Area History: Chapter 2 - Part II Vol II - Watson's Annals of Philadelphia And Pennsylvania, 1857

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                                 ANNALS

                                   of

                     PHILADELPHIA  AND  PENNSYLVANIA,


                               VOL.  II
     
            ______________________________________________

Cahpter 2.     PENNSYLVANIA  INLAND -- GERMANTOWN -- Part II

  Christopher Ludwick, once an inhabitant of Philadelphia and Germantown --
interred at the Lutheran ground in said town in 1801, at the age of 81
years, was quite a character in his day; and deserves some special notice.
A short memoir of his life has been drawn up and published by Doctor Rush;
he deeming him to be a person fully worthy the effort of his pen to report
him as an exemplary and valuable citizen.  He was by birth a German, born in
1720; by trade a baker.  In early life he enlisted in the Austrian army and
served in the war against the Turks.  At Prague he endured the hardships of
the seventeen weeks' siege.  After its conquest by the French in 1741, he
enlisted and served in the army of Prussia.  At the peace, he entered an
Indiaman, and went out to India under Boscawen; afterwards he was in many
voyages, from 1745 to 1752, from London to Holland, Ireland and the West
Indies, as a sailor.  In 1753, he sailed to Philadelphia with an adventure
of £25 worth of clothing, on which he made a profit of $300, and again
returned to London.  He had taken the idea of becoming a gingerbread baker
in Philadelphia; and in 1754 he came out with the necessary prints -- a
seemingly new idea among the simple cake eaters then !  He began his career
in Laetitia court, and began to make money fast by his new employment.  He
proved himself an industrious, honest and good neighbour, which led to a
deserved influence among the people, and to the "soubriquet" of the
"governor of Laetitia court".
  At the commencing period of the Revolution in 1774, he had become rich,
and gave his influence and his money freely, to help on the resistance of
the colonies.  He was elected readily on all the committees and conventions
of the time, for that object.  On one occasion, when it was proposed by
General Mifflin to procure fire arms by private subscriptions, and whilst
several demurred to it as unfeasible, he put down the opposition, by saying
aloud, let the poor gingerbread baker be set down for £200 !  In the summer
of 1776, he acted as a volunteer in the flying camp, without pay.  He
possessed great influence there among his fellow soldiers; he stimulated
them to endurance; and on one occasion prevented their revolt when
complaining of inadequate rations, by falling on his knees before them, and
imploring them to patience and better hopes.  When eight Hessians were
captured and brought to camp, he interceded to have them handed over to him
to manage; which was to take them to Philadelphia, to there show them the
fine German churches, and the comfort and good living of Germans in humble
pursuits of life, and then to release them to go back to their regiment, and
to tell the Germans that we had a paradise for his countrymen if they would
but desert their service.  Desertion did follow whenever  occasion offered;
and the most of these lived as prosperous citizens among us.  So much for the
war for them !  With the same good design for his countrymen he solicited
and obtained the grant to visit the Hessian camp on Staten Island, as a
disguised deserter.  There he succeeded fully to impress them with the
happiness of Germans settled in Pennsylvania, and to return safely, with a
full assurance of the usefulness of his mission.
  In the year 1777, he was cordially appointed by Congress as baker general
of the American army, and to choose freely his own assistants and
necessaries.  In their instructions to him, they expected to require from
him one pound of bread for every pound of flour, but Christopher readily
replied, "Not so : I must not be so enriched by the war.  I shall return 135
lbs. of bread for every 100 lbs. of flour;" an increase of weight by baking,
seemingly not then understood by the rulers !  and not much by families now.
  As a proof that he was respected and valued in his sphere, he was often
invited to dine with Washington, in large companies, besides having many
opportunities of long conferences alone with him, as commander of the army,
in relation to the bread supplies.  The general appreciated his worth, and
usually addressed him in company as "his honest friend".  In his intercourse
with the officers, he was blunt, but never offensive.  By common consent he
was privileged to say and do what he pleased.  His German accent, his
originality of thought and expression; and his wit and humour, made him a
welcome guest at every table in the camp.  He took with him to camp a
handsome china bowl brought by him from China; around its silver rim was
engraved his name, &c., and from it he was accustomed to offer his punch or
other beverage with his own leading toast, to wit :  "Health and long life
to Christopher Ludwick and wife".  That bowl still exists as a bequeathed
legacy, to be perpetuated.  At the return of peace, he settled on his farm
near Germantown.  In his absence it had been plundered of every thing by the
British.  A certificate of his good conduct, in the proper handwriting of
General Washington, given in 1785, was much valued was put under frame, and
kept hung up in his parlour, as his diploma.  In that, he much gloried; and
considered it a full recompense for losses which he had sustained by a
depreciated currency, paid to him by sundry persons, for his bonds for good
money lent them.  He owned at one time eight houses in Philadelphia, and had
out £3000 of money lent on bonds and interest.  He left a great deal of his
money to public charities, especially a fund for educating poor children.
He delighted to find out objects of charity, and to relieve their wants.  In
the time of the yellow fever of 1793, he went into Fraley's bakery in
Philadelphia, and worked at bread baking gratuitously, to relieve the wants
of the poor.  He had a great respect for religion and its duties, which he
said he inherited from his father who had given him, in early life, a silver
medal, on which was inscribed among other devices, "the blood of Christ
cleanseth from all sin".  This he always carried with him as a kind of
talisman; and with a view to enforce its remembrance and its precepts, when
he left it to his family, he had it affixed to the lid of a silver tankard,
and on the front he had inscribed a device of a Bible, a plough, and a
sword, with the motto, "May the religious industry and courage of a German
parent be the inheritance of his issue !"  Such a man leaves the savour of a
good name, and a good example, to posterity.  His remains now rest beneath
an expensive monument, where the reader may read of his worth; and go, if he
can, and do likewise !
    His last house of residence in Philadelphia was No. 174 North Fifth
street.  He had two wives; but left no children to survive him.  Their
relations became his heirs.
  COLONEL GRAY'S POWDERHORN -- In July 1841, there was found in digging
about two feet below the surface, in the lot of the New Lutheran church in
Germantown, a very curiously wrought powderhorn of the Revolution, used and
lost in the battle of Germantown, by Elijah Lincoln, a volunteer of Windham,
Connecticut.  This, when found, showed the way to its ownership, and the
facts connected therewith -- by being published as a curious relic in the
Germantown Telegraph.  It was a large white bullock-horn, and had engraved
thereon, besides the name of the owner -- E. Gray -- several pictures and
devices : such as a sketch of Boston and its environs, Bunker's hill,
Dorchester, and encampments of the military, the British fleet and
positions.  The facts in the case were these : -- Ebenezer Gray, and William
Hovey -- the inscribed maker of the horn, with Elijah Lincoln, were young
volunteers of Windham, going to begin the war at Bunker hill.  While
encamped near there under Washington, the horn was engraved by Gray.  At
this time, we are to presume that regular cartouch boxes were not supplied.
{Note : cartouch = a gun cartridge with a paper case} Upon the regular
organization of the army, Gray, who was an educated man, received a
commission, which he honoured by his after services and bravery, and rose to
the rank of colonel.  When promoted, he gave his horn to Lincoln, under his
promise to use it faithfully for his country.  That he did in many battles;
till at last it was lost in the affair at Germantown, by being pulled from
his side by the grasp of a dying comrade shot by his side, in the very act
of drawing a load from it for his musket !  The company, with Lincoln,
rushed forward without the horn, and soon after he found another well filled
for his purpose.  When the present horn was found and published, it came
out, from the publisher of the Democrat of Columbia county, Pennsylvania,
that HE had been formally engaged in making out a pension claim for Lincoln,
and had all these facts, before told, in his possession !  Colonel Gray is
deceased, but his widow and son and daughter area live at Windham, and have
been informed of their opportunity to repossess this long lost relic of a
patriot's service and glory.  [His grandson has since got the horn.]  It is
something to be valued and perpetuated in a family !  This circumstance
reminds me of the following facts, of Captain George Blackmore, of the
Virginian line.  [He was of Berrysville, Frederick county, Virginia] He made
my acquaintance in Germantown in 1832, desiring to go over the battleground
where he had fought, side by side with his brother, in Chew's field.  The
brother was killed, and left near a spring house, found to be at Duval's
fish pond in the rear of his house.  He wanted to find that place again, and
to shed a tear; and he had a difficulty to find the positions and places in
his memory since so changed by elegant improvements.  It was a feeling
concern to travel once more with his  eyes and explanations, "o'er the
tented field to book the dead".  Every thing interested him, and especially
a choice of bullets, which I gave him, gleaned from Chew's house.  He chose
a battered leaden bullet which had been picked out from Chew's door.  That,
he said, he should incase in silver and hang to his watch chain, and
bequeath to his heirs.  I was glad thus to minister to his mournful
pleasures.  I might add, that I introduced him to Mr. Jacob Keyser, who had
buried that brother, with four others, in the place at the spring house,
since made the fish-pond -- in one hole, all in their clothes.  Alas, poor
undistinguished, yet meritorious suffers for their country !
