Local History: Chapters XXIII - XXIV : Davis's 1877 History of Northampton Co, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Susan Walters USGENWEB NOTICE: Printing this file by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. HTML Table of Contents may be found at http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/northampton/davistoc.htm _______________________________________________________________________ HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. ††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† 59 (cont.) CHAPTER XXIII 1777. "ON the first of January 1777, Brother Ettwein, made his rounds through the hospital, and wished the sufferers God's blessing in the opening of the new year." So runs the entry in the Bethlehem Journal, before referred to, and the next record is "January 3d -During the forenoon we heard long- continued cannonading. Later, it was ascertained to have, been at Princeton." One thousand prisoner and six cannon, were the spoil which Washington gathered in his descent on Trenton; these he crossed to the safety of the Pennsylvania shore, and, nine days later, he made the successful attack on Princeton; after which the army went into winter quarters at Morristown. Most sadly was the provincial cause in need of these victories, to dispel the depression which, until Christmas, had weighed down the hopes of the patriots through the autumn of 1776; and to hold in check the tory spirit which was in many parts of the country, becoming rampant and aggressive. Most of the Northampton troops which were in the field, took part in the battles of Trenton and Princeton. The Rev. Mr. Rosebury, a Presbyterian clergyman of the Irish settlement, in Allen township, lost, his life in the first-named engagement. Intensely patriotic, and brave as the bravest, be knew that the Commander-in-Chief had need of men, and that was sufficient to show him that it was his duty to heed his country call, and to come up to her help against the mighty. He took the most active part and the liveliest, interest in the organization of Captain Hays' company, which was raised, at a few hours notice, among the liberty loving covenanters of the Irish settlements, and, doffing the sacred vestments for the garb of the private soldier, he shouldered his musket, and, with unfaltering faith, advanced into the field of battle, where God had mustered the hosts for war. The company of Captain Hays, after Trenton and Princeton, did not enter Winter quarters with the army in New Jersey, but returned to their homes for the time, passing through Bethlehem on the nineteenth of January. This was not, on their part, a retirement from service, but, they simply took winter quarters at home, in the bosom of their families, instead of the comfortless cantonments at Morristown; for they could, at two days notice, rejoin their companion in arms, when the return of spring should place the army of Washington again in the field. As the British army lay across the usual route of travel, between New York and Philadelphia, the most practicable way which now remained open to travelers between the two cities, through Northampton. This brought many of the illustrious men of the time through the county, on their way to and from the Capital. On the twenty-fifth of January, John Adams, of Massachusetts, with delegate Hall and Lovel, passed through Bethlehem and evinced great interest in an examination of the unique features of that lovely old town. 60 On the sixth of February "three hundred soldiers, from Ticonderoga" stopped at Bethlehem; and so great was their satisfaction with the hospitality which was shown them there, that they remained eight days in the town, leaving on the fourteenth; though it is not known what was their point of destination, or why they, in their journey southward from Ticonderoga, did not halt and reinforce the army of Washington at Morristown. Recruiting still continued brisk, as seems evident from the following entries in the Journal at Bethlehem: "Feby 13. -The first four companies of the militia passed through our place in quiet. "Feby 15. -Five additional companies of militia passed through, Mr. Dean ordered the colonel to conduct the battalion quietly through the place- Colonel Read, of the hospital, stationing guards around the store, and the Brethren and Sisters houses. "Feby 25th. -Successive parties of soldiers passed through. "March 11. -General Armstrong, on his way to the army stopped and attended evening service. "April 7th -In the evening, General Gates and staff arrived, and next day attended the funeral service of a deceased brother. On the eleventh he set out on his way for Ticonderoga; the brethren, Ettwein and Hasse, at his request, accompanying the party to Christian Spring and Nazareth, as far as the plains beyond Schoeneck" -from which it would seem probable that the Generals party, on their way to Ticonderoga, passed northward by way of Stroudsburg, and crossing the Delaware, near that place, struck the Hudson at Kingston. The wife of the Commander-in-Chief-too, came near honoring Northampton with her presence, as we may see from this entry: "May 9th. -Colonel McLean, with a troop of light-horse, reached here from Philadelphia, expecting to find Lady Washington, whom he was to escort, hence. The lady, and her retinue had, however, struck off on the Durham road, and thus missed Bethlehem." So it, appears, that even the unostentatious Moravians, had been seized with that amazing folly, which was then almost universal among Americans: the prefixing of a ridiculous title to the name of Martha Washington! Did not, the people of these provinces convict, themselves of insincerity, when, as a. mark Of especial favor and affection to their beloved Chief, they bestowed on his wife, one of those designations of nobility, which they had so recently professed, in sober earnest, to disown and contemn? Why did they not, by the same rule, speak of the Father of his Country, as Lord Washington? Would he have been pleased to receive that popinjay title which was worn by a dozen of the coxcomb aides-de-camp on the staffs of his antagonists, Clinton, Cornwallis, and Howe? It can only be said that it was it strange and incomprehensible taste which prompted the bestowal of such a title: intended to be complimentary, but really ridiculous. In the month of July, the British army embarked in the harbor of New York; after which their ships weighed anchor and stood out to sea. As it seemed evident to the mind of Washington that their intended point of attack was Philadelphia, either to be approached by the Delaware, or Chesapeake Bay, he at once placed his columns in motion, and took up his line of march for Pennsylvania; encamping near Germantown. Here he remained for some time, observing the movements of the enemy, until his method of attack became more visibly developed. It was here, at Germantown, that he first met the young Marquis Lafayette, who had just arrived at Philadelphia, from France. Sir William Howe, in command of the British army, disembarked his forces at the head of Elk River, on the twenty-fifth of August, and, disposing them in two columns, composed respectively of the divisions of Cornwallis and Knyphausen, moved rapidly up, striking the Brandywine at Chad's Ford, where Washington was waiting in line of battle, upon the opposite shore, to receive him. The general engagement, known as the battle Of the Brandywine, was fought on the eleventh of September, 1777, The dispositions of battle were skillful made by both commanders, and equal gallantry was displayed by the opposing hosts; but the American army was at first defeated, and the next day retired to Germantown, where they again went into camp, which, however, they abandoned on the thirteenth. A variety of feints and strategic movements followed, during the succeeding two weeks, when, on the of September, the British army entered the cite of Philadelphia, and Washington encamped on Perkiomen Creek. Congress had abandoned the city immediately on learning the result of the battle of Brandywine, and had retired to Lancaster, which, for the time, became the capital of the Province Of Pennsylvania. After the defeat of the Brandywine, the government military stores and the vast number of sick and wounded soldiers, were removed to Northampton county; Bethlehem, Northampton Town, and Easton. The order, thus transferring the General Hospital to Bethlehem, was received in the, evening if the nineteenth of September, as follows: "Gentlemen-It gives me great pain to be obliged, by order of Congress, to send my sick and wounded soldiers to your peaceful village; but so it is. "We will want room for two thousand at Bethlehem, Easton, and Northampton, and you way expect them on Saturday or Sunday, These are dreadful times-consequences of unnatural wars, I am truly concerned for your society, and wish sincerely this stroke could be averted; but 'tis impossible. "WILLIAM SHIPPEN," 1 On the twentieth, the people at Bethlehem went earnestly to work to clear their houses, from roof to cellar, for the reception of the wounded and sick, who now began to arrive in large numbers from the field hospitals, where they had been carried, after Brandywine. The Moravians, however, were, particularly earnest in. their request that the Sisters House should not be taken as a hospital, as the helpless inmates would experience great hardship and distress, in consequence of such an ejectment. The result of this request was the issuance of the following order or rather, request, which accomplished all the purposes of an older, signed by sixteen delegates to Congress who, at, the time, were present in Bethlehem: "BETHLEHEM, September 22d, 1777. "Having here observed a diligent attention to the sick and wounded, and a benevolent desire to make the necessary provision for the relief of the distressed, is far as the power of the brethren enable them, we desire that all Continental officers may refrain from disturbing the persons or property Of the Moravians in Bethlehem; lend particularly, that they do not disturb or molest, the houses where the women are, assembled. "Given under our hands, at the time and place above mentioned. "JOHN HANCOCK SAMUEL ADAMS JAMES DUANE NATHAN BROWNSON NATHANIEL FOLSOM RICHARD LAW ELIPHALET DYER HENRY MARCHANT RICHARD HENRY LEE HENRY LAURENS WILLIAM DIER CORNELIUS HARNETT BENJAMIN HARRISON JOSEPH JONES JOHN ADAMS WILLIAM WILLIAMS Delegates to Congress" This was an unusual array of public men to be present in Bethlehem at the same time, and beside these, there, was the Baron DeKalb and the, Marquis Lafayette,2 with his brilliant suit of young Frenchmen; all these making up a larger company of distinguished personages than are often seen together in a small country town. General Washington having ordered the transfer of all military stores to Bethlehem, there arrived at that place, on the sixteenth of September, a heavy wagon train from French Creek, laden with public property and munitions. The inhabitants were greatly dissatisfied with the order transferring these to their town, but their remonstrances, were of no avail. The wagons were unloaded at the lime-kilns-about half a mile from the town-and a guard of forty men set over the property. This was the firs installment of army stores arriving there; but, a week later, the entire train, bringing the army baggage and stores, reached the south side of the Lehigh. It comprised seven hundred wagons, and was escorted by two hundred men, under command of Colonel Polk, of North Carolina. The train was parked for the night across the Lehigh; and, in the morning, the fields Of buckwheat, which waved there so beautifully when the sun went down, had wholly disappeared, as also the fences which had enclosed them; and the peaceful brethren learned, with both sorrow and amazement, how much havoc among fields and harvests may be wrought, between sunset and sunrise, by a squadron of troopers its reckless as were those Virginia and North Carolina horsemen who bivouacked on the South bank of the Lehigh on that, twenty-third of September. __________________________________________________________________________ 1. William Shippen was Director-General of the Continental Hospital. 