Germantown and the Roads to Valley Forge Page 13
The men of the 40th posted on the first floor behind each door and shuttered window were instructed to bayonet anyone trying to get in. With a touch of Gallic hyperbole, Chastellux wrote that as Mauduit climbed on the windowsill, he “was received, in truth, much like the lover mounting a ladder to see his mistress, who found the husband waiting for him on the balcony.” Though neither a mistress nor husband were home, the intrepid young Frenchman did find himself face to face with a pistol. Chastellux quipped, “I do not know whether, like him too, on being asked what he was doing there, he answered, ‘I am only taking a walk!’” Mauduit was fortunate, unlike others; instead of an infantryman with a bayonet, he was confronted by a British officer who demanded his surrender. Chastellux noted, “I do know that while one gallant man, pistol in hand, was asking him to surrender, another, less polite, entered briskly into the room, and fired a musket shot which killed, not M. de Mauduit, but the officer who was trying to capture him.”159 As no British officers were actually killed at Cliveden, the officer may have been Lt. James Campbell of Major Bradstreet's company, “who was wounded in defense of the house.”160
“After this comedy of errors and this slight dispute, his difficulty was to find a way to retire,” Chastellux continued. “Either he would expose himself to deadly firing from the first or second floors; or, since a part of the American army were spectators, he would look ridiculous if he returned running.” The marquis concluded this tale of valor by stating, “M. de Mauduit, like a true Frenchman, chose to expose himself to death rather than ridicule.” He did not run from Cliveden, but “returned safe and sound, and Mr. Laurens, who was in no greater haste than he, escaped with a slight wound to his shoulder.”161
The comic relief was a slight tempering of an otherwise desperate and deadly scene. “The Americans came on with an unusual firmness,” noted young Robert Morton, who visited the site the next day. “[They] came up to the Doors of the House, which were so strongly barricaded they could not enter. One of the Americans went up to the N. side of the house to set fire to it, and just as he was putting the torch to the window he rec'd a Bayonet thro. his mouth, which put an end to his existence.”162 John Eager Howard added, “They also attempted to burn it by putting fire to the window shutters which were very strong and well fastened. I saw some years afterwards the marks of the fire on the shutters.” He also stated, “A Capt. White was killed at one of the windows. He was so close that they could not fire at him from the upper windows, and he with several others were killed from the cellar windows.”163 According to the Chew family, White was shot and mortally wounded from the basement window at the northwest corner of the house, to the right of the servants’ entrance.164
“We Lost some valuable officers,” General Sullivan told the president of New Hampshire, “among which were the brave General Nash & my Two Aid de Camps Majors Sherburne & White whose singular Bravery must Ever do Honor to their memorys.”165 Maj. Edward Sherburne was shot, but managed to walk back to camp, where he died the next day. “During the whole of the action he behaved with such coolness and bravery, that his memory will be ever dear to America,” Sullivan wrote to Sherburne's friends and family after the young aide's burial. “He was my sincere friend, my BRAVE companion of the wars, he sacrificed his domestic happiness to follow me, and to serve his country and intrepidly fought with me till the fatal wound forc'd him RELUCTANT from the field of battle.” The New Hampshire general added with pride, “As he liv'd so he died; the BRAVE & UNDAUNTED SOLDIER, & an ornament to his country.”166 But despite the valor and determination by the Continental reserves, Cliveden remained a British fortress.
Where was Greene with the bulk of the army, the left wing of the main attack? “From short marches and frequent halts it was near 6 before the first volley of small arms was heard,” Lt. Col. T. Will Heth of the 3rd Virginia in Woodford's Brigade stated. “Genls. Green and Stephen's divisions, who were to oppose the enemy's right, were then, from some mismanagement, only forming at more than a mile's distance.” The men in Greene's column could hear the crescendo of gunfire increasing. Heth and others were frustrated by the slowness and difficulty in forming up and advancing, especially as the sounds of battle moved ahead. “However our troops who made the attack were successful,” he wrote, referring to Sullivan's wing. “They drove the enemy from field to field, and through part of German Town.”