  It was once a remarkable characteristic of Germantown, in its early
history, say about the year 1700 -- when it was described by Oldmixon, that
the whole street of one mile in length was fronted with blooming peach
trees.  To think of a state of society where their shade trees along a
public highway, should consist of the most delicious fruit !
  An original paper, by F.D. Pastorius, found at Stenton, of March 1708-9,
presented to the council, sets forth his difficulty of getting redress
against one John Henry Sprogel, through the plotting and contrivance of
Daniel Falkner, pretended attorney for the Frankford Company, for lands in
Germantown -- and to effect his fraudulent purposes, he had retained the
four known lawyers of the province, so as to deprive the said Pastorius
(himself a civilian) and John Jawart, of all advice in law; and being in
himself unable to fetch lawyers from New York, he therefore prays the
interference of the governor and council, so as to restrain further
proceedings, until further action from the principals in Germany.
  I have seen an old family Bible, 8vo., of the Shoemaker family, which came
out with the first settlers in 1682, printed at Zurich in 1538, by
Christoffel Froschouer, in Switzer-German, done so early as to be without
verses. In many pages, verses are marked with a pen, and many passages are
underscored to add to their force.  It was marked as being bought for 50s.
at second hand, in 1678.  In it was a record of family marriages, births,
and deaths.  Isaac Schumacher, the head of the family, was born in Cresheim
in Germany, married in Pennsylvania Sarah Hendricks, who was born in the
same town, the 2d of 10 mo., 1678.  She died a widow the 15th June, 1742,
her husband having died the 12th February 1732.  Benjamin, a son of the
above, was born in Germantown, the 3d of August 1704, married in
Philadelphia, the 18th of June 1724, to Sarah Coates, daughter of Thomas and
Bulah Coates.  Benjamin died at Philadelphia in 1767; the wife died the 8th
June 1738, leaving four children.  I have indulged in this lengthy detail,
because this venerable old relic has got out of the family, by some means,
and fallen into the hands of strangers; and thus shows, how strangely
families will sometimes allow their records to sink into oblivion !  It is
since given by me to Samuel M. Shoemaker, in Baltimore.
  There is, I presume, a great mass of citizens, who having never been in
battle, feel a desire to have a close insight into the incidents which must
there occur -- this, as a means to remove some of the vagueness of their
imaginings and conjectures.  Such feelings I have had myself; and which have
been in part relieved, by such enquiries as I have occasionally made among
the few remaining individuals who had witnessed the doings in the battle,
and at the British encampment & c., in Germantown, to wit :
  The most of the conflict was on the north-eastern side of Germantown.
That part of our troops which encountered the Hessians and British, near the
junction of the Wissahiccon with the Schuylkill, had defiled for that
purpose, after they arrived at Chestnut hill, going thence, as led by two
guides, of whom Geo. Danenhower, lately alive, was one.
  When the battle began, the fathers of families were quickly busied in
disposing of their children and women in cellars.  In the present C.M.
Stoke's house, then belonging to Squire Feree, there were collected two
dozen of weeping and terrified women.  George Knorr and other boys ran
towards Philadelphia, as far as Nicetown, where they met the Hessians coming
out, and then stopped.  One cannon ball struck a tree at Haines' brewery, as
they passed, and then went before them down the street.
  Boys were very curious and venturous; and several of them plucked up
courage and got to the tops of houses, and even into the streets to see what
could be seen.  Such as some of them saw, I shall relate :-- Such as the
battalion of TALL Virginians, under Col. Matthews, brought in prisoners from
Kelley's place, and lodged in the church at the market house.  The faces of
the prisoners and their guards were well blackened about their mouths with
gunpowder, in biting off their cartridges.  These Virginians had just before
captured a party of British in the fog, and set up a hurrah, which brought a
greater force upon them, and caused their own capture.
  The roar and rattling of discharges of musketry and cannon, was incessant;
and the whistling of balls were occasionally heard.  Combatants could be
seen from the house top, occasionally in conflict, then obscured by smoke
and then again exposed to view.
  The battle, though begun at day light was continued till after 10 o'clock.
The retreat, when it began a little before 11, must have been skilful as to
general arrangement and orders, for it went off with entire silence.  It
seemed like a conflict  and a great outbreak, suddenly hushed.
  The battle was but little witnessed in the town, after the first onset,
and but few of the military were seen along the main street.  It was chiefly
on the north-eastern side, on the tillage ground; and the fences were mostly
down.  A great deal of fighting must have occurred in Joseph Magarge's
field, near Branchtown (probably with Stephens' division) ascertained from
the great number of leaden bullets found in his ten acre field, for years
afterwards.  Stephens himself had been set aside some time before, by his
own officers, as too much inebriated to command.  This was told me by one of
his captains.
  The present Dr. George de Benneville of Branchtown, now aged 83 years, was
a lad of sixteen at the time of the battle of Germantown and saw much of the
fight and of the preceding and succeeding operations of the two armies.
They had the Highlanders and British cavalry quartered in his neighbourhood.
They were always cheerful, and always seemed to go gaily and confidently
into expected fights.  On such occasions, the kilted Scots went off in full
trot, keeping up with the trot of the cavalry.  The soldiers made free to
take and kill the cows of his family and their neighbours; but the officers
were gentlemanly in their deportment, and seemed to try to put them in a way
to get some recompense.  Several of the British officers were quartered in
Thomas Nedrow's house -- the same now Butler's house, opposite to the
residence of the present Pierce Butler.  When the battle came on, the
British made a barricade across the York road at the place of those two
houses.  Our militia, in the time of the battle, made no stand of resistance
in the neighbourhood of Branchtown, but seemed quickly to make their
retreat; and for this non-defence, as many of them were known in the
neighbourhood, they did not fail, afterwards, to receive the jibes and jeers
of the people.  They accused them of throwing away their cartridges, as a
feint of having exhausted them in fight !  Dr. de Benneville saw the British
army come down the York road, on their return and defeat, after they had had
their affair at Edge hill, where Gen. Morgan, with his riflemen, had so ably
discomfited them.  The British still looked well, and as if able to make a
bold stand if pressed to it.  The doctor has described to me, with lively
vivacity, his vivid recollections of those days; and says they were daily of
the most stirring interest to him and others of his neighbourhood.  They
kept them daily excited and interested in every thing doing around them; and
almost every day brought something new to pass, which in some way to other
might engage the feelings, or the wonder, of himself and his youthful
companions.  Such recollections, to their possessors at least, are even now
felt to be worth a whole age of lesser years !
    A British officer, wounded, was seen near the market house in
Germantown; led by two soldiers -- he unexpectedly met there a surgeon and
said to him, all pale and faint, "I believe it is all over with me, doctor
-- I have got a mortal wound ?"  the doctor opened his breast, while still
standing in the street, and turning aside his linen, soon said -- "Don't
fear, I shall save you -- go on".  On he went, quite a renovated man.
  Mr. John Ashmead, still alive, and then an intelligent lad of twelve years
of age -- as soon as the battle ceased, started from the market house, with
a young companion, to "range o'er the tented field to note the dead".  He
saw several lots of dead, in parcels of sixes and sevens; none of the
wounded remaining.  They visited Chew's house -- there they saw before the
house about thirty dead, whom citizens were already beginning to bury,
north-west of the house.  They went into the house and all over it -- saw
blood in every room -- noticed where a six pounder which had come in at the
front window, had gone through four partitions, and then out at the back of
the house.  Observed that some of the British therein, had used the back
windows on the roof to get out, and under the shelter of that roof, to fire
upon assailants approaching the front.  They saw a dead American soldier,
lying by his still smoking firebrand, who had evidently gotten there under
the shelter of the board fence joining the house to the kitchen out-house,
and had been shot, (vainly seeking "the bubble reputation") as he was about
setting fire to the same, by a soldier from the cellar window.  Another, a
fine young warrior, volunteering to effect the same purpose, with a bundle
of straw at a window, at the north-west corner, was also shot down on the
spot.  The same persons saw some six or seven bodies of soldiers, partially
interred, back of the Methodist meeting-lane; ground was heaped upon them
just where and as they fell.  Their feet were partly uncovered and told
their tale.
  In R. Smith's woods, in Branchtown, were lately taken up the remains of
three American soldiers buried there, and reinterred by him with a head
stone; part of their clothes and caps still remained, also their buttons and
flints.  They were there as an advanced picket guard, and were surprised.
  Persons who saw our retreating men at Chestnut hill, say they passed there
with some show of order and control.  It is, however, surprising how very
few seem to have seen the whole scene, with sufficient intelligence to
afford a picture to any inquirer now.  One wants to know how they looked and
did, how fared the wounded, and how they got on, &c., &c.  Some of those in
the retreat passed by the way of Oxford, thus showing a wide dispersion.
Sundry of our wounded were deemed far enough removed when taken into the
Episcopalian church, as their hospital, at Flourtown.