2. The Marquis had been wounded at Brandywine, and had come to Bethlehem for medical treatment by the surgeons of the hospital. Lossing speaks of his wounds at Brandywine thus: "La Fayette, who had leaped from his horse while, sword in hand, endeavoring to rally the yielding patriots, was wounded in the leg, by a musket-ball, and fell." 61 The next day the train crossed the river, and passed through the town to the place where the stores were to be deposited. While passing through the street, one of the wagons, which carried the State House bell,1 broke down, and its load was obliged to be transferred to another. The seven hundred wagons deposited their stores, and proceeded to Trenton, to remove a further large quantity of public property which was stored there. It was fully expected by Washington, that the British commander would vigorously follow the advantage he gained at the Brandywine. and push the Americans to the last extremity. In this case it had been his intention to fall back upon the Lehigh River, and fortify Bethlehem. Preparations were made in anticipation of such an event, which, at that time, seemed to be very far from improbable. The Baron DeKalb and several French engineer officers under his command, had arrived on the sixteenth, and had made a survey of the heights, around the town, with a view to their fortification; and, indeed, it, was fully intended by Washington to make Bethlehem the strong point in his anticipated line of defence. If all these probabilities had been realized, Northampton county would, indeed, have felt the grip of the iron hand of war; but mercifully, she was spared the ordeal of battle and blood. "Oct, 4th," says the old journal: "Loud cannonading was heard in the distance. Some days later, intelligence reached us of the battle of Germantown; and on the sixth and seventh, numbers of the wounded were conveyed to the hospital." It was, indeed, the thunder of the guns at Germantown, which reverberated acres, the Lehigh hills; though it seems hardly credible, on account of the great distance. The British forces being encamped at Germantown, with their left wing resting on the Schuylkill River, Washington determined to hill on them by surprise and to break them, if possible, by the vigor of his attack; fully believing that he might, in this manner, secure a decisive victory over them, as they were entirely separated from their vessels, and out of reach of their support. His dispositions for battle were, for Sullivan's and Wayne's, divisions, and Conway's brigade, to enter the town by way of Chestnut Hill, and attack the British centre and left-centre, while the divisions of Greene and Stephens, with Macdougal's brigade were to make a detour to the cast ever the Line Kile road, thus entering the town at the market house, and attacking the right centre. By this means, he believed be could isolate each wing from the support, of the other, and secure certain victory, if the plan was properly carried out. In order that neither of the enemy's wing might contract and mass on the center, General Armstrong, commanding the Pennsylvania Militia, was to make a feint of thinking their left, while Forman and Smallwood, with their Maryland and New Jersey troops, were to perform a similar office on their right, which rested near the York road, The reserve of Washington army, ova, formed by the division of Lord Sterling and Nash's and Maxwell's brigades. These disposition seemed unobjectionable; and at seven o'clock, in the evening of the third of October, 1777, the commander placed his columns in motion to reach forward cautiously to the immediate presence of the enemy, and to take up his position, from which to open the mornings onslaught The cavalry were everywhere on the alert, though moving in perfect silence, they seized and brought into the American camp, evert person who could be found, who might possibly, if left free, apprize the enemy of the forward movement. Washington, himself, accompanied the column destined for the centre Attack the divisions of Sullivan and "Mad Anthony" Wayne. There was, no rest for the General-in-Chief that night; the momentous possibilities of the morrow would not let him sleep. At three in the morning long before the first flush of dawn-he was in the saddle; the troops silently fell into their places, and were ready for the attack with the coming of light. The British, however, had discovered the approach of their enemy, and their forces all stood to their arms. At sunrise, the American line advanced, and the brigade of Conway drove in the British pickets. Fortune seemed on the side of the Americans, for Washington regarded the victory as sure, provided he gained possession of the town, and this seemed already almost accomplished, when the brave British Lieutenant-Colonel Musgrave with a battalion of His Majesty's 40th Regiment of foot, threw himself into a large and exceeding strong atone mansion house,2 which commanded the entrance to the town, and from this stronghold, he poured out a fire so deadly that the further advance of the Americans was impossible. Again and again they stormed the castle-house; and again and again they were beaten back by the withering fire of Musgrave. Then artillery was brought against it, but kill to no purpose. While this scene was bring enacted, Greene had attacked and routed the British extreme right, and then turned on the eight centre, Colonel Matthews, of Greene's command, trade so furious an attack that he drove them before him, and now, notwithstanding, the rock-rooted obstinacy of Musgrave, the cause of the English began to look dubious in Germantown. Matthews, however, went too fast. In the thick fog which lay over the hold, he became severed from Greene's division, and being now attacked by two fresh English regiments, he was beaten and obliged to surrender. The very thing which Washington had endeavored to guard against, now happened. Smallwood and Forman, who had been expected to keep the British right wing busy by flanking them, did not come up in time, so their right wing massed to repel the attack on their centre; their attack on Wayne and Sullivan was furious, the American. wavered, and the day was lost. Colonel Timothy Pickering 3 for many year, a citizen of Northampton county was one of Washington's aides-de-camp at that engagement. Nearly fifty years afterwards, being requested to relate what he saw on that bloody day, he told the story thus: "SALEM MASS., August 23d, 1826 "Sir- Nearly forty-nine years have elapsed since the battle of Germantown; of course, you may well suppose that many facts respecting it are beyond my power of recollection, while a few are indelibly impressed on my mercury, General Washington, in his letter to Congress, of October the 5th, the day after the battle, says: that the army marched about seven o'clock in the evening at the 3d; and that General Sullivan's advanced party attacked the enemy picket at Mount Airy, or Mr. Allen's house, about sunrise the next morning, which presently gave way; and his main body, consisting of the right wing, following soon, engaged the light infantry and other troops encamped near the picket, which they forced from the ground; leaving their baggage, they retreated a considerable distance, having previously thrown a party into Mr. Chew's house. The term here applied to these advanced corps, of the enemy that they were 'forced from the ground,' shows that they were in arms, and resisted the assailants; and the previous brush with the picket, a guard always posted in advance, on purpose to give notice of an enemy's approach, roused 'the light infantry and other troops' who had time enough to take their arms and form for action. They retreated, of necessity, before the greatly superior force of the right wing of our army. But the 'leaving of their baggage authorized the inference that they filed no knowledge of the march of the American, army, until the, firing in the engagement with the picket-guard gave the alarm. If then these advanced corps of" the enemy were not, in the strict sense of the word, surprised, that is, 'caught napping,' unprepared for action, much less could the main body, posted in the centre of Germantown, two miles further off have been surprised. The distance gave them ample tune to prepare for action, in any manner which the attack of the enemy should require. "You ask 'at what distance from Chew's house the attack commenced.' At that, time I was a stranger in that part of the country. From my subsequent acquaintance with it, during my residence in Pennsylvania, I should estimate the distance of Mount Airy to Philadelphia to be eight miles Chew's house seven miles, and the centre of Germantown six mile and these, I think, are the distances as I have occasionally heard them. "You ask how long it pause was made at Chew's house, and what space of time probably intervened between the beginning of the action and the general engagement at the head of the village. The pause at Chew's house, in the manner I shall soon mention, probably delayed the advance of the rear division of our army, into action, for half an hour. And, taking the attack of the picket at Mount Airy as the beginning of the action, it was probably near half an hour before it became general, as to the whole of Sullivan's column; and this general engagement must have commenced after he had passed Chew's house; for I saw not one dead man until I had passed it and then but one, lying in the road when I fell in with General Sullivan ___________________________________________________________________________ 1. In 1754, a chime of bells weighing eight thousand pounds, for Christ Church steeple, was purchased in England, at the cost of $4,500. In 1777, these bells were taken down from the steeple, and conveyed to Trenton for safety. They were returned, and hung again after the enemy evacuated the city. (Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution,) Vol. II, p. 44. The State House bell, which was in the wagon that broke down in Bethlehem, had been taken down and carried away for safety, when the British army approached the city. 2. Familiarity known as the "Chew House" being owned by a family of that name. 3. Pickering was a favorite of General Washington, and was made Secretary of State under his administration. 