XVIII. 1777. relinquish this advantageous station, but in vain. BOOK A feint was made of leaving the American army in the rear, and marching directly to the Delawar; but the American FABIUS was not to be deceived. "Had their design," said he, in his letter of the 17th of June, "been in the first instance to cross the Delawar, they would probably have made a straight rapid march towards it, and not have halted as they have done to awaken our attention, and give us time to make every preparation for obstructing them." At length general Howe decamped suddenly in the night of the 20th, and retreated to Brunswick "I am inclined to believe," says general Washington in his dispatch of the same date, "that general Howe's return thus suddenly made, must have been in consequence of the information he received, that the people were in and flying to arms in every quarter to oppose him." On the 22d he fell back to Amboy, being much harrassed in his whole line of march by the advanced parties of the enemy. General Washington himself, quitting his strong camp at Middlebrook, moved with his army to Quibble-town, that he might be nearer the royal forces, and might act according to circumstances. The English commander, who had actually thrown a bridge over the channel which separates the continent from Staten Island, and part of whose XVIII. 1777. BOOK troops had already past over, now made a ra✔pid march by different routes back into the Jerseys, in the hope of surprising general Washington at Quibble-town; but on the first intelligence of this movement, the American general, penetrating the design, re-possessed himself of his former strong position at Middlebrook :-and knowing that lord Cornwallis, at the head of a strong detached corps, was advancing by a circuitous route to the right, he fortified the passes of the mountains on that side of his camp; so that lord Cornwallis, who had defeated in his march a considerable body of the enemy under lord Sterling, and who hoped to have co-operated with general Howe by securing the passes in the rear, was compelled reluctantly to retire. The whole plan of attack being thus frustrated, general Howe came to a second and final resolution of evacuating the Jerseys; and, in both his retreats, such havoc, spoil, and ruin, were made by the forces under his personal inspection and command, as were well calculated to obviate the suspicion that any secret partiality to America yet remained in the breast of the English general. A great part of the summer had now elapsed, and the primary object of the campaign had proved wholly abortive. In vindication of the conduct of sir William Howe it was alleged, XVIIL 1777. that to bring the enemy to action was impos- BOOK sible; and to advance to the Delawar, through a country entirely hostile, and with such a force in his rear, would be no better than madness. But if so, the war itself was evidently no better than madness, as these difficulties were precisely such as they had every reason previously to expect. Another project, however, was now to be tried, and preparations were made for a grand naval expedition. On the 23d of July the whole army, leaving only a sufficient force for the defence of New York, embarked on board the fleet, and after a long and tedious voyage, as might be expected from the periodical prevalence of the southerly winds, the troops were landed at Elk Ferry, at the head of Chesapeak Bay. General Washington, who after being for many weeks kept in anxious suspense as to the destination of the British army, had recently passed the Delawar*, upon this intelligence took possession of the heights on the eastern side of the river Brandywine, which * "The Amazing advantage the enemy derive from their ships and the command of the water, keeps us in a state of constant perplexity and the most anxious conjecture. We are not yet informed of their destination, nor can any plausible conclusions be drawn respecting it. What renders the matter still more difficult and confused, is their extreme inactivity and delay."Vide Washington's Letters, (July 25.) XVIII. 1777. BOOK falls into the Delawar below Philadelphia, with an intention to dispute the passage. By daybreak on the 11th of September the British army advanced in two columns: the right, commanded by general Knyphausen, marching directly to Chad's Ford; and the other column, under lord Cornwallis, taking a circuit to the left, in order to cross the forks of the Brandywine, and attack the enemy on the right flank. Both were in a considerable degree successful; the first after a severe conflict forcing the passage of the ford, and the latter surprising and totally discomfiting the brigades commanded by Sullivan, which composed the right wing of the American army. The approach of night prevented the royal army from pursuing its advantages, and the loss of the Americans did not exceed thirteen hundred men in killed, wounded, and prisoners, to which that of the British bore a very large proportion. The marquis de la Fayette, a young French nobleman, who had recently entered as a volunteer into the American service, and count Pulawski, a native of Poland, distinguished themselves by their gallantry on this occasion. General Washington, on the disaster of Brandywine, retreated towards Philadelphia; but on the advance of general Howe, not deeming it expedient so soon to risk a second engagement, he withdrew, and the English 1 XVIII. 1777. army passed the Schuylkil without opposition; BOOK and on the 26th of September general Howe entered Philadelphia in triumph, the congress having previously removed their sittings to York town in Virginia. About the same time a detached corps of Americans, commanded by general Wayne, was surprised and totally routed by major-general Grey, at the head of two regiments and a body of light-infantry. The attack being made with fixed bayonets, the execution was terrible. No sooner was it known to lord Howe that the English army was in possession of Philadelphia, than he moved round with the fleet from the Chesapeak to the Delawar, the navigation of which the Americans had endeavoured to render impracticable by works and batteries constructed on a low marshy island, formed near the junction of the Delawar and the Schuylkil; and on the opposite shore, by a strong fort erected at a place called Red Bank. Across the midchannel they had in various parts sunk vast machines, composed of transverse beams firmly united and pointing in various directions, strongly headed with iron, to which, from the resemblance of form, the appellation was given of chevauxde-frize. The head-quarters of the army at this time were at a place called German-town, six miles from Philadelphia-the encampment cross |