Heth, who had been with Maxwell's Corps of Light Infantry at Brandywine and had been unforgiving in his criticism of Maxwell, found himself yet again annoyed with the ineptitude of the leadership. General Woodford was at Bethlehem, still recovering from his wound received at Brandywine; who was commanding the brigade is unclear. “In the mean time our wing, by another piece of bad conduct, attempted to march in line of battle, till that order was found impracticable, which from the great number of post and rail fences, thickets and in short everything that could obstruct our march, threw us frequently into the greatest disorder.”
Forming from line to column to line to file through the fences, or rocking them and throwing them down, some even vaulting over them, the troops kept shifting and reforming in the fog. Units became separated, lost, and confused by the noise. “As the heavy fire before us urged us on to a dog trot, we were nearly exhausted before we came to the first field of action,” Heth reported. “Unfortunately a strong stone house, in which the enemy had taken post, drew the attention of ten times the number that would have been sufficient to have kept them snug, and from which we received considerable damage.”167
Woodford's Brigade had stumbled across the battle at Cliveden, and were now approaching the back of the mansion. “All this time we could not hear of the left wing's being engaged,” Pickering wrote, describing the situation from the perspective of the headquarters staff on the Germantown High Street north of the house. “The smoke and fog prevented our seeing them, and our fire drowned theirs. But the left wing had engaged, and both wings met almost at the same point, which was at Mr. Chew's house.”168 The right of Greene's wing was drawn by the sound of the fighting and headed right into it.
Before getting to Cliveden, however, Woodford's men did encounter some British troops, probably from the picket post on the Abington Road, who fled. “While rapidly pursuing the flying enemy, Woodford's brigade, which was on the right of this wing, was arrested by a heavy fire from Chew's house, directed against its right flank,” Capt. John Marshall of the 15th Virginia Regiment stated. “The inefficiency of musketry against troops thus sheltered being instantly perceived, the brigade was drawn off to the left by its commanding officer, and the field-pieces attached to it were ordered up to play on the house, but were too light to be of service.”169
Four guns attached to Woodford's Brigade were now firing on the back of Cliveden, while Proctor's four guns continued firing on the front. One 6-pound ball knocked a hole through the back wall above the large window of the grand staircase. Another ball “started,” or partially caved in the back wall in another place.170 Built of stucco-covered rubble, this wall and the side walls were not as strong as the front façade. Had the cannon fire been concentrated on them instead of the front, it might have changed the course of events.
The back door was blown open by the artillery, and “a strong Body attempted storming it,” Lieutenant Wetherall of the 17th Light Company wrote, “but tho’ some of the Bravest got to the Doors & Windows & the Cannon having forc'd both the Front & Back Door yet Col. Musgrave defended himself with so much Resolution & animated his People with so much Gallantry that they again fasten'd the Doors & from the Windows kept up so well a directed fire that finally the Rebels were repuls'd with great Slaughter.”171
Though obviously proud of Musgrave's performance, many British officers were astonished by the intense determination of the Continentals. “The Enemy made a considerable impression upon the center of our Line where they directed their Principal Attack,” Capt. Richard Fitzpatrick of the Guards wrote, “and would have penetrated still further had it not been
for the Gallantry & quickness of Col. Musgrave (a brother of Sr. William's) who threw himself with about a 100 Men into a house in the village of German Town, which he defended near two hours, though attacked with the most desperate courage on every side, & though both the Doors were broke open by cannon shot; this however stopped the progress of the Enemy's column & gave time for other troops to advance to his support.”172
Solid shot and grapeshot riddled the house on three sides, passing over the roof and through the windows. Being a classic example of Georgian architecture, most of Cliveden's windows were arranged symmetrically around the house, and some Continental cannonballs managed to fly through windows on one side and out the other, landing among their own troops. This situation accounts for some American reports stating that the British in the house possessed artillery and were firing it out the windows. “The body of smoke from the firing, absolutely prevented our seeing the enemy till they had advanced close upon us,” Pickering noted in his journal. “This also prevented the two wings, and even the different brigades of the same wing, from seeing each other and cooperating in the best manner; nay, I am persuaded they sometimes fired on each other, particularly at Chew's house, where the left wing supposed the cannon-balls fired by the right at the house came from the enemy.”173 Musgrave's troops may well have possessed an amusette or two, large muskets also called “wall guns” or “wall Pieces,” which fired 1-inch balls several hundred yards and technically qualified as light artillery. The British Light Infantry and the Jägers were equipped with amusettes, and Musgrave may also have been so equipped.