62 I presume that, following close on the heels of the British battalion of light infantry, and the 40th regiment, which was retiring before him, Sullivan, with his column, had passed Chew's house without annoyance from it. For it must have taken some time for Colonel Musgrave, who entered it with six companies, of the 40th regiment, to barricade and secure the doors and windows of the lower story, before he would be ready to fire from the chamber windows; and it was from them that the firing I saw proceeded. "In the march of the army, General Washington, following Sullivan's column, kept in the road leading to and through Germantown to Philadelphia. When he had entered the northern part of the village, we heard, in advance of us (I was riding by the Generals side, a very heavy fire of musketry, General Sullivan's divisions, it was evident, were warmly engaged with the enemy; but neither was in sight. The fire, brisk and heavy, continuing, General Washington said to me, I am afraid Sullivan is throwing away his ammunition; ride forward and tell him to preserve it. I do not know what was the precise idea which, at that moment, struck the mind of the General, I call only conjecture that he was apprehensive that Sullivan, after meeting the enemy in the front, kept up his brisk and incessant fire, when the haziness of the air, and its increased obscurity, from the burning of so much powder, prevented his troops having such a distinct view of the enemy as would reader their fire efficient. Be that as it may, the instant I received the Generals orders, I rode forward, and in the road, three or four hundred yards beyond Chew's house, met Sullivan, and delivered to him the Generals orders. "At this time I had never heard of Chew's house; and had no idea that at enemy was in my rear. The first notice I received of it was from the whizzing of the musket balls across the road, before, behind, and above me, as I was returning, after delivering the orders to Sullivan. Instantly turning my eyes to the right, I saw the blaze of the muskets, whose shot were still aimed at me, front the windows of a large stone house, standing back about a hundred yards from the road. This was Chew's house. Passing on I came to some of our artillery, who were firing yet, obliquely on the front of the house. I remarked to them that, in that position, their fire would be unavailing, and that the only chance of their shot making ally impression on the house, would be by moving down and firing directly on it, front. Then immediately passing on, I rejoined General Washington who, with General Knox and other officers, was in front of a stone house-nearly all the houses in Germantown were of stone-next northward of the open fields it which Chew's house stood. I found they were discussing, in Washington's presence, this question, whether the whole of our troops their behind should immediately advance, regardless of the enemy in Chew's house, or first summons them to surrender? General Knox strenuously urged the sending of the summons. Among other things he said: Doubtless, that is a correct general maxim; but it does not apply in this case. We know the extent of this castle-Chew's house-and to guard against the danger from the enemy's sallying, and falling on the rear of our troops, a small regiment may be posted here to watch them; if they sally, such a regiment will take care of them, But, I added, to summon them to surrender is useless, we are now in the midst of the battle; and its issue is unknown. In this state of on certainty, and so well secured as the enemy find themselves, they will not regard a summons; they will fire at your flag. However, a flag was sent with a summons. Lieutenant Smith, of Virginia, my assistant in the office of Adjutant-General, volunteered his service to carry it. As he was advancing, a shot from the house gave him a wound of which he died. Whatever delay in the advance of the division in our rear, was occasioned by the pause at Chew's house, I am satisfied that Sullivan's column did not halt there at all, as mentioned by Judge Johnson. The column was certainly net it sight when the General sent in, with the order already noticed; and it is alike certain that it was then beyond Chew's house. Nor were the enemy forming under cover of the house, or I must have seen it. When the orders were sent to our troops in the rear to advance, I do not know; but it must have been subsequent to the sending of the flag-and, I should think, twenty minutes, at least, after it was found that all enemy was in the house. The General did not pass it at all. I had remained near hill until our troops were retreating, when I rode off to the right, to endeavor to stop and rally those whom I met retiring in companies and squads; but it was impracticable; their ammunition, I suppose, had generally been expended. "In the aforementioned letter from General Washington to Congress, he says: 'The attack from our left column, under General Greene, began about three-quarters, of an hour after that from the, right.' You ask the cause of this. The answer is obvious. The right column, under General Sullivan, town; Greene, with his column, was obliged to make a circuit to the left, to gain the road which lead to his point of attack. The columns being thus entirely separated, and at a distance from each other, no calculations of their commanders could have insured their arriving, at the same time, at their respective points of attack. "Judge Johnson, in his 'Life of Greene,' has represented as I almost ludicrous, the 'scene' exhibited by some writers, of the discussion near Chew's house, in the presence of General Washington, in which it is hinted that opinions were obtruded; and that even field-officers may have expressed their opinions; but, he adds, General Washington was listening to the counsels of his own mind and of his general officers. I know, however, that he did listen to the discussion; and Lee, commanding a troop of horse, on that day on duty near the Generals person, accounts for his determination to send the summons. Knox, he says, being always high in the Generals confidence, his opinion prevailed. Further, I must remark, that the general officers, whom the Judge supposed to have been present and advising the Commander-in-Chief, were then in their proper places with their divisions and brigades. Knox alone, of the general officers, was present, commanding in the artillery department, and the fieldpieces being distributed among the brigades of the army, he was always at liberty, in time of action, to attend the Commander-in-Chief. Some two years since, I wrote to Judge Johnson informing him of his mistakes in the matter noticed in this paragraph. Others of his details of this battle, which are inconsistent with the statements I have here given you, must be incorrect. The truth is, that General Washington, not sanguine in his own opinions, and his diffidence being probably increased by a feeling sense of high responsibility, as Commander-in-Chief, was over disposed, when occasions occurred, to consult those officers who were near him, in whose discernment and fidelity he placed a confidence, and certainly, his decisions were often influenced by their opinions. This is within my knowledge "I am, etc., "T. PICKERING." When, at seven o'clock in the morning, a courier arrived at the headquarters of Cornwallis, in Philadelphia, with the, intelligence of Washington's attack on the army at Germantown, the British commander moved up, in not haste, it large body of cavalry and grenadiers to the succor of his troops; but on his arrival upon the field, he found that the day was already won, and the Americans in full retreat towards Perkiomen Creek. The loss of the English at Germantown was not much over five hundred in killed and wounded, while the American lost two hundred killed, six hundred wounded, and four hundred taken prisoners. A sad closing of the day which had opened so auspiciously! and sad enough must have been the great heart of Washington when he saw his well-laid plans come to naught, and the success of which he had in the morning felt so confident-a success too, of which his country at that time stood in such desperate need-wrested from him by force of untoward circumstances, and the crowning disaster of Germantown, added to the lesser one of the Brandywine. He was however, in this time of trial and disappointment, nobly sustained by Congress, which body at once passed a vote of thanks to the General who so ably planned, and to the army who so bravely delivered, the battle. The principal cause of failure was the thick and foggy weather, which prevented the Americans front acting in concert, or discovering the position of the enemy This circumstance was far more to their disadvantage, as the attacking force, than to that of the British, who only stood on the defensive, upon ground with which they were perfectly familiar: and this, it was which caused the failure of Smallwood and Forman to execute the flanking feint, in pursuance of their order from Washington. But for this failure, the day would probably have been lost by the English commander, in spite of the brilliant strategy and fighting of the indomitable Musgrave. The troops of the Northampton battalion were present at both Brandywine and Germantown, and it is known that Captain Van Etten's company lost quite severely in the former engagement. The officers of Northampton county stood well in the estimation of the Commander-in-Chief. Pickering was, as has been seen, a trusted officer upon his staff, and both Broadhead and Siegfried who were in the fight of Brandywine and Germantown shared his confidence and esteem. To this last named officer, was assigned the duty of enforcing in his county, collections of clothing and blankets for the use of the army: which course became absolutely necessary, in the dark days which succeeded the battle. This authority was given him, in the following words, under the hand of Washington himself. 