Seized in September

Kim Burdick, MA, MPA

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A Reasonable Whigess

“I am a young lady, who delights much in politics;

and, if I know my own heart, am a warm friend to

America. But my misfortune is, that sometimes, whilst

I am contending for what I think is true liberty, I am

told that I am a Tory; and perhaps the next day,

expressing the same sentiments, that I am an

outrageous Whig.

As there are many of my acquaintance laboring

under the same inconvenience I should be glad if any

of your correspondents would favour me with a clear

definition of the above characters, that I may conduct

my conversation in future as becomes,

A Reasonable Whigess Pennsylvania Evening Post, November 16, 1775.

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Clinton-Howe Map -1777

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Population of Delaware

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At the beginning of the Revolution the three counties on the Delaware possessed a

population of 37,219, including 2,000 slaves and many bonded servants. New

Castle County contained 14,295 inhabitants; Kent, 8,996; Sussex 13,928.

The old families were of Dutch, Swedish and English stock, but by the 1770s,

Scotch-Irish Presbyterians formed a sizeable minority. Thomas McKean

maintained that they were the dominate majority in New Castle County. (Harold

Hancock)

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“I WIll Go If the Rest Goes”

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August 1777

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August 24, 1777

Violent thunderstorm in Chesapeake hits British fleet.

The Isis is hit by lightning...

“From 7 to 11 thunder, lightning & heavy rain, at half-after –

eight a flash of lightning struck main topgallant mast, shivered

it to pieces, rent the Main topmast. From head to heel, split

several pieces of the mainmast, and burnt one of the main

topmast. Shrouds in two…”

Logbook of the Eagle

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August 25, 1777

11,000 Continental soldiers enter Delaware near Naamans Creek*.

The Light Horse pushed on to Wilmington accompanied by

George Washington.

General James Potter accompanied by Washington took the militia

to Wilmington as directed. Meanwhile the Delaware militia was

turning out with “great alacrity.” [Reed. Campaign. Pg 82]

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* There were 1172 whites and 57 African-American residents in Wilmington, Delaware in the 1775 head count.

Wilmington Friends Meeting

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Photo by Chris Mlynarczyk. Blue Hen Photography. Courtesy of Delaware Historical Society.

August 28, 1777

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During the march to White Clay Creek some wagoneers

said, “that the Ministerials were advancing within a few

miles of us (scary creatures) and said there were 16,000,

which our solders as much believed as they believe George

111 and his corrupt Ministry have a right to tax America.”

[Chilton’s Diary. 288. Quoted in Papers of GW Crackel

Fragment ID: Search Rev11d65]

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Rev. Henry Muhlenberg wrote in his diary; “It is like a great hunting

expedition in which hunters and framers form a large circle and

drive the wild animals from every side into a central net, whereupon

the noble connoisseurs of the hunt can amuse themselves.”

[McGuire. Pg 121]

a central net

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August 29, 1777

British soldier, Timothy Pickering writes his wife:

“We are doubtless a wicked generation, and our army

too much abounds in profaneness and debauchery.”

[McGuire quoting` Timothy Pickering in Upham’s Life of Pickering pgs 152-53.]

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“Great complaints were made of the plunder committed

by the Troops, chiefly by the Hessians.”

[Andre. HSD. Pg 79]

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From Major AndRe’s Journal

John AndRe’s MAp

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During the American Revolution, British

forces under William Howe occupied the

village, setting up their headquarters in

the tavern and establishing a temporary

field hospital at Pencader Church.

http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=57931

Glasgow

AIken’s tAveRn

Noxontown Camp

The Noxontown camp of Delaware militia under command of

Caesar Rodney, in September, 1777, was located on the north side

of the road running east from Newark to Middletown Highway at

Noxon Town Lake. From near here Caesar Rodney was in

correspondence with Washington before and after Battle of

Brandywine.

In Context:

Militia volunteers were called upon to defend the State.