Sullivan's Division was well beyond Cliveden, out of sight west of the high street, and after receiving orders from Washington to slow down the rate of fire, the general ordered a halt. His left flank was wide open, and Wayne was nowhere to be heard, let alone seen. “It does not appear that there was any concert between the divisions during the day,” John Eager Howard wrote later. “Nominally Wayne might be considered as under his [Sullivan's] command,” the Marylander explained as well as anyone could, trying to figure out just what went wrong, “but I believe Wayne was not under his orders on that day.”
After bypassing Cliveden without halting, the Marylanders moved on “to the rear of several stone houses, four or five hundred yards to an orchard, where we were halted by Colonel Hazen, fifteen or twenty minutes or more,” Howard noted. It would appear from this statement that Hazen was the acting brigade commander of the 2nd Maryland Brigade, for there were no generals other than Sullivan with the entire division. “We were halted so long that our men sat down some time, being greatly fatigued by having been on their feet from seven o'clock the preceding evening.”
The left of the main British camp was nearly half a mile ahead, just beyond the Indian Queen Lane, where the 3rd and 4th British Brigades led by Maj. Gen. Charles Grey were positioned. To their left, stretching to the heights above the Falls of Schuylkill, was Maj. Gen. Daniel Stirn's Hessian Brigade and the Grenadier Battalion von Minnegerode. Alerted earlier by Grant and now by the gunfire, Grey ordered his division to form up in the fields between the Indian Queen Lane and the School House Lane, two parallel roads 500 yards apart, running between the Germantown High Street and the Schuylkill. The troops massed in the fields in front of their camp, with the village and the Germantown Academy, a substantial, two-story stone building, on their right. “Whilst we were halted the British army were formed in the school house lane directly in our front, six or seven hundred yards from us,” Howard recalled, “but owing to the denseness of the fog, which had greatly increased after the commencement of the action, we could not see them.”174
Across the high street and several hundred yards away, Wayne's troops continued forward, though the noise from the fighting behind them at Cliveden was a source of growing concern. “A wind-mill attack was made on a house into which six light companies had thrown themselves to avoid our bayonets,” Wayne later wrote, alluding to Don Quixote's gallant, wrong-headed attack on a windmill perceived as a monster. “The enemy were broke, dispersed, and flying in all quarters,” he told Polly, conveniently omitting that it was only the outposts. Wayne continued with outlandish exaggeration, “We were in possession of their whole encampment, together with their artillery park, etc.” His troops had moved ahead several hundred yards, clambering over one fence after another and hardly firing at all, relying instead on the bayonet. But now, with the bombardment at Cliveden intensifying, “our troops were deceived by this attack, taking it for something formidable.” Thinking that it was possibly a British counterattack, “they fell back to assist in what they deemed a serious matter.”175
Wayne's troops were now countermarching back toward Cliveden. Ahead of them, and on what was now their right, the other brigades in Greene's column were also moving forward—toward the British camp. McDougall's Brigade had been in the lead on the march, but at some point, probably in the deployment of the column, it ended up in the back. “The Left wing of our Army was Delayed much by General Greens being oblidged to Countermarch one of his Divisions before he could begin the attack as he found the Enemy were in a Situation very Different from what he had before been told,” Sullivan stated.176 Later, McDougall told Greene, “Those of your and Genl Stephens Divisions marched so brisk or ran to the charge that they were some minutes out of sight of my Brigade, altho we formed and marched immediately behind your division, when its rear passed the corner of the Fence where the new disposition was made.”177
Stephen's other troops were moving to the left of Woodford. The confusion in this wing became monumental; according to Capt. John Marshall, “the two brigades composing the division of Stephen were not only separated from each other, but from the other division which was led by General Greene in person. That division, consisting of the brigades of Muhlenberg and Scott, pressing forward with eagerness, encountered and broke a part of the British right wing, entered the village, and made a considerable number of prisoners.”178 Marshall was mistaken; Scott was in Stephen's Division, not Greene's, although it may well be that Scott was acting on his own at Germantown. “I am compelled to inform your Excellency, that General Scot has been an incumbrance to me for some time,” Stephen complained to Washington shortly after the battle. At Brandywine, according to Stephen, Scott refused to move troops until orders came from Washington himself; at the Battle of the Clouds, “Genl Scot Movd off with his Brigade without my knowledge tho’ present with the other Brigade.” Stephen claimed that he overlooked these acts of insubordination, hoping that “the least Reflexion would have brought him to Alter his Conduct.” Instead, Scott, the ungrateful wretch, “besides Aspersing me to your Excellency, goes through the Division alienating the Affection of the Officers,” Stephen claimed.179 A later inquiry and court-martial would prove just who was at fault.
