with the tents, baggage, and stores, the British moved forward by way of Newark, and took post within four miles of the right of the American encampment, extending their left far up into the country. A strong column made a feint of attacking the American front, and, after some menacing maneuvering, halted at Milltown, within two miles of the center of the Americans. Washington, believing it to be the design of Howe to turn the American right, cross the Brandywine, cut off their communication with Philadelphia, and thus hem them in, upon a tongue of land, between the British fleet and army, saw at once the peril of his position, and, pursuant to Greene's prediction, broke up his encampment, and crossed the Brandywine at September, 1777 Chad's Ford, at about two o'clock on the morning of the 9th. On the same evening, the British marched forward in two columns. Knyphausen, with the left, encamped at New Garden and Ivennet Square; Cornwallis, with the right, was posted below, at Hockhesson meeting-house. *** On the following morning the two divisions met atSeptember 3.
* Salt was a scarce, yet indispensable article during the war. In his official dispatch, dated August 25th, 1777, Washington, alluding to the efforts to save the stores, wrote, "Among others, there is a considerable parcel of salt. Every attempt will be made to save that." During the winter encampment at Morristown in 1780, salt was eight dollars a bushel, and it was difficult to procure it even at that price.
** On the 28th of August the Americans took between thirty and forty prisoners; and, on that evening, twelve deserters from the British navy and eight from the army came into camp. On the 29th, Captain Lee took twenty-nine prisoners.