The 1st Delaware was not, as a Unit, at the Battle of Cooch’s Bridge. They were up near Staten Island, NY

.

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Drive Off all Cattle

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September 1, 1777

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“A soldier of ours was taken by the

enemy beyond our lines, [he] had

chopped off an unfortunate

woman’s fingers in order to plunder

her rings.

I really think the return of this

army to England is to be dreaded

by the peaceable inhabitants.”

[McGuire pg 147. Quoting Letter, Fitzpatrick.

PMHB 1,1877:289n].

Strung Up Like Gutted Deer

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We Marched from our encampment at 4 a.m.

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The Villainous Quakers

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Mills Should be Dismantled

Grain Taken Away

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September 3, 1777

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Cooch's Bridge in the Revolution, original pen and ink sketch by Andrew Wyeth.

Christopher Ward papers.

September 5, 1777

Historic Christiana

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Dansey led the British 33rd on a raid of Christiana where

they captured “horse, arms, colours and drums” of a rebel

colonel of the Delaware Militia.

September 6

at 5 O'clock this Afternoon

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Delaware Historical Society. Photo by Chris Mlynarczyk. Blue Hen Studios.

Whare to Apply For Pay?

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September 8, 1777

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Ensign Carl Friedrich Rueffer

of Hesse-Cassel von Mirbach

wrote: “At two o’clock we passed

Newark, a very pleasantly built

town of about sixty houses, but

completely uninhabited. Also, now

and again, very pleasing country

homes which previous to this time

we had seldom encountered in this

area because it is rather thinly

settled.” [Burgoyne. Enemy Views.

Pg 173.]

The Newark Academy building was used

as a shoe factory for the Delaware militia.

Classes resumed in 1780.

September 8, 1777

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Before Autumn Had

Overtaken Her Beauty

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September 8, 1777“Toward evening one of our patrols brought in a coach harnessed to six very

fine horses. Found in the coach was Lady Patterson, the wife of an American

colonel—a lady who before autumn had overtaken her beauty must have been

attractive—together with her maid, a dainty blonde, and three Negro servants.

The entire baggage was thoroughly searched, and everything belonging to the

colonel was distributed among the jagers….Since darkness fell over this

partage d’Arlequin, and these ladies did not dare continue their journey at

night, they were put up for the night in our gypsy dwelling, which were mostly

nothing but huts of brushwood.

At daybreak, after we had treated the ladies to breakfast and had exchanged

their six good horses for six very patient ones, they resumed their journey.

They bid us farewell and we wished them a pleasant journey. I do not believe

they had ever dreamed in all their lives of making a toilette under such

circumstances.”

[McGuire Phil Camp pg 161. quoting Ewald, Diary, 80.)33

September 9, 1777

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Asked Where were they going

at that time of night

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Everything Destroyed Except

This Glass and a Cradle

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Mrs. Phillips Saw A Keg with a

Hole in the Top

September 11, 1777. fRoM the top of John dIckInson’s house We sAW…

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September 11, 1777

“During the progress of the Battle of Brandywine many of us saw from

the top of the house, formerly John Dickinson’s, in Market Street, the

smoke of the engagement and heard the reports of the cannon and the rattle

of the platoon firing of that bloody day.”

[Hancock. Lib & Ind. Pg 115. Quoting The American Watchman

Wilmington, Del. Friday, July 8, 1825. Revolutionary Reminiscences]

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September 12, 1777

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McKinly is Captured

the Little Church becomes a Hospital

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September 12, 1777

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September 13, 1777

Miss Peggy Allison, a worthy lady, long known and respected,

met Miss Hannah Shallcross in the street. They expressed their

indignation at seeing redcoats parading the streets with freedom,

and censured the police for permitting it. A British officer overheard

their confabulation about what ought to be done with his majesty’s

soldiers, and stepped forward, gently touching the elder lady’s arm,

said,

“Madam, do you know that you are all prisoners? Be advised

to return to your homes.”

