CHAPTER IV. Measures taken to prevent a communication between the British army in Philadelphia and their fleet....Royal army attacked at Germantown....The Americans repulsed.... Measures taken by general Washington for cutting off supplies from Philadelphia....Attack upon fort Mifflin.... Attack upon Red Bank....Colonel Donop killed, and his party repulsed with considerable loss.... The Augusta frigate blows up....General Washington takes post at White Marsh....Fort Mifflin evacuated, and possession taken by the British....Fort Mercer evacuated....A picket of the enemy attacked and driven in with loss....The British succeed in opening a free communication with their fleet....Attempt by general Dickenson to surprise Skinner's brigade. 1777. taken to IT having been at length determined no longer to oppose the entrance of the British into Phi- September. ladelphia, the first attention of the American Measures general was immediately directed towards dis- prevent a abling sir William Howe from holding that the British place, by rendering the passage of the Dela- Philadelphia ware up to it impracticable. With this design the AmericansTM had erected works and batteries upon a flat, low, marshy island, or rather a bank of mud and sand, which had been accumulated in the Delaware near the junction of the Schuylkill, and which from its nature was called Mud, but from these defences, Fort island. On the opposite shore in Annual Register. communication between army in and their fleet CHAP. IV. of New Jersey, at a place called Red Bank, they 1777. had also constructed a fort or redoubt, well covered with heavy artillery. In the deep navigable channel between, or under cover of these batteries, they had sunk several ranges of frames, or machines, to which, from the resemblance in construction, they had given the name of chevaux-de-frize, being composed of transverse beams, firmly united, pointed in various directions and strongly headed with iron. These were of such a weight and strength, and sunk in such a depth of water as rendered them equally difficult to be weighed or cut through, and destructive to any ship which had the misfortune of striking against them. No attempts for raising them, or for opening the channel in any manner, could, however, be made until the command of the shores on both sides was fully obtained. About three miles lower down the river they had sunk other ranges of these machines, and were constructing for their protection some considerable and extensive works, which though not yet finished were in such forwardness as to be provided with artillery, and to command their object, at a place on the Jersey side called Billingsport. These works, and machines were further supported by several gallies mounting heavy cannon, together with two floating batteries, a number of armed vessels " Annual Register. and small craft of various kinds, and some fire CHAP. IV. ships. It had been impracticable for the commander in chief, to attend personally to these works, and they were entirely incomplete. The present relative situation of the armies gave them a decisive importance. If they could be maintained, they cut off the communication of general Howe with his fleet, and prevented his receiving supplies by water. The American vessels in the river above fort Mifflin, the name given to the fort on Mud island, rendered it extremely difficult for him to forage in Jersey, or to draw any provisions from that state. General Washington with the continental army hoped to be able so to cut off his supplies on the side of Pennsylvania, as to compel him in a short time to evacuate Philadelphia. Inexecution of this plan, the baron D'Arendt, a German officer of experience, was selected for the command of fort Mifflin; but he being disabled by sickness from engaging in this service, the command devolved on lieutenant colonel Samuel Smith of Maryland, who had been detached thither with between two and three hundred continental troops; and measures were taken to expedite, as much as possible, the march of the re-enforcements expected both from the north and south. The advantages to be derived from this situ ation were considerably diminished by the 1777. CHAP. IV. capture of the Delaware frigate, the largest 1777. then in the river above fort Mifflin. Sept. 27. Sept. 28. The day after lord Cornwallis had entered Philadelphia, three batteries were commenced for the purpose of acting against any American shipping which might appear before the town. Before their completion they were attacked by two frigates, assisted by several gallies, and gondolas. The Delaware, being left by the tide while engaged with the battery, grounded and was obliged to strike: soon after which, the smaller frigate and the other vessels retired under the guns of the fort. This circumstance was rendered material by its giving the enemy the entire command of the ferry, and consequently free access to the Jersey shore, while it intercepted the communication between the forks below, and Trenton, from whence garrisons were to have been supplied with military stores. All the re-enforcements which had been expected, except the state regiment and militia from Virginia, were now arrived. They consisted of about nine hundred continental troops from Peck's-kill under general M'Dougal; about six hundred militia from Jersey under general Forman; (general Dickenson having been detained by the apprehension of a second invasion from New York,) and about eleven hundred from Maryland under general Smallwood. All the detached parties being called Sept. 30. in, the present strength of the army in rank CHAP.IV. and file, fit for duty, amounted to eight thou- 1777. sand continental troops, and three thousand militia. With this force it was determined to approach the enemy, encamp within about twelve miles of them, and seize the first favourable moment to attack them. In conse. quence of this determination, the army took a position on the Skippack road, about twenty miles from Philadelphia, and sixteen from Germantown. This is a long village stretching on both sides the great road to the northward, which forms a continued street nearly two miles in length. The line of encampment of the British army crossed this village at right angles somewhat to the south of the centre; the left wing extending on the west, from the town to the Schuylkill. That wing was covered in front and flank, by the mounted and dismounted German chasseurs. A battalion of light infantry and the queen's American rangers were in the front of the right; and the 40th regiment with another battalion of infantry, were posted at the head of the village. Lord Cornwallis with four regiments of grenadiers was in Philadelphia. The object, to which the attention of general Howe was now most particularly directed, was the security of his late acquisition, by remov • Annual Register. |