63 "Sir: By virtue of the power and authority given to me, by the honor many persons as you shall see fit, to collect, for the use of the Continental army, all such blankets, shoes, stockings, and other articles, of clothing, as can possibly be spared from the inhabitants of your section of county; giving receipts therefore to be paid by the clothier-general, obtaining these things from the Quakers and disaffected inhabitants, is recommended, but at all events, to get them. "Given under my hand and seal, Philadelphia County, "6th of October, 1777, "GEORGE WASHINGTON. "To Colonel John Siegfried." There was need enough of this measure to promote the comfort of the distressed soldiers, for now, on the approach of that memorable winter, the condition of the American army was nearly as bad as it could have been, in the matter of supplies-particularly of clothing-and of all articles necessary for the endurance of the frosty rigors, which were so close at hand; and Washington regarded the disheartening; prospect with the most profound anxiety. Concerning the collection of these necessary articles, in Northampton county, there is found this record in the old Moravian journal: "In this month orders were issued for the collection of clothing for the soldiers in the army, General Woodford generously protected us from lawless pillage, not unfrequently resorted to, in the execution of these orders, and made the contribution from our side optional. "We made several collections of blankets for the destitute soldiers; also shoes, stockings, and breeches for the convalescent in the hospital, many of whom had come here, attired in rags, swarming with vermin, while other, had, during their stay, been deprived of all by their comrades." It is not easy to understand by what authority General Woodford "made the contribution optional," on the part of the inhabitants of Bethlehem, There was no room to evade or misunderstand the explicit orders of General Washington, "at all events to get them." Perhaps the explanation lies in the fact that the sisters of the Moravian community, who probably had the contributions in charge, were, almost invariably, ardent patriots, and doubtless were willing to contribute as much, or more than was expected of them; while the clergy, whose language and opinions we find expressed and reflected in the old journal, were said to have been inclining, at least, to the royal cause. On the eighteenth of October, the Marquis Lafayette, having entirely recovered from the wound he received at Brandywine, left Bethlehem for Washington's headquarters; and on the second of November, John Hancock passed through Bethlehem and Easton, escorted by a body of cavalry, on his way from York Town to Boston; and brought the intelligence that Henry Laurens, of Charleston, South Carolina, had been chosen President of Congress. In the beginning of December, the army of Washington laid at White Marsh, with its right resting on the Wissahickon, and about fourteen miles above the City of Philadelphia. The British General Howe formed the plan of attacking him there at daybreak, on the morning of the fifth. It was expected by him, that he would be able to take Washington wholly by surprise, and thus secure a decided victory. Mysteriously, the royal troops left the city, in the evening of the fourth of December, and silently they took their way along the road towards the camps of their enemy, whom they almost pitied for the humiliation of the surprise and utter defeat they were to inflict upon them. But, in the morning all their confidence was turned to chagrin when, on advancing, before sunrise, they discovered that the patriot infantry (many of them the victors of Saratoga) stood in battle line to receive them, while Knox had his artillery in position, and the cannoneers were waiting at their guns, ready to extend a warm welcome to Lord Howe's, surprise party. "I am entirely at a lose to imagine," said the British Adjutant General, who it was that gave Washington information of our intended attack. When we arrived at White Marsh, we found all their cannon mounted, and the troops prepared to receive us; and we have marched back like a parcel of fools," and so, indeed, they did, leaving their attack on Washington to be made at some future, and more favorable time. Knowing that this unsuccessful attempt of the British was the closing of the campaign, the American commander at same prepared for winter quarters. He chose for his winter camp, a spot about six miles from Norristown, in a rugged ravine, where Valley Creek enters the Schuylkill from the southwest. It was thought a favorable situation, because the deep valley would afford protection to the half naked soldiers, against the biting cold of the northwest winds, There were plenty of trees there too, which was a, very material consideration; as they furnished shelter from the, blasts of winter fuel for the camp, and material for the construction of the buns, in which the General proposed to quarter his soldiers; for ill supplied as they were, with clothing and blankets, they could not, be exposed to the inclemency of the winter season in mere tents. Years before, a Mr. Potts, of the Pottsgrove family of that name, had built here an old-fashioned forge; and from this circumstance, the place had become known as Valley Forge, a name which few people had heard before the month of December, 1777, but which, by its association with the name Of WASHINGTON, has since become as famed as that of Marathon. On the eleventh of December, the first of the troops arrived here from White Marsh, famine-struck, shivering, and many of them shoeless, as they marched with bleeding feet over the rough frozen ground. In a few days the entire army was there, and soon they had completed the huts, in which they were to pass so long and dreary it period of hunger, cold, and wretchedness. These hovels were uniform in size, 14 x 16 feet, built of logs, with the, spaces plastered with mud, which froze solid as a rock as soon as put on, and, indeed, often before it had been properly spread in its place. When these were completed, they were tolerably warm, in fact they were sufficiently so when occupied by the men, of whom twelve were assigned to each hut. Of officers, three, four, or six occupied a house together, according to rank. Each general officer had a hut to himself. The Commander-in-Chief had his headquarters in a stone house, which belonged to Isaac Potts, the owner of the forge. It is represented to have been very small and inconvenient, but such as it was, its discomforts were gladly shared by Mrs. Washington, who passed the winter with her husband there. Descriptive of the place, she said in a letter to a friend: "The Generals apartment is very small; he has had a log cabin built to live in, which has made our quarters much more tolerable than they were at first." The body guard of the General was, of course, quartered near him, and the brigades of Conway, Huntington, McIntosh, and Maxwell, were within protecting distance of the stone house, though the main body of the army lay a mile or so further back from the river. A line of retrenchments encircled the camp, redoubts were thrown up by the outlying brigades, and a temporary bridge was thrown across the Schuylkill. All there was of comfort, in those winter quarters, was the warmth and shelter of the huts. So long as the men remained inside they suffered but little from cold, but when they went on duty outside, all unclothed as they were, their sufferings were extreme. The commissariat was badly managed, and provisions were not only scarce, but often wholly lacking. Washington, himself, wrote at this time: "For some days there has been little less than a famine in the camp. A part of the army have, been a week without any kind of flesh, and the rest, three or four days. "Naked and starving as they are, we cannot enough admire the incomparable patience and fidelity, of the soldiery, and that they have not ere this, been excited to mutiny and dispersion. "Strong symptoms of discontent, however, have appeared in particular instances." Provisions continued to grow more and more scarce; the country was exhausted by the demands on it from both armies, and it must be confessed, that the cupidity of the inhabitants was too much for their patriotism; they concealed their provisions and supplies from the Continentals, and took them to the enemy in Philadelphia: being tempted to pursue this course, by the lure of British gold, which they received from Howe's commissaries, while the almost worthless Continental money was all which the American officers could give in payment for supplies. Disease appeared too, with its horrors. The smallpox in particular seemed at one time likely to decimate the camp, but the kindness of Providence averted this blow, and the spectre passed them by with comparatively little harm. At Christmas thus, the general-in-chief wrote that five thousand nine hundred of his men, were entirely unfit for duty, by reason of being barefooted and otherwise naked! So, in gloom and distress, to the patriot cause, the year 1777 drew to its close, and the pure snow sifted down its New Years covering, over all the hunger and squalor and wretchedness of Valley Forge. 