[Montgomery. Rem. Pg 242]

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September 14, 1777

“Some days after the British took possession of this town, their

wounded were brought from the battle ground in wagons—there were a large

number of them, and it was distressing circumstance to many to see their

looks of anguish, and to hear their groans and cries, as the carriages rumbled

over the stones.

A relation of mine who was standing near Brandywine as the

wounded passed, could not, or did not avoid the expression of his sympathy

when the wounded Americans came by—though he had said nothing as the

British wounded passed. For this expression of sympathy for “Rebels”

he was harshly reproved by a Scotch officer who said that he had “a mind to

make him feel for his misplaced compassion.”

Hancock Lib & Ind. Pg 111. Quoting The American Watchman

Wilmington, Del. Friday, July 8, 1825. Revolutionary Reminiscences]

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The Rebel Dog

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September, 1777

“The wounded soldiers in the house now occupied by John Rumford, cruelly

tied a pistol barrel, charged alternately with wet and dry powder, to a dog’s

tail, and having set it on fire opposite their door and directed the dog down

the street, the first discharge took place nearly opposite the hotel now kept

by John M. Smith; the second somewhat lower down the street—and the

third and last, opposite the Doctors’ Quarters.

These different reports being similar to the regular alarm of sentinel firing,

created great agitation, as though an attack had commenced; but it soon

subsided, when it was discovered that it arose from the fun of soldiers, who,

though suffering from their own wounds, felt a pleasure in inflicting pain

upon the “rebel dog.””

[The American Watchman Wilmington, De.

Friday, July 8, 1825. Revolutionary Reminiscences]

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October 8, 1777

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“She was a ‘poor and distressed state, without a head, without

a shilling, public records and papers in possession of the enemy,

the militia dispirited and dispersed, many of them fled out of the

state for safety, a majority of the rest disaffected to the glorious

cause we are engaged in.” [Thomas McKean]

October, 1777

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“In New Castle county the lower

class of the people have got an

opinion that, by remaining quiet,

they will not be molested, and seem

unwilling to join their officers, or

that any troops should be assembled

in their neighborhood; and many of

the officers and better sort of the

inhabitants apprehend that, by

attempting anything without the

assistance of others, they will

expose themselves to certain

destruction.”

(Thomas McKean.

Sparks, C, 1 443-5)

John dRAke’s WIfe Shot

Oct 15, 1777British & Hessians begin to evacuate Northern Delaware.

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In Context

17th October 1777 = Battle of Saratoga

The concussion

shook the glass bottles

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October 23, 1777

In the river

between Fort Mifflin & Fort Mercer

February 15, 1778

“ The residents cry out and beset me from all quarters, but like Pharaoh, I harden my heart. Finding two men on the road with provisions intended for the city markets, I gave them an hundred lashes each by way of example. I determined to forage the country very bare. Nothing shall be left unattempted.” (Nathaniel Greene) 51

March 1778

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Smallwood’s garrison at Wilmington was a buffer between Philadelphia and the Head

of Elk supply depots, an intelligence station for monitoring river traffic , and a support

base for Continental forays into New Jersey.

By the middle of March the garrison was suffering from the consequences of the

diversion of food from Maryland and Delaware to the main army Smallwood,

complained that Delaware areas were “intirely drained,” and he feared the army’s

suppliers would ignore his needs unless they were directed by headquarters to assist

him.

At Congress’s request, Smallwood detached a party of men to arrest citizens of

questionable political allegiance in anticipation of a British invasion of Delaware.

[Bodle. VF Winter. Pg 209]

May 30, 1778

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On May 30, General Smallwood, and the garrison from

Wilmington rejoined the army, bringing with them a large

number of recruits.

Their arrival at Valley Forge “would add another three

thousand rations per day to the army. “

This was “truly distressing” to the commissary

department, and Chaloner feared it would have “fatal

consequences” for the army.

[Fleming. Secret. Pg 306]

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Delaware Humanities Forum

Speakers Bureau

www.dhf.org

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