  The British, shortly after the battle, concentred in Philadelphia and
vicinity.  Directly after they left Germantown, a troop of American horsemen
came through the town upon their rear, so closely, that a British surgeon,
who had just left dressing the wounds of three American officers, prisoners
in the Widow Hess' house, was overtaken on foot in the street.  When they
were about to arrest him, W. Fryhoffer, who saw it, and knew the facts in
the case, proclaimed his useful services, and he was told to walk to the
city at his ease.  In the mean time, the three officers were taken as
prizes, and thus unexpectedly liberated.  The same troop, advancing a little
further, encountered a Quaker-looking man in a chaise, who, in trepidation,
made a short turn at Bowman's lane and upset, and thus exposed a large
basket full of plate.  He and his treasure were captured and ordered off to
head-quarters.
  One of the boys of that day has told me how he used to go to mill, to
bring flour to an individual in Germantown, who used to deliver it out to
women coming from Philadelphia, at high prices, and carrying it in small
parcels concealed about their persons. [It was carried to Philadelphia, and
brought $8 per cwt. I knew a man to carry 1/2 cwt., and boys that carried
1/4cwt., but they had to take a by-road for fear of losing it.]  These were
probably petty dealers for the wants of the town, and thus made their gain.
The same returned with salt, &c.
  British officers were generally quartered in houses in the town, and
demeaned themselves very civilly to the families therein.  The officers,
very many of them, were young; only the superior grades were aged.  The
soldiers were well disciplined, and did not commit any severe aggresions.
The 33d one night stole a neighbour's cow, killed her, and covered her with
straw, behind the late Wm. Keyser's bark house; a sham search was made next
morning, but it was soon hushed, and the cow cut up.  They were said to be
the clearings of the jails.  The 33d were noted thieves, but they had to do
it quietly.
  Two of the inhabitants of the town, Andrew Heath and young Sowers, became
guides to the British, and wore their green uniform when so acting,
intending, probably, to pass unnoticed; but they did not, and had to leave
the place till the peace.  At the same time, the brother of Sowers was an
active whig.  The honest father was abused as a tory, although he had
actually given many blankets to the town militia.
  Sundry of the whig persons, engaged with the army, used to make,
occasionally, hazardous excursions to visit their families stealthily by
night &c.  On one occasion, Mr. Denny, who was a militia lieutenant, came to
his father's near the market house, and when going away on horseback at
midnight, he chanced, as he was intending to turn into the church lane, to
encounter the advance of a secret silent detachment going against La Fayette
at Barren hill.  As he whipped up to turn the corner, they let fly a
platoon, a ball from which, passed through his thigh, scarcely making him
sensible of a wound, for he actually got over to the Branchtown tavern
before he stopped.  Such an alarm, at midnight, soon startled the whole
town, and rapidly brought up the whole force of the expedition, at the same
time breaking the intended secrecy.
  On another intended secret invasion of the British at midnight, a Mr.
Lush, who was an acting wagoner for the gunpowder for the American army, was
apprised to be on his guard.  He geared up his team, and had it ready at the
door for a start if needful; finding no approach, he concluded to ride down
the city road to reconnoitre, and there he soon fell into their hands a
prisoner.  But his wagoner, more alert than his master, saw the approach in
time to mount his team, and at full whip, dashed up the street, waking up
all the inhabitants, to look abroad for something strange, and to see the
exposure of the British army.

  Mr. John Ashmead, when a lad of twelve, had the exciting spectacle of
seeing the whole British army come down the main street of Germantown, at
their first entry.  He was allowed, unmolested, to set in the street porch.
Their whole array seemed in complete order -- the display of officers, the
regular march of red coated men, and refugee greens, the highlanders,
grenadiers, their burnished arms, &c.  There was, however, no display of
colours, and no music -- every thing moved like machinery in silence.  In
all their progress there was no violence and no offence.  Sundry men
occasionally came up and said, "Can you give us a little milk or any cider".
On being referred to the father, who purposely kept in doors as he was a
known whig, it was deemed expedient to give out readily.  In time, the cider
barrel began to fall low, when it so occurred that a young officer came to
ask a like indulgence; -- when it was said to him he was welcome, but others
had been before him and left it muddy; he expressed his surprise at their
exaction and said it should be corrected.  Quickly there appeared a sentinel
before the house, who kept his place till superseded by another and another,
for six or eight changes, until the whole army had passed.  It showed
discipline, and a decorous demeanour in an enemy, which it is but honest
justice to record.  This discipline could be confirmed in another thing : --
An insolent refugee soldier used to come to the cow yard of a family who had
officers quartered in their house, to take his quantum of milk as his right.
At last it became a grievance, which was hinted to one of the officers; he
replied, ask his name or notice the number of his button, and I shall soon
have him punished.  The culprit was cautioned by the aggrieved, and begged
pardon, and never came again.
  In going over these incidents of the battle, and while yielding to
emotions of compassion for the dead and the wounded, it cannot but occur to
the mind that even the fortunate and the victorious then, are now nearly all
whelm'd in one common lot -- scarcely any now survive !
  Jacob Keyser, now an aged citizen of about 89 years of age, was then a
lad; he, with his father's family, lived where is now the house of the Rev.
Mr. Rodney.  Its high position above the street enabled them, by placing an
apple under the cellar door, to peep abroad and see the battle in the
opposite field, distinctly.  He could see there, those who fell under
successive peals of musketry.
  After the battle he went abroad; he saw at the gate adjoining his present
house, many bullet marks; also an Adjutant Lucas dead, and his fine clothes
divested.  He was buried in the ground near by.
  Before the door of Jacob Peters' house, lay a fine large American officer
dead on the pavement.  In a little while, when he again passed there, he was
nearly stripped, and while he beheld him, a man forced off his shirt as his
own lawful prey !  His body was interred in the north-east corner of the
burying ground opposite.
  His brother, Abraham Keyser, saw several officer-looking persons, much
divested of their clothing, laying dead along the inside of Chew's front
wall-fence.  It was understood that these inhumanities were inflicted by the
followers of the camp -- sometimes by soldiers' wives.
  These two brothers saw seventeen bodies put into one pit, near Chew's
house, under a cherry tree.  There was a row of cherry trees from the gate
up to the north side of the house, and behind these trees men approached
towards the house as their shelter; some were dead or wounded at the foot of
those trees.  A fine large soldier from Reading, lay dead at the gate; also,
a lad, a son of Col. Chamberlane, of New Jersey.
  Soon after the battle, British officers came to the houses, and asked for
young men to come out and bury.  While they were so burying, a British
soldier came and said, "Don't bury them with their faces up, and thus cast
dirt in their faces, for they also `are mothers' sons' "  An officer came to
a speechless, dying man, and said kindly, "Pray now for your soul".  One of
the bodies, very slightly buried south of the house, was scented and dug
after by the dogs, and afterwards corn was noticed to grow there with
wonderful luxuriance.
  Very few girls were known to have formed any attachments for the enemy --
a Miss Servor, and another, were the only two known to have gone away.
  In going into Chew's house, they noticed that the rooms were all much
blackened by the smoke of their firings -- not much blood observed.  Saw
only one man who had been wounded in the house and he was dying.
  One Isaac Wood, at the present John Andrews' place on Lime Kiln road, was
killed at his cellar door, while peeping out at the battle which was near
him, along side of Dr. Betton's woods.
  An elderly lady and her nephew came to Germantown about seven years ago
making inquiries for the remains of Gen. Nash, which, it is believed, none
could then inform them about.  He was shot through the thigh, and the same
shot killed his horse and his aid, Major Witherspoon.
  Very few accidents occurred to cattle during the fight.  A cow which
belonged to John Smith's father, and which was in the field between the
combatants, was bought after the fight for ten joes (80 dollars); at that
time her beef would bring 50 cents a pound.  They had hard fare then, and
all lived on the coarsest and cheapest kind of food.  A cow, killed by a
bullet in Petes' stable, was cut up and eaten willingly.
  The house now Duval's, (then Christopher Huber's, and once Samuel
Shoemaker's, a mayor of Philadelphia) had the floor at one time covered with
army tailors, making up clothing.  The shoe-makers and smiths would go to
shops in squads, and use the tools for their work, in which the owners would
join them for the sake of keeping an eye on the preservation of their tools
and materials.
  At and about the spring house of the same Duval's place (at the rear of
his garden lot) the premises being then in the tenure of Ch. Huber, the
Virginia troops became engaged.  On that occasion a soldier was shot and
killed along side of Wm. Dolby, who, from that circumstance, became averse
to war; soon after left his station in the ranks, found a retreat at Thomas
Livesey's, (a miller and Friend) then a very secluded place amid the wilds
of the Wissahiccon.  There he became fully convinced of Friends' principles,
joined the society, and was afterwards a very acceptable and approved public
Friend.  He afterwards settled in Delaware state -- often visited the yearly
meetings in Philadelphia -- and at the end of forty years after the above
mentioned battle, revisited the spot of his outward and inward conflict, and
told the facts to Abraham Keyser, my informant, now 80 years of age.
