The Life of George Washington, Vol. 3 | Page 3

were stationed in that part of the country.
[Sidenote: March 23.]
General Washington had given early intelligence of this expedition to

Governor Livingston; and had requested that he would immediately
order out the militia to join Colonel Shreve, whose regiment was
detached into Jersey; but the legislature had neglected to make
provision for paying them; and the governor could not bring them into
the field. Colonel Shreve, on his arrival at Haddonfield, the place at
which they had been directed to assemble, found less than one hundred
men. Colonel Ellis, their commanding officer, remarked, in a letter to
the governor, that "without some standing force, little was to be
expected from the militia, who, being alone not sufficient to prevent the
incursions of the enemy, each one naturally consults his own safety, by
not being found in arms."
Mawhood, of course, was unrestrained; and the devastation committed
by his party was wantonly distressing. Its course of destruction was
preceded by a summons to Colonel Hand, the commanding officer of
the militia, to lay down his arms, which was accompanied with a threat
of the consequences to result from his refusal. This threat was too
faithfully executed.
After completing his forage, without molestation, Mawhood returned to
Philadelphia. During the continuance of this incursion, which lasted six
or seven days, not more than two hundred men could be collected to
reinforce Colonel Shreve, who was consequently unable to effect any
thing, and did not even march to the lower parts of Jersey, which were
plundered without restraint.[1]
[Footnote 1: See note No. I. at the end of the volume.]
[Sidenote: May 1.]
Not long after this incursion into Jersey, an enterprise was undertaken
against General Lacy, who, with a small number of Pennsylvania
militia, seldom amounting to six hundred, and sometimes not
exceeding fifty, watched the roads leading to Philadelphia on the north
side of the Schuylkill, and was generally posted within twenty miles of
that town.
[Sidenote: General Lacy surprised.]

This expedition was entrusted to Colonel Abercrombie and Major
Simcoe, who avoided all the posts Lacy had established for his security,
and threw a body of troops into his rear before he discovered their
approach. After a short resistance, he escaped with the loss of a few
men killed, and all his baggage. His corps were entirely dispersed, and
he was soon afterwards relieved by General Potter.
To maintain the command of the water as far as was practicable,
congress had ordered impediments to be sunk in many of the rivers of
common use, so as to obstruct the passage up them, and had
constructed frigates, and other smaller vessels, to be employed above
those impediments or elsewhere, as the occasion might require. Several
of them had been commenced above Philadelphia, but were not
completed when the British obtained the command of the river. General
Washington then became apprehensive for their safety, and repeatedly
expressed his desire that they should be sunk in such a manner as to be
weighed with difficulty, should any attempt be made to raise them. The
persons, however, who were entrusted by congress with this business,
supposed it would be equally secure to put plugs in their bottoms,
which might be drawn out on the approach of danger.
Against these vessels, and some stores collected at Bordentown, an
expedition was planned which ended in their total destruction. General
Dickenson was in the neighbourhood, but his force was too small to
interrupt the execution of the design; and General Maxwell, who had
been ordered to his assistance, was retarded in his march by a heavy
rain, which did not obstruct the movement of the British, who passed
up the river in vessels.
[Sidenote: May 18.]
To cover the country more effectually on the north of the Schuylkill, to
form an advance guard for the security of the main army, and to be in
readiness to annoy the rear of the enemy, should he evacuate
Philadelphia, an event believed to be in contemplation, General
Washington detached the Marquis de Lafayette, with more than two
thousand choice troops, to take post near the lines. As this corps formed
a very valuable part of the army, the Commander-in-chief

recommended in his instructions to General Lafayette the utmost
attention to its safety; and, particularly, to avoid any permanent station,
as a long continuance in one position would facilitate the execution of
measures which might be concerted against him.
[Sidenote: Attempt on Lafayette at Barren Hill.]
The Marquis crossed the Schuylkill and took post near Barren Hill
church, eight or ten miles in front of the army. Immediate notice[2] of
his arrival was given to Sir William Howe, who reconnoitred his
position, and formed a plan to surprise and cut him off.
[Footnote 2: General Wilkinson, in his memoirs, says that this notice
was given