After his reverses at Brandywine, the never-despairing Washington drew together his forces and prepared again to attack. He was, in truth, a leader whom no disaster could appall.
The next scene of action was at Germantown, Pennsylvania. This fight occurred on the 4th of October, and was destined to be Colonel Buncombe’s last battle, for there he received the wound which ultimately caused his death while a prisoner in the hands of the British. The brigade of North Carolinians was selected by the commander-in-chief to act as a part of the reserve corps at Germantown, but it may be questioned if it would have suffered more terribly if placed in the van. The brave General Nash, with his thigh shattered by a solid shot,[R] and fainting from the loss of blood, was borne to a near-by house and lingered only three days. Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Irwin of Buncombe’s regiment (the Fifth), Captain Jacob Turner of the Third, and Lieutenant John McCann of the Sixth North Carolina, lay dead on the field. Major William Polk of the Ninth, received a shot in the face, which, for a time, deprived him of the power of speech. Captain John Armstrong of the Second, Lieutenant Joshua Hadley of the Sixth, and Ensign John Daves of the Second, were also among the wounded, as were doubtless many others, of whom, unfortunately, we have now no record.
And the privates! How many of those forgotten heroes shed their blood and gave up their lives, as freely as did the officers, will never be known. May their devotion be rewarded in a better world.
“’Tis to the virtue of such men, man owes
His portion in the good that heaven bestows;
And when recording history displays
Feats of renown, though wrought in ancient days—
Tells of a few stout hearts that fought, and died,
Where duty placed them, at their country’s side—
The man that is not moved with what he reads,