  I once had a similar fact of convincement from my old friend John Baylie,
who was engaged as a non-commissioned officer, a volunteer under Wayne at
Trois rivers; and while fearlessly entering into battle, all at once, one of
the men in the ranks near him (a militia man) beginning audible to pray for
the salvation of those who might fall, he had such a conviction of his
unpreparedness for death and eternity, that he felt himself to tremble from
head to foot under the divine power -- he also ejaculated prayers --
resolved instantly to kill no man -- fired above his mark -- became tranquil
and self-possessed -- went fearlessly into all danger -- and as soon as he
got home, joined the Friends of Buck's county, and relinquished his pay.
  There was much woods on the north-east side of Beggarstown, up to
Leibert's board yard; and along these woods were many dead and wounded.
Houses along the town were much fewer in number than now, and generally
lower and smaller -- not such as we now see them in the same place.
  John Smith saw an American trooper driving dashingly along the poor house
lane towards Germantown, then turned off the road and hid himself and horse
in a cider mill, on present John Wistar's place.  Soon there came a troop in
pursuit and missed him.
  When Smith first left his father's house at the beginning of the battle to
seek a refuge, he saw walking on the street two wounded British soldiers,
bloody, and going to the rear.  He ran to Nicetown before stopping, and
there met the British coming out from the city, in a kind of half running march.
  In Jacob S. Wunder's lot, he saw two of our men wounded who had lain there
all night, and he took them cider to drink.  They were shot in the limbs so
that they could not walk or help themselves.
  The British army were covered with dust when they first passed through
Germantown; they were at other times kept very clean.  Their horses were
heavy, clumsy and large.  Horsemen of both armies would occasionally pass
rattling through the streets of Germantown by night, and in the morning it
was clearly designated of which side the horsemen were, by the English horse
being so very much larger in the hoof.  The Hessian cavalry were gay ponies
much decorated with leather trappings.
  Women coming from Philadelphia, when met by our scouts, were very rudely
searched for forbidden things about their persons, and often shamefully
plundered of real necessaries.
  There were several rich young gentlemen, volunteers, attached to the
British light infantry army, without commissions, seeking opportunities of
promotion.  There were three or four brothers of the name of Bradstreet
among them.  They used carbines.
  A.K. thinks that there was not much fighting along the street; he had
often seen Col. Musgrave, who defended Chew's house.  On one occasion the
Colonel asked him if he had heard that Burgoyne was taken, and whether he
was a citizen of Germantown; and upon his answering "Yes", the Colonel
repeated sternly, "Yes, Yes !" meaning to reproach him for not adding sir,
to a gentlemen !  He had been shot in the mouth, and had his face disfigured
thereby; with a hole in his cheek.  None of the officers were observed to
have had any ladies with them, and had no intercourse as visiters in the
families of the place.  Indeed, the society then was very plain and
unfashionable, and generally talked more German than English.  The soldiers
alone were most at home among the people, and they freely admitted the boys
and old men of the place to visit their camp before the battle; but
afterwards, they changed greatly, and kept often changing their grounds, and
finally drew themselves wholly into and about the city.
  A large body of Hessians were hutted in Ashmead's field, out the School
lane, near the woods; their huts were constructed of the rails from fences,
set up at an angle of 45¼, resting on a crossbeam centre; over these were
laid straw, and above the straw grass sod -- they were close and warm.
Those for the officers had wicker doors, with a glass light, and interwoven
with plaited straw; they had also chimneys made of grass sod.  They no doubt
had prepared so to pass the winter, but the battle broke up their plans.
One of the Hessians afterwards became Washington's coachman.
  Lieut. Craig, of the cavalry, was often adventurous; on one occasion,
being alone and pursued up Germantown by the British horse, he purposely led
them across a marsh at Cresheim, where one of their horses so mired, that he
could not get out; this stopped the pursuit, and they had to kill the horse
on the spot.
  Col. Pickering, in speaking of his recollections of the battle of
Germantown, says, "Washington's army started the evening preceding the
battle, and marched all night.  In the march, Gen. Washington followed
Sullivan's column, and when the battle began, said to Col. Pickering, "Go
ahead, and say that I am afraid he is throwing away his ammunition, and to
try to reserve himself for a more general action."  The colonel then passed
Chew's house without seeing any demonstrations of fight there; and he thinks
the unseen troops therein were then barricading the premises.  He overtook
Gen. Sullivan three or four hundred yards beyond that house, and when
returning, saw for the first time, that they were firing from that house
across his road.  He soon rejoined Gen. Washington, with his officers, at
Billmeyer's house.  A flag was sent forthwith to the house to summon their
surrender, which Lieut. Smith, of Virginia, volunteered to carry, and got
shot as he was advancing, and afterwards died from the wound.  Sullivan's
division, therefore, was never delayed by the force in the house.  Gen.
Greene's column on the left did not get into action till three quarter of an
hour later than those on the right, because of the greater circuit which
they had to make; whereas, those on the main street, went more directly to
the point of attack.  In Col. Pickering's opinion, Judge Johnson's "Life of
Greene" has given erroneous statements respecting Gen. Washington's
hesitancy to pass Chew's house; and he distinctly says, that only Gen. Knox
could have been present, to obtrude any advice on that matter; all the rest
of the general officers were in their places, with their commands.  The
first of the retreating began for want of more ammunition, they having
exhausted it, as the commander-in-chief had before apprehended.
  The boys of Germantown made play work of the war, making themselves three
forts (upper, middle and lower) along the town.  They had regular
embankments, and fought with stones, under a show of wooden guns.  On one
occasion, an American officer, in passing, called out, "Who commands there?"
and they called out his own name, "Proctor !"
  An aged gentleman, who has been a contributor of many of the facts of
Germantown, and to whom I have submitted the perusal of the preceding pages,
has commended them for their accuracy, and has furnished some additional
illustrations, which I have added, viz.:
  Christopher Ludwick, the baker-general, usually bore, and received, the
appellation of "general".  He once owned the plantation now belonging to
John Haines.  He lived many years in a very independant manner in the house
next Mrs. Sarah Johnson.  He was of a very social cast, talking freely along
the street with all he met, and in so loud and strong a voice as every where
to announce his vicinity -- so much so, that it was usual in families, in
doors, to say "There goes the general !"  The frankness which characterize
him, encouraged the woman who became his second wife, to say to him, in
meeting him in the street, that as she felt concerned for his loneliness as
a widower, she would offer herself to him for a companion, in case he
thought it might conduce to their mutual happiness.  He took it, as he said
into a short consideration, and they became man and wife; she being a good
wife, and both of them a happy couple, in the opinion of all !  He had but
one eye.
  My informant has seen many of the brotherhood of Ephrata, passing through
Germantown, following in Indian file, all dressed alike, and all their
clothes, from head to foot, was without colour !!
  Flourtown, in old Shronk's day, was, as remembered, the peculiar
head-quarters of witchcraft, and witch-credulity.  There, almost every body
credited the evil influence; and from that cause old Shronk was under
frequent requisition to go there, from his house at Schuylkill falls.  When
seen riding from home along the town, it was common for old and young to run
to the windows to take a look at the rare man, and to say, surely he is
again called off to Flourtown.  When arrived there, he would fling his arms
about and proclaim that, here and there, in given directions, are many,
many, witches !  The whole place was in serious trouble and confusion for
several years; one and another accusing and charging the other with being
witches; and all referring to Shronk, to know the verity of their several
apprehensions.
  An eye witness has thus described the British array, viz.: -- The trim and
graceful grenadier, the careless and half savage highlander, with his
flowing tartaned robes, and naked knees; then the immovably stiff German --
here a regiment of Hessians -- and there slaves of Anspach and Waldeck, the
first sombre as night, the second gaudy as noon.  Here dashed a party of
dragoons, and there scampered a party of "yagers".  The British officers gay
in spirit and action, and the German officers stiff in motion and
embroidery, the whole forming a moving kaleidoscope of colours and scenery.
  Mr. Jacob Miller, when aged about 82, told me of his observations in
Germantown, when a youth of sixteen.  He lived, while the British were in
Germantown, in the house now of George W. Toland; then the house of George
Miller, a captain in the American army. [He afterwards became a colonel, and
distinguished himself with the Germantown militia at Princeton.]  The first
night of the arrival of the British army, upwards of a dozen of the British
officers made their quarters in that house.  While they were all present in
one large room, they sent for him, and questioned him about his knowledge of
many of the localities.  In such inquiries, they always called every thing
American "rebel"; and upon his saying he did not know what they meant to ask
by the word rebel, some were rough, and charged him with wilful ignorance,
and some others justified him, and said he was not obliged to acknowledge
the term, even if he understood it.  His mother was soon employed to be
their baker, and daily after she received their flour, and made it into
bread, pound for pound, leaving her a good supply of gain, for the use of
her family.
  He did not dare to go much abroad among the encampments, unless with some
of the retainers of the army, for fear they might arrest him; therefore he
did not see much of their doings.  The boys and girls of the place, he
believes, kept very close house; he heard of no violence or insult to any of
the inhabitants.  Ming, Lightfoot, and Heath made themselves most useful to
the British, and were afterwards regarded and treated by ourselves, as
tories; they were once afterwards paraded through the town to disgrace them,
and were threatened with tar and feathers.  The most outrageous conduct was
committed on the person and property of Christopher Sower, a worthy,
innocent, good man, on account of his son Christopher, who had taken the
enemies' side.