64 CHAPTER XXIV. EVENTS IN 1778. THE close of the year 1777, and the commencement of 1778, embracing the period in which, of all during the Revolutionary Conflict, the prospects of the confederated provinces appeared the most discouraging; notwithstanding the signal success which was vouchsafed to their arms, in the surrender of Burgoyne, at Saratoga, on the seventeenth of the preceding October. It would seem as if that victory, complete and overwhelming as it was, should have more than counterbalanced the mere defeats which the American arms had sustained at the Brandywine and at Germantown. And so it would, if it was the situation in the field alone, which was to be considered. But it was not only this, not only the misery and famine of Valley Forge, which clouded the hopes of Americans at this dismal time; it was more the menacing danger created by internal disaffection, the spread of toryism, the cooling of patriotic fervor in the breasts of many whose devotion had been relied on as the staunchest, and actual desertion by some, the crippling of Congress in their ability to supply the soldiers, in the field, with the articles necessary for it continuance of military operations; these with many other kindred causes of depression, made the chances for all eventual establishment of our independence seem slender indeed. Let us read what was said of these things and of the feelings of certain people at that cheerless time, by Alexander Graydon Esq., in his "Memoirs a Life Chiefly Passed in, Pennsylvania." He had been captured by the British, at one of the series of engagements near New York, in 1776, and, at the time mentioned, was passing his time at Reading; a paroled prisoner. "Many other Philadelphians "he says "had recourse to this town, as a place of safety from it sudden incursion of the enemy; and, among a score or more of fugitive families, were those of General Mifflin and my uncle, as I have called Mr. Biddle, though only standing in that relation by marriage. It, was also the station assigned to a number of prisoners, both British and German, as well as of the principal Scotch royalists1 who had been subdued and taken in North Carolina. I soon discovered that a material change had taken place during my absence from Pennsylvania; and that the pulses of many that, at the, time of my leaving it had beaten high in the cause of whigism and liberty, were considerably lowered. Power, to use a language which had already ceased to be orthodox, and could therefore only be whispered, had fallen into low hands. The better sort were disgusted and weary of the war. "Mr. Edward Biddle, then in a declining state of health, and no longer in Congress apparently entertained sentiments not accordant with the measures pursuing and, in the fervid style of elocution for which he was distinguished, he often exclaimed, that he really knew not what to wish for, 'the subjugation of my country', he would say, 'I deprecate as a most grievous calamity, and yet sicken at the idea of thirteen unconnected democracies: if we are to be independent, let us, in the name of God, at once have all empire, and place Washington at the head of it.' Fortunately for our existence as a nation, it great proportion of those whose early exertions tended to that issue, were not aware of the price by which it was to be acquired; otherwise, my knowledge of the general feeling at this time, so far a my means, of information extended, obliges me to say that it would not have been achieved." This species of disaffection was not unknown, even in Northampton county, true as were her instincts to the, cause of freedom. Most mortifying instances, she furnished in the persons, of Lewis Gordon and William Allen, both of whom were, in the outset of the struggle, ardent supporters of the Provincial side, and both of whom held military commands. Allen was colonel of a regiment in the American army, but he was not steadfast enough to withstand the depressing influence of the disasters of 1777. He proceeded secretly to New York, threw himself under the protection of the British commander there, and afterwards took refuge among his country's enemies in Great Britain. His father, Judge Allen, and his brother Andrew, also abandoned their country, and died in England. But such cases were, without doubt, as rare in Northampton, as in any county of Pennsylvania, or of the other provinces. About this little too, it conspiracy sprung in among certain army officers, and extending, it was supposed, to some of the delegates in Congress, having for its object nothing less than the displacement of General Washington from the command of the army, and the substitution of General Gates, who just then stood high in estimation particularly in his own on account of the brilliant campaign which bad closed with the capitulation of Burgoyne. It was whispered that Generals Gates, Lee, Conway, and Mifflin, were the master spirits of this intrigue. In the following extract from his "Memoirs," Graydon tells us what he observed at Reading concerning the plot: "The ensuing winter, at Reading, was gay and agreeable, notwithstanding that the enemy was in possession of the metropolis. The society was sufficiently large and select; and a sense of common suffering, in being driven from their homes, had the effect of more closely uniting its members. "Disasters of this kind, if duly weighed, are not grievously to be deplored. The variety and bustle they bring along with them give a spring to the mind; and when illumined by hope, as was now the case, they are, when present, not painful, and when past, they are among the incidents most pleasing in retrospection. "Besides the families established in this place, it was seldom without a number of visitors, gentlemen of the army and others. Hence the dissipation of cards, sleighing parties, balls, c., were freely indulged. "General Mifflin, at this era, was at home, a chief out of war, complaining, though not ill; considerably malcontent, and apparently not in high favor at headquarters. According to him, the ear of the Commander- in-Chief, was exclusively possessed by Greene, who was represented to be neither the most wise, the most brave, nor most patriotic of counselors. In short, the campaign in this quarter was stigmatized its a series of blunders, and the incapacity of those who had conducted it, unsparingly reprobated. "The better fortune of the northern army was ascribed to the superior talents of its leader; and it began to be whispered that Gates was the man who should, of right, have the station so incompetently sustained by Washington. "There was to all appearance a cabal forming for his deposition, in which it, was not improbable that Gates, Mifflin, and Conway, were already engaged; and in which the congenial spirit of Lee, on his exchange, immediately took it share. "The well known apostrophe of, Conway to America, importing that heaven had passed a decree in her favor, or her ruin most long before have ensued from the imbecility of her military counsels, was at this time familiar at Reading; and I heard him myself, when he was afterwards on a visit to that place, express himself to the effect that, 'no man was more a gentleman that General Washington, or appeared to more advantage at his table, or in the usual intercourse of life; but as to his talents for the command of all army (with a French shrug), they were miserable indeed.' "Observations of this kind, continually repeated, could not fail to make all impression within the sphere of their circulation; and it may be that the popularity of the Commander-in-Chief was a good deal impaired in Reading. As to I can confidently aver that I was never proselyted, or given to the opinion for it moment, that any man in America was worthy to supplant the exalted character that presided it her army, I might have been disposed, perhaps, to believe that such talents as were possessed by Lee, could they be brought to act subordinately, might often be useful to him; but I ever thought it would be a fatal error to put any other in his place. "Nor was I the only one who forbore to become a partisan of Gates. Several others thought they saw symptoms of selfishness in the business; nor could the great eclat of the northern campaign convince them that its hero was superior to Washington. "The duel which afterwards took place between General Conway and General Cadwallader, though immediately proceeding from all unfavorable opinions expressed by the latter of the conduct of the former at Germantown had perhaps, a deeper origin and some reference to this intrigue,2 as I had the means of knowing that General Cadwallader, suspecting Mifflin had instigated Conway to fight him, was extremely earnest, to obtain data from a gentleman who lived in Reading, whereon to ground a serious explanation with Mifflin. So much for the manoeuvring which my location at one of its principal seats brought me acquainted with; and which its authors were soon after desirous of burying in oblivion." ___________________________________________________________________________ 1 A strong band of Scotchmen who carried on a harassing partisan warfare against the American cause. They with their leader Macdonald, were captured and sent to Bethlehem; remaining there until September 25th 1777, when at the urgent request of the people of that town, they were, by order of and others of the congressional delegates transferred to Reading, and afterwards to Lancaster. 2. "Not that General Cadwallader was induced from the intrigue to speak unfavorably of General Conway's behavior at Germantown. That, of itself, was a sufficient ground for censure. Conway, it seems, during the action, was found in a farm house by General Reed and General Cadwallader. Upon their inquiring the cause, he replied, in great agitation, that his horse was wounded in the neck. Being urged to get another horse, and at, any rate to join his brigade, which as engaged, he declined it, repeating that his horse was wounded in the neck. Upon Conway's applying to Congress some time after to be made a Major-General, and earnestly urging his suit, Cadwallader made known this conduct his at Germantown; and it was for so doing that Conway gave the challenge, the issue of which was his being dangerously wounded in the face from the pistol of General Cadwallader. He recovered, however and soon after went to France. (Graydon.) 