The British troops, who had been sent, under St. Leger, to capture Fort Stanwix, and ravage the valley of the Mohawk, broke up the camp in a panic, and fled to Saratoga. They took to flight in such a hurry that they left behind them their tents, artillery, ammunition, stores, and most of their baggage. A detachment from the garrison harassed them in their flight. But they received more severe and richly merited punishment from their savage allies, who plundered them mercilessly, massacred all who lagged in the rear, and finally disappeared in the forest laden with spoil.
The battle at Bennington took place on the 16th of August. Nine days after this, on the 25th of August, General Howe began to land his army from the fleet, in Elk river, near the head of Chesapeake Bay, about six miles below the present town of Elkton. He was then seventy miles from Philadelphia. After sundry marchings and countermarchings, with various skirmishes, the two armies met, on the opposite banks of a small stream called the Brandywine, which empties into the Delaware, about twenty-five miles below Philadelphia.
It was the 8th of September. Washington had eleven thousand men he could lead into the field. They were but poorly armed and equipped. General Howe had eighteen thousand Regulars; fifteen thousand of whom he brought into action. His troops were in the finest condition, both as to discipline and armament.
General Howe had learned to respect his foe. He advanced with great caution, and displayed much military ability in his tactics. It was not until the 11th, that the battle took place. It was fought with desperation. Lafayette conducted with great heroism, and was wounded by a bullet passing through his leg. The Americans, after a very sanguinary conflict, were overpowered, and were driven from the field. General Howe did not venture to pursue them. At Chester, twelve miles from the field of battle, the defeated army rallied, as the shades of night were deepening around them.
Dreadful was the consternation, in Philadelphia, when the tidings of the disastrous battle reached the city. The field of conflict was distant about twenty-five miles. Through the day the roar of this awful tempest of war had been heard, like the mutterings of distant thunder. Patriots and tories, with pale faces and trembling lips, met in different groups, crowding the streets and squares. Toward evening a courier brought the intelligence that the American army was in full retreat. Many of the patriots, in their consternation, abandoned home and everything, and fled with their families to the mountains. Congress adjourned to Lancaster and subsequently to Yorktown. Washington was invested with dictatorial powers, for a distance of seventy miles around his headquarters, to be in force for sixty days.[158]
Notwithstanding the defeat of the Americans, General Howe followed the retreating army slowly and with great caution. He had not forgotten Washington’s crossing of the Delaware, and had learned to respect the military ability of his foe. He spent the night after the battle, and the two following days, on the battle-field. Washington quietly retired across the Schuylkill to Germantown, but a short distance from Philadelphia. His troops were not disheartened. Overpowered by numbers, they regarded their repulse as a check rather than a defeat.
General Howe reported his loss to be ninety killed, six hundred wounded, and six missing. He gave the American loss at three hundred killed, six hundred wounded and four hundred taken prisoners. His estimate of the American loss must have been entirely conjectural; since General Washington made no return of his loss to Congress.[159]
CHAPTER XI.
The Loss of Philadelphia, and the Capture of Burgoyne.
Philadelphia occupied by the English—Condition of Burgoyne—Nature of the Conflict—Treachery of the Indians—Burgoyne’s Efforts to Escape—Cruel Devastation—The Surrender—Its Results—Plans of Washington—His Military Capacity—Battle of Germantown—The Panic—Washington’s Account of the Battle—Results of the Battle—Destruction of Fort Mifflin—Atrocities of the British—Encampment at Valley Forge.