  When the battle began, he and several others went across the street to
Lorain's old house, and secured themselves in the cellar, from the door of
which they peeped out and saw the cannon balls making their streaks through
the air, towards Toland's woods; they also heard the whistling of many
musket balls.
  The British cavalry were hutted on the lots of Mehl's and Royal's present
open fields.

  Just as the battle began, and when he was going to the cellar before
mentioned, he saw Gen. Howe ride up with several officers, from his quarters
at Logan's house, (the owner, Wm. Logan, being then deceased) and stopping
near Lorain's house, he heard General Howe say, quite loud, "My God, what
shall we do? we are certainly surrounded".  They then rode onward up the town.
  After awhile they left the cellar and ventured abroad; finding the firing
had ceased and seeing wounded men on foot coming there as to the rear, he
ventured to go towards Chew's house by the back lots, the fences being all
cut down. He saw many dead, and a soldier stripping an officer who had a
fine watch.  When he got near there, he found himself unexpectedly near some
renewed firing -- one of the balls went through the porch where he was
standing -- he retreated rapidly homeward.  When again at home, he found a
gathering at his neighbour Mechlin's house (the present Wagner's) and went
in, where he found in the large stable in the yard, a British hospital,
where surgeons were beginning to arrange long tables, made of the doors, on
which to lay men (friends and foes) for amputation.  They soon pressed him
to assist them, but he not liking the employ, soon managed to get off and
hide himself.  He saw as many as two dozen there wounded; they cut off arms
and legs, and cast them, covered with a little earth.  He knew that,
afterwards, dogs got at some of them; he took from a dog a leg, which he
buried at Mehl's gateway.
  He knows that there was a great deal of fighting on his present lot in
Danenhower's lane; and also on Armstrong's hill, by the mill.  There, he and
other boys have collected several hatfuls of leaden bullets; even to this
day, he finds bullets and flints in his lot, whenever he ploughs the place.
He supposes he gathered as many as a bushel of them, not long after the
battle, getting usually a hatful at any one time of searching; and these he
used to hide in post holes for the time.
  He used to steal to Philadelphia occasionally, to get things wanted for
the family.  His way was to watch occasions when parties of the British came
out, then to follow closely in their rear; and afterwards to get home by
by-paths and back roads, and always keeping a good look out to shun Capt.
Allen M'Lane, who was always on the scout, and was often seen by him and
others close upon the British outposts.  He has seen him pursued several
times, from near his house.  Dover and Howard were officers also in the same
service.
  He saw Gen. Agnew and Col. Bird buried in the lower burying ground with
very little parade.  There was also a British officer buried there from
Ottinger's house where he died of sickness.  He saw several dead soldiers
buried in Mechlin's tanyard after the battle; they were probably from the
hospital there, and at Armat's house.
  One of the officers, who was unwell the night of their first arrival,
wanted him to go up to town to purchase something for his relief, and he
being afraid to go alone, expressed his reluctance, when the officer said
"I'll give you a scrip which will pass you".  So he went, and at every
little distance he found a sentinel along the street, by whom he was
challenged, and showed his passport, and proceeded till he got what he wanted.
  On Taggart's ground were a great many of the British encamped in huts,
made up from the fences and overlaid with sods.  On the same ground, he
afterwards saw Count Polaski's cavalry of four hundred men, in their whitish
uniform, where they made a grand display of military evolutions, in
exercising in a mock battle.  They were formed mostly from the prisoners of
Burgoyne's army, Germans, and others.  Their exercises made a deep
impression on his youthful fears; for when he beheld their frequent onsets
with drawn swords, he felt quite persuaded they must turn it all to earnest.
One of them got killed in the onset.
  At one time, it was said that the British were intending to take into
their service all the half grown boys they could find in the place; to avoid
which, he and others got off to a public house near Flourtown.  He supposes
that it was a false report.
  He was present, with the brother and sister of Major Witherspoon, (aide to
Gen. Nash) when Witherspoon was disinterred, in Philip Weaver's front lot.
They had brought a coffin and outer case, intending to take him home to
Princeton, but his body was too decayed and offensive to bear such a
removal.  He was in the same pit with six other bodies; but he was known
from the rest by the loss of part of his skull, and by being the only one
wrapped in a blanket.  The sister cut off a lock of his hair.  What an
affecting scene for relatives !
  The English cavalry pursued the Americans eight miles, on the Skippack
road, fifteen and a half miles from Philadelphia, into Whitpaine township as
far as the Blue Bell.  We have heard from an old friend, a witness now at
that place, that our militia was already there when the British cavalry
arrived, and wheeled about to make good their retreat and return.  He
describes the confusion that existed among the Americans as past the power
of description; sadness and consternation was expressed in every
countenance.  While the dead and dying (which had preceded this halt at the
Blue Bell) were before seen moving onward for refuge, there could be seen
many anxious women and children rushing to the scene to learn the fate of
their friends, and to meet, if they could, the fathers, brothers, or other
relatives, who had been before sent forward for the engagement.  Again and
again, the American officers were seen riding or running to the front of the
militia with their drawn swords, threatening, or persuading them to face
about and meet their foe.  But all efforts seemed to fail; and officers and
men were still seen every where borne along on the retreat.  They broke down
fences and rushed away in confusion, as if determined no longer to hazard
the chances of war in another onset.  Some few, however, still held on to
the moving mass of dead and wounded -- for some had died, while still in the
course of their removal.
  General Nash, of North Carolina, Col. Byrd, Major White of Philadelphia,
aide to Sullivan and another officer, who were among the wounded, were
carried onward, so far, that when they died they were all buried side by
side at the Mennonist burying ground and church in Towamensing township, a
place beautifully shaded with forest trees.  Their graves there I have
visited, twenty-six miles from Philadelphia. [We have since given them a
monument there.]  I have learned from the sons of one De Haven, that their
father had assisted in carrying Gen. Nash, who was brought into his house
and then taken two miles further to his brother's house, where he died
--having in his profuse bleeding for his country's good, bled through two
feather beds before he died.  A Mr. Godshalk, who is alive at Kulpsville,
saw his internment.  Major White was deemed the finest looking officer in
the service -- his beauty and dress had conferred on him the soubriquet of
"beau White".  He was an Irishman by birth, married to a London lady, and
the father of the present Judge John M. White, of Woodbury, New Jersey.  He
had gone on after the battle, wounded, but riding on his own horse.  He had
reached the house of Abram Wentz, on Skippack road, where he had before
quartered.  As the alarm of the pursuing army came onward, he undertook to
ride six miles further, when he took a fever from his exertions, of which he
died.  A lady who saw him at Wentz's house and who is still alive, has told
me he came there with Gen. Furman, and that the major was gay and cheerful,
and declined any bed or assistance.  In the same company there was a very
young officer from Virginia (supposed to be Lieut. Smith) wounded in the
shoulder, who also went onward.  An old German, a soldier, has informed that
four of our officers were buried side by side at Whitemarsh, [most probably
non-commissioned ones].  In that neighbourhood there are still some remains
of the former entrenchments.
  A large portion of the American army lay encamped on the Skippack road,
twenty and a half miles from Philadelphia, and while there, Gen. Washington
and several of the officers were quartered in the house of Mr. Morris --
since known as the large country house and residence of the late Dr. James
of Philadelphia.  Gen. Washington had also his quarters at Jacob Wampole's
farm house (the father of the late Isaac Wampole, the eminent city
scrivener) located near a woods, and three quarters of a mile from the
aforesaid Mennonist burying ground.  That family had known that the general
was in the practice of retiring to pray.
  It occurs to me here to say a little of the state and class of people
settled in this section of country.  Such as are known to me of Towamensing
and Franconia.  They were generally German Mennonists and Tunkards.  The
latter have a meeting-house and a well dressed congregation by the Indian
creek; all the farms are well cultivated and evince prosperity -- far
different from what their forefathers could have enjoyed in their own
country.  Such a country as this is now, so little distant from
Philadelphia, was only first settled in 1719 -- at the cost of but £10 for
fifty acres.  When first settled, several small remains of Indians still
lingered about; and the name of Indian creek, given by the settlers when the
first surveys were made in 1718 to J. Steel, shows their then understood
vicinage and home.  There I have been shown their grave ground &c.  When
Henry Funk settled there in 1719, in Franconia, he was six miles northward
of any neighbour, and although his place is now a mill, he then had no mill
nearer than the present Mather's mill at Flourtown (so called most probably
as the earliest known place of supply) to which place the family used to
send a single bag of grain on horseback.