65 Neither of the four principal military conspirators, were born Americans. Their machinations were directed especially towards the Marquis Lafayette, to seduce him from his allegiance, but he remained like a rock, steadfast, and true to his commander and friends. Most of the winter he passed at the headquarters at Valley Forge. Washington, himself, was well aware of the combination against him, but it brought no disquietude to his great mind. Ambition had no place with him. It was for his country's good alone that be was solicitous, and to that, he gave all his thoughts, and energies, and prayers, through all the wretchedness and desolation of that memorable winter, and never for a moment did his soldiers waver in their faith and trust in him. "Happily for America," says an old writer: "there was, in the character of Washington, something which enabled him, notwithstanding the discordant materials of which his army was composed, to attach both his officers and soldiers so strongly to his person, that no distress could weaken their affection, nor impair the respect and veneration in which he was held by them, To this is to be attributed the preservation of a respectable military force, under circumstances but tot well calculated for its dissolution." The conspiracy failed. With undisturbed serenity, the Commander-in-Chief went through the ordeal, and was entirely sustained by the increased Confidence of Congress, and of the army. It is curious to notice that, while Gates arid Lee and their coadjutors were plotting to degrade him from his exalted position, another set of I men, perhaps more influential-like, Edward Biddle, as mentioned by Graydon- were most strenuously advocating the establishment of air empire, with Washington upon the throne! and it has also been asserted-though, of course, never proved-that, during the spring of 1778, emissaries from the crown and ministry of England, attempted a negotiation with him, whereby he should abandon the cause of the rebels, and renew his allegiance to George the Third; and should receive, as his recompense, an hereditary dukedom, to be erected of the province If Virginia, with the appointment of Viceroy of the Colonies of America! If such ail overture was really made to the great Virginian, it would have been worth ten years of life to witness the scorn and indignation with which he received it-to have looked on the sublimity of that lowering wrath, which, a few months later, burst like a thunderbolt, on the head of the conspirator Lee, upon the battlefield of Monmouth. The Cloud which had so long cast its shadow over the prospects of the new nation was, to a measure dispelled, by the open espousal of our cause by France, which was accomplished on the sixth of February. It had been known, for a considerable time, that such action was surf, to be taken off the part of the French government, and the knowledge infused new life into our councils. Steps for the resumption of recruiting were at once taken, and officers ordered to each county, on that service, to fill the quotas. The main army had already been reinforced by the veterans of the northern army, flushed with victory-though it cannot be denied that their confidence had suffered somewhat by the later experience at Valley Forge and both Congress and the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania, labored most earnestly to put Washington's forces in a condition for effective service, on the opening of the campaign. The Circular orders to the officers sent on recruiting service to the different counties, were in form as follows: "IN COUNCIL, LANCASTER February 11th, 1778 . "Sir:-You are appointed to recruit in the county of _______ in order to fill up the quota of this State in the Continental army. You will proceed immediately to that place and use, the utmost diligence in, and attention to, this great and important duty; in the discharge of which you are to attend to the regulations established by Congress; among w'ch it is ordered that every recruit shall have the liberty of chusing if what Battalion, troop, or company he will serve; arid if the company he shall chuse to serve in be full, he shall serve in such other company as he shall then chuse. "Each recruit, on his taking the oath or affirmation, directed to be. taken by Congress, that be may serve three years or during the war. You are to pay down sixty dollars, taking a receipt for the same, expressing the payment of the twenty dollars ordered by Congress, and forty dollars, part of the bounty of one hundred dollars ordered by the General Assembly of this State. The remaining sixty dollars to be paid on the recruit passing muster at such place as; shall be appointed by his Excellency General Washington or by this Council. You are to apply to _______(name)_______ Lieutenant of the said county who will advance to you _____ hundred dollars; and on the expenditure of this sum you are to apply to him again for such further sums as may from time to time be necessary, and deliver to him certificates signed by the Justice before whom the recruits which you shall have enlisted shall have been qualified, containing a description of each such recruit, and the time, of his enlistment, and retaining a duplicate of such certificate in your own hands. Instructions will be given to the Lieutenant of the County on this subject, a, well as orders, to him to give you such assistance from the Militia on any occasion as may be necessary. "It will probably be in your power to secure a number of deserters, and you will be allowed five dollars, for each deserter which you shall apprehend and deliver to the persons appointed to receive the recruits. For this end you are to make diligent enquiry after them. You must be particularly careful not to advance any money to deserters if they should offer to enlist again. You are also to be careful not to enlist any person who is by any means tendered incapable of doing military duty. Eight dollars to be paid you for every recruit you shall enlist. "You will see the propriety and necessity of transmitting to this council a monthly return of your proceedings, or oftener, if necessary, and also to transmit to his Excellency General Washington, an account of your proceedings from time to time, as often as may be necessary, in order that the recruits may be sent for, by proper officers. "It would be unnecessary to remind you that the people of the State have it right to be treated with decency and respect, but it cannot be doubted that more success in a free country is to be expected in the business you are engaged in, from a strict propriety of behavior than from any unfair or indirect practices. T'Y, MATLACK, Secretary." And the County Lieutenants were instructed by the Council as below: "IN COUNCIL, LANCASTER, Feby 14th, 1778, "SIR: of the Pennsylvania regiment is appointed to recruit in Your county for the Continental army. He is ordered to call on you for money; you will please to pay him the sum of six hundred dollars, with which he is to enter upon its duty, Coun- cil have directed him to apply to you from time to time for Such further sums as the service shall require, and at the same time he is to lay before you a certificate of the time of enlistment and qualification, and a description of the person of each recruit which be shall enlist, signed by the Justice before whom he shall have been attested. He is to pay to each recruit on his being attested the 20 dol's bounty ordered by Congress and 60 d'rs, part, of the 100 dollars ordered by this State, the remainder to be paid on their passing muster, at such place as shall be appointed by Gen'l Washington or this Council. " From this you will be enabled to judge of the necessity of further sup- plies of money from time to time, which must be in some degree left; to your judgment and prudence, not exceeding the sum above mentioned at any one time. If any assistance from the militia shall be wanted to prevent file in consequences of any disturbance which may happen in the prosecution of this business, you are to give him every countenance which is consistent with the rights and liberties of the people, taking care at the same time that no insult or injury is offered to any person. "The great importance of filling up the Continental army with all possible expedition, we hope will induce you to exert yourself so as that the recruiting service may not be at a stand for want of money. "The General Assembly have depended upon collecting of the substitution money for this purpose. This you know must rest on your diligence and attention, and you will be accountable for the consequences, of a deficiency or delay. T'Y. MATLACK, Secretary," Northampton responded promptly to this call, and filled her quota in reasonable time. Among her citizens, were many who stood unexcelled in public spirit, Captain John Arndt,1 and David Deshler, of Allentown, were such; both of them laboring with indefatigable zeal to promote the welfare of the public cause, and to fill the army to the point required for offensive operations. These gentlemen were both appointed commissaries for the furnishing of supplies, and in this capacity did excellent service; both of them advancing, money to the provincial government, from their own private funds, at times when the public treasury was empty. Nor were such instances by any mean rare in the county. At the time when the army lay at Valley Forge, when the rich farmers and others in that near vicinity were surreptitiously taking their produce to the British in Philadelphia, on account of the better pay which they received for it there, and when the merchants in the city, a refused to do so much its to self to the purchasing officers a single bushel of salt, of which article, the need was very great, the farmer of the Saucon Valley, in Northampton, came forward and voluntarily sold their wheat and rye for the use of the starving troops; receiving to payment the promises of the government, which, at that time, looked like a very slender equivalent. ___________________________________________________________________________ 1. Captain John Arndt, after passing through the disastrous campaign of 1776, returned to Easton, crippled, and broken in health, from the wound which he received in the battle of Long Island, and from the hardships he passed through. Notwithstanding which he declined to ask for the pension which the law would have given him. The following copy of a letter received by him from Joseph Reed, the President of the Executive Council of the state of Pennsylvania, is pertinent to the subject mentioned above-that of his having advanced money from his own pocket, in aid of the politic cause, at a time when there was, to say the least, great doubt of his being reimbursed. IN COUNCIL, PHILADELPHIA, April 2d, 1781. "Sir:-Your favor of the 25th ultimo has been received, and we are much concerned that the treasurer of the County is unable to answer the draft, and the more, as it is not in my power to send you money. The State Treasury has not ten pounds in it. We hope you will have patience to bear with some difficulties, and we shall do everything in our power to relieve you. Yours, JOSEPH REED, President 66 The Moravian inhabitants of the county, although persisting in their result to aid, by enlisting men, yet performed fully their part-and by some, it is they did more than their share-in the furnishing of material assistance in the matter, of supplies, and in various other ways. The General Hospital of the army had, in the previous December, been ordered to be removed from Bethlehem to Lancaster, at the time when Washington had expected the advance of the enemy upon the former place: but on account of the great number of sick and wounded who were there the transfer could be accomplished but slowly, and was not completed until May, of 1778. The hospital record, during its stay at Bethlehem, was one of great misery and wretchedness, as well as unusual mortality, among the inmates; and of most unwearying and large-hearted benevolence, on the part of the inhabitants of the town. "Large numbers of