*** This expedition will be noticed in detail hereafter. I have briefly referred to it on page 262, in connection with a notice of the political influence of the Quakers during "the war.
Forming of the Lines for Battle.—Conduct of Deborre.—Commencement of the Battle.—Skill and Courage of the Belligerents.
asters which occurred on the Brandywine were charged to Sullivan's want of vigilance, energy, and skill, and he was held responsible for the defeat of our troops. * Even his honorable acquittal, by a court martial, subsequently, did not altogether remove from the public mind a distrust of his ability as a general officer.
When Sullivan was assured, by a note from Colonel Bland, dated at "quarter past one o'clock," that the enemy were in great force on Osborne's Hill, a little to the right of the Birmingham meeting-house, he dispatched a messenger to Washington with the intelligence, ** and marched immediately to oppose the enemy. His division consisted of his own, Stirling's, and Stephen's brigades. Upon the gentle slopes near the Birmingham meeting-house he began to form his line for battle, his left extending toward the Brandywine. It was an advantageous position, for both flanks were covered by thick woods; but, in consequence of the delay in waiting the return of the messenger with orders from the commander-in-chief, the rough and broken character of the ground, and the time occupied by Sullivan in making a wide circuit in bringing his brigade to its assigned place in the line, *** he was not fully prepared for action when the refreshed and well-formed battalions of the enemy, under Cornwallis, came sweeping on from Osborne's Hill, **** and commenced a furious attack. The advanced guard were German troops. On arriving at the Street road, they were fired upon by a company of Americans stationed in an orchard north of Samuel Jones's brick dwelling-house. The Hessians returned the fire, and the action soon became general. The artillery of both armies opened with terrible effect; and while the Americans maintained their position, the carnage was great. The most indomitable courage was displayed, and, for a while, the result was doubtful. The Americans, many of them unskillful militia, repelled charge after charge of the well-disciplined infantry, chasseurs, grenadiers, and guards of the enemy, until overwhelming numbers obliged them to yield. The right wing of the Americans, under General Deborre, first gave way, and the left, under Sullivan, soon followed. The latter officer used every exertion to rally the flying troops, but in vain. In broken fragments they fled over the fields toward the main division of the army at Chad's Ford. The center division (Stirling's brigade), in which was General Conway, with eight hundred men, yet remained firm as a rock in the midst of the wild ocean of carnage. To this divi-
* Three days after the battle on the Brandywine (September 14th), Mr. Burke, a delegate in Congress, made specific charges against Sullivan. On the strength of these charges, Congress voted that Sullivan should be recalled from the army till an inquiry should be made into his conduct. The recall was suspended at the earnest solicitation of Washington, who knew the falsity of the charges, the worth of Sullivan, and the immediate wants of the army; there being a lack of general officers, in consequence of Lincoln, Arnold, and others, having been sent to the northern army.
** Tradition says that Thomas Cheyney, a resident Whig, gave Washington the first intelligence of the approach of the enemy. He was alone, on a spirited mare, reconnoitering, and came suddenly upon the British. They fired upon him, but he escaped to the quarters of Washington. The chief doubted the truth of his intelligence at first; but the solemn assurances of Cheyney that it was correct—an assurance backed by an oath—made Washington believe him. Sullivan's note soon removed all doubt. Cheyney was an active spy while the American army was in the vicinity of the Delaware, and often suffered much from the Tories.
*** A dissension at this time existed respecting the post of honor, on the extreme right of the line. General Deborre, a French officer who had lately joined the army, claimed this post, an honor which Sullivan would not yield. Perceiving his orders disobeyed, and Deborre pertinaciously insisting upon taking the right, Sullivan made a circuitous march for the purpose of outreaching him, and was, consequently, late upon the field. His brigade was not formed for action when the conflict commenced. Sullivan did not accomplish his purpose, and Deborre obtained his coveted position on the right. His brigade was the first to give way in the action. For his conduct on this occasion, and also in the expedition against Staten Island, Congress voted an inquiry. Deborre was offended, and resigned his commission. Having made himself very unpopular in the army, Congress readily accepted his resignation. He was an officer of thirty-five years' service in Europe, but was totally unfit to command American troops.
**** Osborne's Hill is an eminence extending eastward from the Brandywine, and crossing the road from Jefferis's Ford, about a mile and a quarter above the Birmingham meeting-house. The British, under Cornwallis, halted and divided on the north side of Osborne's Hill, between two and three o'clock in the afternoon. It was at this time that the two armies first discovered each other, and prepared for action. The British army advanced over and down the south side of the hill (according to the narrative of Joseph Townsend, an eye-witness), across the lands of James Carver, now (1848) occupied by his nephew, James Forsyth.
Effects of the British Artillery.—-Retreat of the Americans.—March of Greene to their Support.—La Fayette wounded.
sion Sullivan now attached himself, and, with Stirling and La Fayette, engaged personally in the hottest of the battle. To this point Cornwallis directed his energies. His artillery made dreadful breaches in their ranks, and strewed the earth with the slain. * Resistance was vain, and, when hope no longer encouraged the contending patriots of the center, they, too, wheeled, and joined their comrades in their flight. Two of Sullivan s aids were killed; and La Fayette, who had leaped from his horse, and, sword in hand, was endeavoring to rally the yielding patriots, was wounded in the leg by a musket-ball, and fell. Gimat, his aid, helped him on a horse, and he escaped. ** Despair seized the troops, and every effort to rally them was, for a time, vain. They fled to the woods in the rear, pursued by the victorious enemy. Some of them were rallied half a mile northward of Dilworth, and a brief encounter ensued between the fugitives and the pursuing party of the left wing of the enemy. The conflict was short, and the Americans again fled. The British right wing got entangled in the woods, and did not participate in the subsequent engagement, when Greene checked the pursuers.