  The late Gen. Cobb, who was long a member of Gen. Washington's military
family during the war, has informed us of some of the habits of the
chieftain.  Every thing was to be precise and punctual there -- at the
breakfast hour, the general was sure to be punctual, and then he expected to
find his aids, Cobb, Hamilton, Humphreys, awaiting him.  He came then
dressed for the day, bringing with him the letters and despatches of the
preceding day, with short memoranda of the answers to be made; also the
substance of orders to be issued.  After breakfast, these papers were
distributed among the aids, to be put in form.  Soon after, he mounted his
horse to visit the troops, and expected to find on his return, before noon,
all the papers prepared for his inspection and signature.  There was no
familiarity in his presence; it was all sobriety and business.  Throughout
the war it was understood in his military family that he gave a part of
every day to private prayer and devotion.  Gen. Cobb, though so long closely
connected with so grave a leader, was himself a man strongly disposed to
enjoy a laugh; and yet he says, that in his long intercourse with him, he
had only met with one officer -- Col. Scammel, who had the power of
affecting the risibilities of the general.  Scammel was full of ludicrous
anecdotes, and when dining at the general's table, was allowed to take the
command, and to excite, beyond any other man, the general himself.
  It may afford interest to some, to learn some of the local facts incident
to the management and retreat of La Fayette, at Barren Hill, where he was
intended to be surprised and broken up by Gen. Gray, such as I learned them
to be from Samuel Maulsby, a respectable Friend, dwelling then and since at
Plymouth meeting-house.
  He was at the time an active and observing boy.  The whole British force
arrived early in the morning at the meeting-house, in the rear of La
Fayette, and halted in the public road, remaining there about an hour and a
half, seemingly perplexed and disappointed; and as it is believed, debating
between the choice of going either to Spring mill, or Madson's ford.  The
men seemed unwearied, but chagrined and angry.
  He had then an uncle -- a Capt. Davis, of the Pennsylvania militia, who
being then with the American army, and familiar with all the localities of
the country, was much consulted and often used as a guide &c.  From him Mr.
Maulsby learned many facts concerning the retreat of La Fayette across the
Schuylkill at Madson's ford.  Such as that the British made their approach
with all possible quietness and secrecy, in the night (as before mentioned
through Germantown &c.) They turned at Mather's mill to go on to Plymouth.
At that mill lived a Capt. Stoy, who having occasion to get out of bed,
chanced to see the army passing his door.  He immediately ran across the
fields and nigh cuts, to give La Fayette the alarm; but his breath failing
him, he called up one Rudolph Bartle, who ran on to Barren hill and gave the
intelligence.  La Fayette immediately sent off his artillery to the other
side of Schuylkill, at Madson's ford, and going himself to the same place by
the way of Spring mill.  There were Oneida Indians attached to his command,
who took their own course, and had to swim the river.  In doing this, they
left behind them a young prince of twelve years of age, whom they there
lamented in strong cries and yells of distress, as being captured or
drowned.  He soon after appeared, when they all kneeled in solemn praise and
thanksgiving, to the Great Spirit for his safety.  The force of La Fayette
moved on to Valley Forge to join Washington's army, then there.
  Mr. Maulsby saw among the British several refugees, who seemed to be very
active advisers.  Some of them had been his neighbours.  They were dressed
in greenish uniforms.
  He told me a fact, which should be remembered, as it helps to illustrate
many cases, I presume, of alleged cruelty and plunder.  A party, from the
force in the road, came into his mother's house under pretext of getting
water.  They seemed to be highlanders; these immediately ran over the house
and up stairs, forcing open chests and drawers with their bayonets, and
taking off what they liked.  Had the matter rested there, the whole might
have been deemed a common violence; but an accident showed another system.
An officer came in to ask if they could spare a pair of swingle-trees, {Note
- swingle-tree = a rod for beating flax} which when young Maulmsby had
found, the price was asked, and none being required the officer gave him a
guinea.  At this time, a soldier was observed running to the house for his
musket which he had forgotten, and out of this fact grew an explanation of
the previous plunder.  The officer forthwith entreated the widow to come out
to the men to designate the depredators, assuring her the property should be
restored, and the men punished before her face; he saying, they had already
been threatened with death, if they attempted to plunder.  Just then firing
was heard at a distance, when they all hastily marched off.
  General Washington was often to be seen riding abroad, with a black
servant, having a guard and some officers in company.  How different things
then, from what he must have afterwards witnessed them when a summer
resident in Germantown and going occasionally over the same happy and
prosperous neighbourhoods, witnessing their changes and improvements.
  In preserving the remembrance of the past, I may mention that the house in
which I dwell was the residence of Thomas Jefferson in 1793, when he was
secretary of state.  The same house was before occupied by John De Braine, a
French-German distinguished as an astronomer; who published while here
several small publications and diagrams, too occult to be understood !
  Persons now visiting Germantown and witnessing its universal English
population, could hardly imagine that a place so near Philadelphia could
have retained its German character, down to the year 1793.  Before that
time, all the public preaching was in German; and nearly all the plays of
the boys, and their conversation, was in that tongue.  The yellow fever of
1793 brought out here all the officers of the general and state governments,
and of the banks, and filled all the houses with new inmates.  In the next
and subsequent years, sundry families from the city became summer residents.
Then English succeeded rapidly; and soon after, increased desires for
English preaching, in part, began to be manifested among the young, and to
be resisted by the aged.  Then, Runkle, Wack, and others, who could preach
in both languages were inducted.  Now, Mr. Richards is the only one who
preaches in German, and that only once a month; the chief of his sermons are
in English.  The Methodists were the first who introduced English preaching
-- they beginning in the school house, at first.
  While the British were here, the chaplains of the Hessians preached in the
German churches, and two remained in this country after the war.  One of
them, the Rev. Mr. Schaeffer, took the Lutheran church in Germantown.
  The yellow fever could make no headway in Germantown, although so near
Philadelphia; only six or eight persons died of it here, and they had
derived it from Philadelphia.  The place is always pre-eminently healthy.
  General Washington, when residing here in 1793, was a frequent walker
abroad up the main street, and daily rode out on horseback, or in his
phaeton -- so that every body here was familiar with the personal appearance
of that eminent man.  When he and his family attended the English preaching
in the Dutch church at the market house, they always occupied the seat
fronting the pulpit.  It was also his own practice to attend the German
preaching, thus showing he had some knowledge of that language.  His house
was closed on the Sabbath until the bell tolled, when it was opened, just as
he was seen coming to the church.  I chance also to know, that he had some
knowledge of the French, because when my friend Jacob Roset first arrived in
this country about the year 1792, he, with four or five of his countrymen
met the general in the street in Philadelphia; and stopping to let him pass,
he held out his hand to Mr. Roset, and said to him and his friends, "Bien
venu en Amerique" -- a salutation which delighted them.
  When he left Germantown to go onward to Carlisle to join the western
expedition, and was intended to have been escorted by a troop of horse from
Philadelphia, he, wishing to shun the parade, went off in his single seated
phaeton, drawn by four fine gray horses, out the School lane, and up the
rugged back road of the township line, so as to escape their notice and
attention.
  Many remember his very civil and courteous demeanour to all classes in the
town, as he occasionally had intercourse with them.  He has been seen
several times at Henry Fraley's carpenter shop and at Bringhurst's
blacksmith shop, talking freely and cordially with both.  They had both been
in some of his campaigns.  His lady endeared herself to many by her uniform
gentleness and kindness.  Neither of them showed pride or austerity.  I
could illustrate the assertion, by several remembered incidents in proof.
  Those who now visit Germantown and notice the general neatness and
whiteness of the front faces of the houses, and see the elegance of some of
the country seats, can have little idea how differently it looked in 1814,
when the writer first became a resident in the place.  Then, most of the
houses were of dark, moss-grown stone, and of sombre and prison-like aspect,
with little old fashioned windows, and monstrous corner chimneys formed of
stone.  Now the chimneys are rebuilt of brick, and taken from the corners;
and nearly all of the front walls are plastered over in imitation of marble;
besides this, the whole town is laid with good foot-pavement, and thus
relieving the street-walkers from the great annoyance of muddy feet.  These
changes were effected by the frequent expostulations and suggestions of
writers in the Germantown Gazette, among whom the present writer was to be
numbered.  Numerous shade-trees were also introduced along the streets, so
as to add to the charm of the promenade, the whole length of this remarkably
long town; -- sometimes called "Long-ville" in reference to this, its
peculiar characteristic.  Many of the old houses, now of two stories, have
been raised from one and a half stories.  Before the Revolution, most of the
houses were but one and a half stories, with high double-hipped roofs.

  Gilbert Stuart the great painter, dwelt in Germantown in 1794-5.  His
dwelling was the same now David Styers' ; and his paintings were executed in
the barn in the rear, with one light.  There he executed that memorable head
-- his second Washington; the first being destroyed by himself, voluntarily,
as insufficient to meet his views of that extraordinary man.  The head,
only, was finished -- the drapery having never been executed.  The same head
is now owned by the Boston Athenaeum, procured after the death of Stuart
from his widow, at a cost of 1000 dollars.  From that head he executed all
his other portraits, including his full length portrait, done at Germantown
for Lord Lansdown, and afterwards badly as an engraving by Heath in London.
Stuart had a great aversion to the drudgery of making drapery to his
pictures, and used to employ another hand to execute them.  At his house
Gen. Washington and his lady were frequent visiters, seen here, as such, by
many.  Mrs. Washington had a great desire to have possession of that
finished head of the general; but as it was his "chef-d'oevre", and he had
no hopes to be able to execute another as well, it was conceded to him as an
indulgence, to retain it for himself during his life.  While here, he
executed a full length portrait of Cornplanter, the celebrated Indian chief.