sick were brought to Bethlehem from the Jerseys generally in open wagons, often amid the snow and beating, rain-pitiable, object, with clothing insufficient to shelter their fevered limbs from the piercing cold. The hospital-list daily increased, and between Christmas and New Year, upwards of seven hundred invalids were crowded into the Brethren's house alone. "Numbers died-especially in the upper stories where the filth and pollution were intolerable. Here was a field for Christian benevolence which the Brethren cheerfully entered. They proved themselves faithful disciples of, the Great Physician, who was pleased to cheer the drooping spirits and heal the infirmities of sinful humanity, while he walked this earth on his mission of divine mercy. For his sake they, shunned not the house of disease and death, and trusting in him, ventured to brave the pestilence in its stronghold, smoothing the dying pillow of the forlorn and bedridden stranger, with the consolations of religion, and preparing many a soul for its happy translation from scenes of misery, to that peaceful world here sorrow, and crying, and pain, and death, shall enter no more forever.1 The number of deaths at the hospital, in Bethlehem, is not known, for every effort was used by the surgeons to suppress the accurate knowledge. It is known, however, that the average was more than a hundred per mouth, for three months. The principal burial-place of these unfortunates, was upon the hillside to the west of the town.2 On the twentieth of June, 1778, the buildings which had been used as hospitals, having now been thoroughly cleaned and purified, were reoccupied by their Moravian owners. Early in June, information was received by the British that, the French, having made alliance with the Americans, had dispatched if fleet of twelve ships of the line and six frigates, under command of Count D'Estaing, to act in conjunction with the provincials, and that this powerful naval force was, now nearly or quite due, on the coast. On receiving this intelligence, Sir Henry Clinton who had superseded Howe in the command of the British forces in Philadelphia, fearing that the French Admiral would enter the Delaware, resolved to immediately evacuate the city, and march across New Jersey to New York. His army left Philadelphia on the eighteenth of June. When Washington learned that the British had gone, he at once broke camp at Valley Forge, and followed in pursuit, which resulted in a severe battle, an] it victory for the Americans, upon the plains Of Monmouth, June 28th, 1778. The Northampton troops, were present at that engagement, but it is not known what particular part they played in the tragedy of that memorable day. Now, after fifteen cents of freedom from the, horrors of the Indian warfare, Northampton county again saw the tomahawk and scalping-knife at their deadly work, and hundreds of terror-stricken fugitives came across; her border, flying from a massacre far more bloody that that of the long- remembered morning Of October 8th, 1763. The confederated Six Nations had been induced by the English, to take the war-path against the American province. Having, during the year 1777, committed great ravages within the limits of New York, they resolved, in 1778, it pay a visit of murder to the settlements on the two branches of in Pennsylvania, which were left in a defenceless condition, for the reason that the arms-bearing men lead patriotically responded to the various appeal, of Congress for aid, fall had gone to the armies of Washington and Gates, little dreaming of the fate to which they left their families exposed, by their absence. The Wyoming settlement was very naturally, hated by the English and their tory allies, because of the devotion they had shown, and the sacrifices they had made, in the cause of liberty; moreover, it was very easily accessible to their inroads by way of the South Branch of the Susquehanna. The story of the descent of the royalist, and their savage auxiliaries, on devoted Wyoming is a most thrilling one, and has been thus narrated by Hon. Charles Miner: Late in June, 1778, there descended the Susquehanna, Colonel John Butler, with his own tory rangers, a detachment of John Johnson's Royal Greens, and a large body of Indians, chiefly Seneca. The British and Tories numbered about 400 the Indians about 700. Jenkins fort was at the head of the valley just below the gorge. This fort capitulated, on the 2d July, to a detachment under Captain Caldwell. Wintermoot's fort, had been built near Jenkin, by a Low-Dutch family of that name, with a view, as afterwards appeared, to aid the incursions of the tories. As suspected, Wintermoot's fort at once threw open its gates to the enemy. Here the British and Indian was assembled, at dinner, just before the battle. To defend the settlement against, this force, was it half-raised company of Captain Deathic (Doeterick) Hewitt, consisting of 40 or 50 men and the militia, remains merely out of which the three companies above mentioned had been enlisted for the Continental army. "There were several forts it Wyoming -not regular fortifications, with walls, and embrazures, and great guns-but stockades, built, by setting logs on end in ditches, close together, surrounding a space for the retreat of the women and children, with no other means of defence than the small arms of the men firing through loop-holes. In all Wyoming Valley there was, but one cannon, a four-pounder, without ball, kept at the Wilkesbarre fort as an alarm-gun. Against such a force as the enemy mustered, not one of these forts could have held out an hour, or kept the foe from reducing them to ashes. Some of the aged men out of the train-bands formed themselves into companies to garrison the forts and yield to the helpless such protection as they could. Except at Pittston-which, from its position, was imminently exposed-no company of the Wyoming regiment was retained for partial defence. All the rest assembled at Forty Fort, on the Kingston side, prepared in the best manner they could to meet the enemy. They numbered about 400 men and boys, including many not in the train-band. Old gray-headed men, and grandfathers, turned out to the muster. "Colonel Zebulon Butler happened to be at Wyoming at the time, and though he had no proper command, by invitation of the people, be placed himself at their head, and led them to battle. There was never more courage, shown in the various scenes of war. History does not portray an instance of more gallant devotion. There was no other alternative but to fight and conquer, or die; for retreat, with their families was impossible. Like brave men, they took counsel of their courage. On the 3d of July, they marched out to meet the enemy. Colonel Zebulon Butler commanded the right wing, aided by Major Garret Colonel Dennison commanded the left, assisted by Lieutenant- Colonel George Dorrance. The field of fight was a plain, partly cleared and partly covered with scrub-oak and yellow-pine, The right of the Wyoming men rested on a steep bank, which descends to the low river flats; the left extended to a marsh thickly covered with timber and brush. Opposed to Colonel Zebulon Butler, of Wyoming, was Colonel John Butler, with his tory rangers, in their green uniforms. The enemy's right wing, opposed to Colonel Dennison, was chiefly composed of Indians-led on, says Colonel Stone, by a celebrated Seneca chief named Gi-en-gwah-toh; or He- who-goes-in-the-smoke. It was about four or five o'clock in the afternoon when the engagement began, and for some time it was kept up with great spirit. _________________________________________________________________________ Mr. John Eyerman of Easton has now in his possession original receipt given by both David Deshler and John Arndt for moneys received at this time from the Agent the Executive Council to be expended for the purchase of provisions and the promotion of recruiting to the army. Here is given A copy of one of them: "Received, February 22nd, 1778 of The Honorable The Executive Council of the State of Pennsylvania, by the hands of Jacob Arndt, Esq., the Sum of Nine Thousand Dollars towards purchasing provision as a Commissioner for the Use of the Continental Army. I say rec'd by me, [9,000 Dollars] "JOHN ARNDT." Another of same date, by David Deshler for the same amount of money drawn for the same purpose. 1. Bethlehem Souvenir. 2. "In August 1839 the workmen engaged in digging into the hillside preparatory to putting up the foundation wall of a barn on the premises of Mr. John Wrause of this place, came upon a quantity of human bones and skulls, relics of the Revolutionary soldier who passed their last days in the hospital at Bethlehem. -(Bethlehem Sourvenir.) 67 "On the right, in open field, our men fired and advanced a step, and the enemy was driven back. But their numbers, nearly three to one, enabled them to outflank our men, especially on the left, where the ground, a swamp, was exactly fitted for savage warfare. Our men fell rapidly before the Indian rifles; the rear as well as the flank was gained, and it because impossible to maintain the position. An order to fall back, given by Colonel Dennison, so as to present a better front to the enemy, could not be executed without confusion-and some misunderstood it as a signal for retreat. The practiced enemy, not more brave, but, besides being more, numerous, familiarized to war in fifty battles, sprang forward, raised their horrid yell from one end of the line to the other, rushed in with the tomahawk and spear, and our people were defeated. They deserved a better fate, One of the men, yielding a little ground, Colonel Dorrance, a few minutes before he with the utmost coolness, said: 'Stand up to your work, sir!' After the minute was in the rear- 'See!' said an officer to Captain Hewett, 'the enemy is in force behind us; shall we retreat?' 'I'll be d-d if I do,' was the reply; and he fell at the head of his men. 'We are nearly alone,' said Westbrook, 'shall we go?' I'll have more shot first, replied Cooper. That instant a savage sprang towards him with his spear. Cooper stretched him to the earth, and reloaded before he left the ground. When the left was thrown into confusion, our Colonel Butler threw himself in front, and rode between the two lines, exposed to the double fire. 