Woodford's Brigade was the right wing of Stephen's Division, and while his artillery and some of his troops were stopped behind Cliveden, the rest apparently continued heading through the fog toward the right of the British camp somewhere up ahead. “The enemy had such fine cover from behind the houses that we must Suffered grately in beating them out,” Lt. Joseph Blackwell of the 3rd Virginia Regiment told his brother-in-law, Col. William Edmonds. “When we were advancing we saw a great many of the Enemy that lay dead on the field.” Blackwell was lightly wounded in the advance, telling Edmonds, “Got my Breeches cut Just by the knees with a bullet.”180
“About this time a Body of the Enemy Appeard in front of the Right of Genl Greens Division, & left of Mine,” Gen. Adam Stephen wrote. “I lead them on to the Attack—They advancd with great Chearfulness, and the Enemy were drove Back with their Artillery.” These British troops may have been the 5th and 55th Regiments, coming up from Grant's Division towards Cliveden to support the 2nd Light Infantry Battalion. “I calld to them ‘give them the Bayonet!’” Stephen asserted. “Upon hearing this, The Enemy Officers on horse back rode to their Rear out of Sight; Many of their Men running After them; whilst a party Run t
owards our troop crying Quarters.”181
As Stephen's men moved forward, a dark mass of troops in tight ranks with fixed bayonets suddenly loomed ahead, steadily coming toward them. The Virginians halted, took aim, and fired a volley into the right flank of the 2nd Pennsylvania Brigade in Wayne's Division countermarching back toward Cliveden. Wayne's men returned fire, and then began to unravel from the right. “Our people, mistaking one another for the enemy, frequently exchanged shots before they discovered their error,” Wayne wrote.182 Unable to see or distinguish any landmarks, or even tell in which direction they were headed, as the sun was not visible, the normal confusion of battle was immeasurably increased for these troops. “At this flattering Juncture a large Corps dressed in blue, mistaking the Enemy who had Surrendered, for a party coming up to Charge them as I suppose—Took the Start,” and began to run, according to Stephen. “I hollowerd from the front that they were running from Victory, & hastend to them, to Stop but to no Purpose.”183
Having about-faced, Lt. Col. Adam Hubley's 10th Pennsylvania Regiment in the 1st Pennsylvania Brigade, which had been on the right of Wayne's Division going into battle, was now on the left. “We on the left cannot Account for, but thro’ some mistake & without orders, altho’ they [the 2nd Pennsylvania Brigade, now on the right] were in as fair a way of success as we were on the left, began to break and retreat towards us, which threw our Men in Confusion also.” Stephen's troops were the cause, hitting Wayne hard and unexpectedly. “The whole began their Retreat,” Hubley scribbled in frustration, “no body knowing the cause of it, untill we arriv'd about three Mile, beyond Germantown, when we halted.” Of all the foul-ups; Hubley wrote, “There we found that the…Wing, under General Green, took our men…who were advancing on & driving the Enemy before them (the Morning being so exceeding hasy, no distingusion could be made between us) for the Enemy and caused them to retreat, as the body advancing seem'd very large.”184