Mr. Stuart was noted for his eccentricity, and his love of good eating and
drinking.  To the latter, he was much addicted after his dinner, showing
therefrom a much inflamed face, and much of recklessness in his actions when
excited by his drink.  In this he dealt in wholesale way -- buying his wine,
brandy, and gin, by the cask.  On one occasion he was seen kicking a large
piece of beef across the street from his own house over to Diehl's, his
butcher, and tumbling it into his premises; as if to say, such beef was not
only unfit for his stable, but too bad to be handled.  On another occasion,
he took a fancy to paint for Riters' tavern a finely executed sign of the
king of Prussia on horseback (the painter to be unknown ! ) it stood for
years worthy of admiration, and at last got painted over with letters "The
King of Prussia Inn", none knowing that it was, in fact, a curiosity and a
relic.  At my request this sign is now preserved, and will be given to any
company of artists who may wish to preserve it, by taking off its last
covering of paint.  The history of his life, as told in Dunlap's Arts of
Design, shows many singular characteristics of this remarkably gifted man;
he was great in his person, and extraordinary in all he did; highly
honourable in his sentiments, and independent in his actions.
  Another character of Germantown, but of quite another cast, was Redheifer,
the pretender to perpetual motion.  For awhile he enlivened the town with
his numerous visiters, to see his machinery in perpetual motion, at the
extraordinary price of one dollar each visiter.  It was at last found to be
moved by a crank, which was wound perpetually, by a concealed little old man
in an upper loft !  The machinery was elegant and expensive; and might have
produced something, had it been preserved for exhibition, as a curious and
amusing toy.  But he and his apparatus disappeared together.  He was himself
said to be an immoral man, and a gambler.
  Among the characteristics of the place was its unrivalled manufacture of
superior stockings -- all done by hand weaving, as originally brought into
use by the first settlers; these have been in modern times driven out of
use.  The place was also, since the revolution, pre-eminent for its superior
build of coaches and vehicles; but in late years the workmen of Newark have
drawn off the business by their reduced prices.
  The first introduction of carriage building was somewhat curious.  Mr.
William Ashmead, a smith, observing the heavy build of the coaches of his
day, and that they were mostly imported, if intended to be of a superior
kind, bethought him to form an open-front light carriage on his own plan.
When it was done, it was admired by many, and was often called for by the
wealthy who wished to travel to distances -- among these was Mr. Bingham.
They engaged it at one dollar a day; and it was in constant demand.  At
last, a gentleman from Maryland, who had seen it, came to the place to buy
it.  It was not for sale; but he offered £120 for it, and took it.  Then
another and another was built, and orders were renewed upon Mr. Ashmead.
Soon, increased demands occurred; and his son John being made a carriage
maker, received numerous orders for many kinds of light carriages, and
especially for phaetons.  About the same time, (the time of the revolution
and afterwards) Mr. Bringhurst, who was a chaise maker, went largely into
the making of carriages.  Coaches and chariots were made for £200 and
phaetons for £100.
  The same William Ashmead, as a smith, had made himself a plough with a
wrought iron mould-board, which was found to be a great improvement; and was
so much admired by La Fayette, who saw its utility, that he purchased four
of them for his La Grange farm in France.  No patent was taken; and in time
some other person, following the hint, made the same thing of cast iron --
such as is now in general use.
  Germantown was the first place in our country to declare against the
practice of slavery.  The declaration proceeded from the Friends' meeting,
of whom the chief members at the time were Germans.
  The old inhabitants have been old observers of "Lammas' floods", to
prevail from the 1st to the 10th or 12th of August, and well it is marked,
[while this work is going through the press in August 1843] flooding
Philadelphia; drenching the military encampments daily; carrying away fifty
bridges in Delaware county, &c.!  St. Lammas is of record in the German
almanacs -- and mind ! make no appointments for pleasure in Lammas' times !
  It may justly surprise the present generation to have a little insight
into the state of farming before the revolution, and before the introduction
of clover and plaster of Paris.  These were the things which enriched the
cultivators and beautified our fields.  It was first started about the year
1780, at Chestnut hill, by Abraham Rex, and at Germantown by Leonard
Stoneburner.  It became a wonder to see men making grass, and hauling it in
from upland fields.  Every body was delighted to see the effect of this new
era in farming.  The aged now can well remember the stirring interest which
was every where excited by this important improvement.  Before this time, a
farmer at Germantown would consider one hundred acres of land as inadequate
to provide his frugal living then, unless he had also a good portion of
natural meadow to supply his stock.  It soon came to the experienced that
fifty acres of land, well tilled, produced enough to fill a barn of double
the size before used !  The horses and cattle soon found a joyous change to
their benefit, and well they showed the difference of their feeding.  We
tell these things for the sake of the gratitude and acknowledgment which
such benefits, conferred on us, deserve.
  Another great era of public benefit, now but little considered, was the
formation of the Germantown turnpike -- a measure got up chiefly through the
exertions of Casper Haines.  The common road through Germantown, before this
time at the breaking up of the winter as well as at some other times, was
impassable for wheel carriages.  To that cause it was that the most of the
marketing, going through the place to Philadelphia, was all carried on
horseback with side panniers and hampers, and the most of the horses were
ridden by women.  Think what a relief they have had since those days !  It
is a well known fact that horses and carriages have been swamped and lost !
In going through the town (now all well paved) their horses would enter the
mud to their knees at every step, and not being able to progress faster than
two or three miles an hour, and then often endangered.  Now what a change do
we witness ! -- No men or women now on horseback with marketing, but going
with easy spring dearborns at five and six miles an hour, as easy and safe
as if in state carriages.  Even wagon loads of hay can be seen sometimes
passing in a trot !  The young farmers now know almost nothing about former
difficulties and poor returns; and they are not sufficiently aware that the
fine barns and fine houses, as they have since seen them, have all been the
result of clover cultivation and improved husbandry.  We aim, therefore, to
keep these facts "before the people" that they may thus know "the rock from
which they were hewn".
  I ought to take this suitable occasion to explain why it formerly was that
great country stores could be so well sustained at Germantown and Frankford,
and out on Lancaster road.  It arose from the extreme badness of all great
roads leading into the city in particular seasons.  To avoid such, farmers
bringing produce could sell out their whole loads to Rex, and others, on
Chestnut hill, or at Stoneburner's, Fry's, and Miller's in Germantown.  In
return they could get salt, fish, plaster of Paris, clover and grass seed;
all kinds of groceries and dry goods.  Such stores were granaries for all
kinds of grain, and received and cured hogs and beef.  They all made money.
You might see a dozen country wagons at a time about their premises.  All
this continued until turnpikes insured safe passages into the city; and then
the stores began fast to decline, and finally to give up, or to contract
themselves into small affairs.
  The present aged Jacob Keyser was told by A. Cook, a primitive inhabitant,
that he could well remember Germantown street as being an Indian foot-path,
going through laurel bushes.
  John Miller, Esq., a respectable gentleman and a magistrate, dwelling in
Germantown in the house now belonging to the Chanceller family, kept a diary
of passing events during the time the British occupied that place and the
city of Philadelphia.  He was a strong whig, and eventually lost a great
deal by the continental money.  From his MS. book of twenty pages, quarto, I
select the following notices, to wit :
  Sept. 18th, 1777, he speaks of much alarm among the people from the
expected approach of the British, and the apprehended capture of
Philadelphia.  He and his wife go to the city to consult with their children
there, to settle to what places they should remove for refuge.  They
determine to wait a little.
  September 19th.  On a second visit to the city, found his son-in-law,
Mease, and family, had in the interval of a day fled from their house at
four o'clock in the morning, and had gone towards Trenton.  He finds there,
that great numbers had fled the last night and this morning.  The roads were
full of persons going away.
  September 20th.  He states that the roads are still full of poor people
flying off from their good homes, to fall perhaps into greater danger.
To-day, his wife went to the city to endeavour to save some of the furniture
left behind by her daughter.
  September 22d.  The news and reports of to-day and yesterday are all
uncertain.  They heard a cannonading up the Schuylkill; cause unknown.
  September 23d.  The alarm this morning is great.  The militia are
returning in great haste; tell us the British passed the Swedeford last
night, and are since in full march for Germantown.  From this news many fled
this night.  Among them was Doctor Bensall and family which went to Horsham.
He left a well furnished house and a large shop of medicines, which the
enemy, as he was a known whig, destroyed or carried off.
  September 25th.  The British army entered Germantown at eleven o'clock,
and encamped around them, and occasions much fear, especially from the
foreign mercenaries.  They burnt and destroyed all his fences, grain,
potatoes, turnips &c., and endeavoured to inveigle away some of his negroes.
To his person they were complaisant, and readily gave him a safeguard to
keep his effects in doors, from harm.  A heavy rain fell at night.
  September 26th.  The morning was cool from the rain.  General Lord
Cornwallis marches into Philadelphia in great state -- the incidents of
which were inscribed in pompous language, and at much length, on the Coffee
House books.