'Don't leave me, my children,' said he, 'the victory will be ours.' But what could 400 undisciplined militia effect against 1,100 veteran troops? The battle was lost. Then followed the most dreadful massacre-the most heart-rending tortures, The brave, but overpowered soldiers of Wyoming were slaughtered without mercy, principally in the flight, and after surrendering themselves prisoners of war. The plain, the river, and the island of Monockonock, were the principal scenes of this horrible massacres. Sixteen men, placed in a ring, around a rock-which is still shown behind the house of Mr. Gay, near the river-were held by stout Indians, while they were, one by one, slaughtered by the knife or tomahawk of a squaw. One individual, a strong man, by the name of Hammond, escaped by a desperate effort, In another similar ring, nine persons were murdered in the same way. Many were, shot in the river or hunted out and slain in their hiding-places-in one instance, by a near but adverse relative1 -on the now beautiful island of Monockonock. But sixty of the men who went into battle survived; and the forts were filled with widows and orphans-it is said the war made 150 widows and 600 orphans in the valley-whose tears and cries were suppressed, after the surrender, for fear of provoking the Indians to kill them; for it was an Indian's pastime to brandish the, tomahawk over their heads. "A few instances will show how universal was the turn out, and how general was the slaughter. Of the Gore family, one was away with the army, five brothers and two brothers-in-law went into the battle, At evening, five, lay dead on the field; one returned with his arm broken by a rifle ball; the other, and only one, unhurt. From the, farm of Mr. Weeks, seven went out to battle, five sons and sons-in-law and two inmates. Not one escaped-the whole seven perished. Anderson Dana went into battle with Stephen Whiting, his son-in-law, a few months before marrying to his daughter. The dreadful necessity of the hour allowed no exemption, like that of the Jewish law, by which the young bridegroom might remain at home one year to cheer up his bride. The field of death was the resting-place of both. Anderson Dana, Jr.-still living-then a boy of nine or ten years old, was left the only protector of the family. They fled and begged their way to Connecticut. "Of the human family, there were five present in the battle. Two fell in the battle, another died of the fatigues and exposure of the day; another was killed the same year by Indians. "About two-thirds, of those who went out, fell. Naked, panting, and bloody, a few, who had escaped, cattle rushing into Wilkesbarre fort, where, trembling with anxiety, the women and children were gathered, waiting the dread issue. Mr. Hallinbach, who had swam the river naked, amid the balls of the enemy, was the first to bring them the appalling news-'All is lost!' They fled to the mountains and down the river. Their sufferings were, extreme. Many widows and orphaned, begged their bread, on their way home to their friends in Connecticut. In one party of near it hundred there was but a single man. As it was understood that no quarter would be given to the soldiers of the line, Colonel Zebulon Butler, with the few other soldiers who had escaped, retired that same evening with the families from Wilkesbarre fort. "But-those left at Forty Fort? During the battle (says the venerable Mrs. Myers who, then a child, was there), they could step on the river bank and hear the firing distinctly. For a while it was kept up with spirit, and hope prevailed; but by and by it, because broken and irregular, approaching nearer and nearer. 'Our people are defeated-they are retreating!' It was it dreadful moment, Just at evening a few of the fugitives rushed in and fell down exhausted-some wounded and bloody. Through the night, every hour, one or more came into the fort. Colonel Dennison also came in, and, rallying enough of the wreck of the little Spartan band to make a mere show of defending the fort, he succeeded the next day in entering into it capitulation for the settlement, with Colonel John Butler, fair find honorable for the circumstances, by which, doubtless, many lives were saved. "This capitulation, drawn up in the handwriting of Rev. Jacob Johnson, the first clergyman of the settlement, stipulated- "That the settlement lay, down their arms and their garrison be demolished. That the inhabitants, occupy their farms peaceably, and the lives of the inhabitants be preserved entire and unhurt. That the Continental stores are to be given up. That Colonel Butler will use his utmost influence that the private property of the inhabitants shall be preserved entire to them. That the prisoners in Forty Fort be delivered up. That the property taken from the people called Tories be made good, and that they remain in peaceable possession of their farms, and unmolested in a free trade through the settlement. That the inhabitants which Colonel Dennison capitulates for, together with himself, do not take up arms, during the contest. "The enemy marched in, six abreast; the British and Tories at the northern gate,2 the Indian at The southern ; their banner, flying and music playing. Colonel Dorrance, then a lad in the fort, remembered the look and conduct of the Indian leader-an eye-glancing quickly to the right-then glancing to the left-with all an Indian's jealousy and caution, lest, some treachery or ambush should lurk in the fort. Alas the brave and powerful had fallen; no strength remained to resist, no power to defend. "On paper the terms of the capitulation are fair, but the Indian., immediately began to rob and burn, plunder and destroy. Colonel Dennison complained to Colonel Butler, 'I will put a stop to it, sir; I will put a stop to it,' said Butler. The plundering continued, Colonel D. remonstrated again, with energy, reminding him of his plighted faith. 'I will tell you what, sir,' replied Colonel Butler, waiving his hand impatiently, 'I can do nothing, with them; I call do nothing with them.' No lives, however, were taken by the Indians; they confined themselves to plunder and insult, To show their entire independence and power the Indians came into the fort, and one took the hat from Colonel Dennison's head. Another demanded his rifle-frock which he, had on. It did not suit Colonel D. to be thus stripped; whereupon the Indian menacingly raised his tomahawk, and the Colonel was obliged to yield; but seeming to find difficulty in taking off the garment, he stepped back to where the women were sitting. A girl understood the movement, and took from a pocket in the frock a purse, and hid it under her apron. The frock was delivered to the Indians. The purse, containing a few dollars, was the whole military chest of Wyoming. Mrs. Myers represents Colonel Butler as a portly, good-looking man, perhaps forty-five, dressed in green, the uniform of his rangers. He led the chief part of his army away in a few days; but parties of Indians continued in the valley, burning and plundering, until at length fire after fire arose, east, west, north, and south. ___________________________________________________________________________ 1. During the bloody fight of the 3d, some of the fugitives plunged into the river, and escaped to the opposite shore. A few landed upon Monockonock Island, having lost their arms, in the fight, and were pursued thither. One of them was discovered by his own brother, who had espoused the side of the crown. The unarmed whig fell upon his knees before his brother, and offered to serve him as a slave forever, if be would but spare his life. "But the fiend in human form was inexorable he muttered, you are a d--d rebel" and shot him dead. This tale is too horrible for belief; but a survivor of the battle, a Mr. Baldwin confirmed its truth, to the writer, with his own lips. He knew the brother well, and in August 1839, declared the fact to be so. The name of the brother was Pensil."- Stone's History of Wyoming. 2. When Forty Fort capitulated (Mr. Hewitt was there at the time) Colonel John Butler, as he entered the gate, saw sergeant Boyd as young Than about twenty-five. He was an Englishman had deserted from the enemy-was an excellent disciplinarian and had been serviceable in training our men 'Boyd'-said Butler recognizing him-'go to that tree'-pointing to a pine not far outside the fort. 'I hope your honor will consider me a prisoner of war.' Go to that tree repeated Butler sternly. Boyd went and was shot down."-Hazelton Tavelers. 68 In a work it was seen that the articles of capitulation afforded no security; and the remaining widows and orphans, a desolate hand, with scarcely provisions for, I day, took up their sad pilgrimage over the dreary wilderness of the Pokono Mountains, and the dismal 'Shades of Death.' "What a picture for a pencil! Every pathway through the wilderness thronged with women and children, old men and boys. The able men of middle life and activity, were either away in the general service, or hall fallen. There were few who were not in the engagement; So that in one drove of fugitives, consisting of one hundred persons, there was only one man with them. "Let the painter stand on some eminence, commanding at once a view of the valley and the mountain. Let him paint the throng climbing the heights; hurrying on, filled with terror, despair, and sorrow. Take a single group: the affrighted mother, whose husband has fallen, an infant on her bosom, a child by the hand; an aged parent, slowly climbing the rugged way behind her; hanger presses them sorely; in the rustling of every leaf, they bear the approaching savage; the 'Shades of Death' before them; the, valley all in flames behind them; their cottage, their barns their harvests, all swept in this flood of ruin; their star of hope quenched in this blood-shower of savage vengeance!" The "Shades of Death" mentioned in this narrative was a large tract of low-lying land, very densely timbered with pine, and located on the head streams of the Lehigh River. This large expanse of country was often called the "Great, Pine Swamp," and it was here that David Zeisberger find his Christian Indians, on the occasion of their journey from Philadelphia, to Wyoming, in 1765, missed their way, and wandered at random for more than two weeks, after which the route through it was called - David's Path." The Easton and Wilkesbarre turnpike was afterwards laid directly through it. True to her traditional character, Northampton promptly gave her succor to the fugitives from the Wyoming Valley. Captain Spalding, with a company of men from Smithfield township, proceeded to life desolated region, for the purpose of protecting such as might still remain there, if any there were, who had been unable, though wounds Or other causes, to get away. He rebuilt the fort at Wilkesbarre, and, in conjunction with Colonel Hartley of Northumberland, burned several of the Indian villages (Wyalusing being one of them), and cut off a party of the Indian raiders who were returning from the scene of their barbarities, heavily laden with the plunder they had taken.