  September 28th.  He hears that his daughter's family, which had gone to
Summer Seat for refuge, had to change their place, and were going to
Lancaster for greater securitiy.  Her husband, Mr. Mease, was with the camp.
This day, for the first time, General Howe made his entrance into
Philadelphia, and made his call upon Lord Cornwallis, then at Richard Penn's
mansion in High street, near Sixth street.  [The same afterwards
Washington's residence.]
  September 29th.  The army seem all quiet -- have a fine season -- are
hourly destroying the property of all within their reach.
  September 30th.  This day, and at other times, he speaks of visiting
Galloway in the city for a pass to visit his daughter, but is always refused
or put off.
  October 2d.  He hears the attack begun on the Fort at Mud Island.  He
mentions hearing, from day to day, for near two months after this, the heavy
cannonading continued on that fortress -- (so gallantly and long defended.)
It sensibly shook the ground, he says, at Germantown.
  October 4th.  He returned to Germantown this morning from the city, and
finds that a hot engagement had occured between the two armies at
Germantown.  His poor wife was alone, up two pair of stairs, when a cannon
ball passed through a window very near her.
  October 6th.  Great numbers came out from the city to satisfy their
curiosity respecting the battle of yesterday.  After the battle, the Hessian
camp is placed just by him, and makes him much dislike their presence.
  October 7th.  Several were executed for desertion and others were flogged
for offences.  An aid of General Knyphausen, (one Copenhouse) robbed him of
a Map of Pennsylvania, and otherwise behaved unlike a gentleman.  In the
evening, a great number of the Highlanders were encamped up town -- and the
following morning were again moved off.
  October 10th.  He notices the army to be in great motion this morning; and
it is the opinion of some, that Washington is approaching  -- others say,
(so uncertain is the news !) that he has crossed the Delaware.
  October 11th.  He notices the first white frost.  Before day light the
soldiers went off to try to surprise the Americans, and by eight o'clock
A.M., returned without falling in with any of them.
  October 17th.  Orders came for all horses in Germantown and the environs
to be sent to Philadelphia by eight o'clock, with their harnesses.  About
five hundred were so sent and appraised, but only tories received their pay
!  His horse was exempted by the kindness of Sir William Erskine.  At this
time, his house being marked for the quarters of General Sterne, it is
occupied below stairs by his aids; and next day, there came a great suite of
his officers, and fixed their sentinels around the house -- filling the
stables with their horses; -- but in an hour, much to his joy and comfort,
came an order for their return, and to say, he would not come.
  October 18th.  Three regiments marched as high as Barren hill in quest of
rebels, as they said.  In the evening he heard thirteen cannons and volleys
of small arms -- which proved afterwards to be a "feu-de-joie" from the
Americans, for the capture of Burgoyne's army.
  October 19th.  The army is in motion at day light, to march from here and
not to return.  By ten o'clock, they were all gone for the city.  In about
an hour, the American light horse appeared, and soon had some skirmishing
down the road.  They took three or four prisoners and some wagons.
  October 20th.  A part of General Wayne's division marched down through
Germantown, and returned in the evening. He speaks of several American
officers as being entertained at his house as friends such as General Reed,
Colonel Bradford, &c., and then, as returning to their camp in the afternoon.

  October 23d.  A part of General Washington's army began to march by ten
o'clock at night through Germantown, and continued till day-break.  They
formed on the heights near the city and drove in the pickets.  The enemy not
venturing out, the troops withdrew, as they did not wish to attack the city.
They heard the cannonading at the fort, and two violent shocks of explosion,
shaking the earth -- which afterwards proved to be the Augusta man-of-war
blown up, &c.
  November 10th.  Several parties from our camp pass through town to forage.
Several deserters from day to day from the city confirm the scarcity of
bread, &c., there.  The cannonade at the fort is still very heavy, and still
shaking the very earth.
  November 11th.  A hard frost, and next day seems to begin the first of the
winter -- snow having fallen all the preceding night.
  November 15.  The weather clear and cold.  They can see from a house in
Germantown, by the aid of a spy glass, two men-of-war, closely bombarding
the poor little fort, which has held out nobly since the 2d October, and
only yielded at the end of seven weeks.
  November 17th.  Several women of the British camp were caught last night
plundering the gardens, and were carried to head-quarters, to look and feel
very awkward.
  November 20th.  Several women came from the city to look up a little
provision for their families.  Desolation and famine seem to threaten us.
  November 22d.  In the afternoon the British burnt the house of John
Dickerson, Esq., (the same now known as J.P. Norris' house) also the tavern
of the whig lady, Mrs. Nice, at the Rising Sun, and several others in that
neighbourhood, on the Germantown road. They also burnt the house of Jonathan
Mifflin; Peale Hall, Francis' place, &c.  This to their great shame !
  November 25th and 26th.  There was much alarm in Germantown, from reports
that it was the purpose of the enemy to burn this place.  It was even said,
that the party for this purpose was resting at the Rising Sun.  In
consequence of this fear, he conveyed away a trunk of valuables as far as
Chestnut Hill.
  November 27th.  There appeared a great and surprising northern light -- as
red as blood.
  December 4th.  The enemy were much in motion -- had pressed yesterday
numerous horses, wagons, &c.
  December 5th.  The whole of the enemy's force, last night and this
morning, passed through Germantown on their way to surprise General
Washington at Whitemarsh.  They did much damage as they went -- wantonly
burning and destroying houses and property in the night time.  At ten
o'clock A.M., was heard a heavy firing begun on Chestnut hill, and lasting
for two or three hours.  They returned on the 8th instant.
  December 6th.  The enemy and our light horse place us in much danger, as
they patrol our streets alternately.
  December 10th.  He finds many of the inhabitants of the town deploring
their losses.  Several had sent their goods for safety to Chestnut hill --
where the enemy took some and burnt the rest.  He, however, found that his
trunk, which had been left at Mr. Bush's house, had escaped the pillage,
although the house itself had lost much while occupied as the temporary
quarters of General Howe and his attendants.  [This house was, since,
Lentz's house, at the fork of the road.]  While they returned the night of
the 7th down the Old York road, they spared neither friends nor foes, but
burnt and robbed all along the road.  They carried with them about forty
loads of wounded.  Mrs. Bush was so frightened by the violence of some
towards her son, Dr. Bush, then a wounded officer in bed, in threatening to
stab him, &c., that she miscarried with her TWENTIETH child, and was
interred at Philadelphia, on the 21st of December.
  December 20th.  The navigation at Philadelphia was stopped for ten or
twelve days by the ice.
  In January 1778, the weather being severely cold, the British army goes
into winter quarters -- often sending our foraging parties to rob the
country around, and on market days to protect the country people bringing
them produce.
  The 19th of May, a large detachment of British marched up the Old York
road; and next day a second party came through Germantown, and had a
skirmish.  They returned about five o'clock P.M. in some haste, with several
wagons of dead and wounded.  The Indians killed seven British horsemen on
the banks of the Schuylkill.
  May 28th.  A large detachment of the enemy came up and returned, without
permission to do any harm.
  June 3d.  The British army came up and went through the town by break of
day, and returned by nine o'clock A.M.  They rob gardens and steal fowls as
they pass along.
  June 6th.  They came up again in force and returned by nine o'clock A.M.
-- having with them a few wounded in a skirmish.
  June 10th.  The enemy came up again by different routes, and joined forces
at Allen's lane (now Mount Airy) and returned before nine o'clock in the
morning -- effecting nothing but the plundering of gardens &c.
  The English commissioners came up strongly guarded as far as Chew's house,
and returned just after the above force.
  June 13th.  The army marched up for the last time, and got as far as Mount
Airy.  They returned in two hours.
  June 16th and 17th.  They are embarking and making all preparations for a
departure from Philadelphia; and on the 18th, the AMERICANS again took
possession of the city.  LAUS DEO !!
  ---> The foregoing, it will be observed, speaks more of the predatory
aggressions of the enemy than was generally complained of by others.  We
give the facts as they have been told us.
  Such are the leading facts of the ancient town of Germantown -- first, of
its antiquities, as old as Philadelphia itself; and next of its stirring
incidents as a captured country, and a battle field.  We conclude with a
single additional recital and confirmation to wit :
  Mrs. Hall, of Philadelphia, gave a short notice of the retreat of her
family to Jersey -- which, like many others, was by market wagons, carts,
and other rough vehicles.  She went away with others in a wood flat, fully
crowded, sitting in smoky cabins, or wrapped in blankets and laying on the
decks.  Many were thankful to get into barns and out-houses in the country
on their first arrival.  Those who met abroad felt an instinctive
brotherhood, and all did what they could to help and accommodate each other.
Some went down to Delaware and along the Chesapeake, and were again driven
from their asylums in the following summer, by new alarms.  When they
afterwards met at their desolate home, marvellous and amusing were the
adventures recounted at the firesides.  "Sir, (said a gentleman, whose name
was eminent among the patriots) THESE STORIES WILL BE TOLD BY OUR CHILDREN
WHEN WE ARE DEAD AND GONE !"  And so they shall --- ECCE RES FACTA !!

End of Part II