The journals of Major Samuel Shaw

3 January 1777

Battle of Princeton

CHAPTER II.

— His Indignation at the Conduct of the Militia.- — Capture of Fort Washington by the British. — Account of the Battle of Princeton IS

OF PRINCETON.

OF PRINCETON.

MEMOIR. 29

" You have without doubt heard of our success at Trenton.* Our army lay in the town two days. On the third day, about noon, we were alarmed by the enemy advancing, and in about two hours they came up from Princeton and drove our advanced guards into Trenton. Our people on this retreated from the thick- est of the town over a bridge, and waited for the enemy to ap- proach ; but night coming on put a stop to any thing further being done at that time. In the mean while the General came to a resolution of stealing a march upon the enemy, and attacking their troops, which were left behind at Princeton, about eleven miles by a back road. We began our march about midnight, which was performed with so much secrecy that the enemy knew nothing of it till the next morning discovered that we were gone, and the first news they had of us was our beating up their quarters at Princeton. We killed, wounded, and took about five hundred of them at that place. This, with our taking the Hessians, has given our affairs quite a different turn, so that the militia are embodying in all parts of the Jerseys, and appear determined to have satisfaction for the injuries they have sus- tained from the enemy. I had the pleasure of being in both actions, and can truly say, I think it impossible for any troops to behave better than ours did ; only at Princeton the militia, who had never seen any action, were a little skittish at first, but after that behaved very w^ell. We are under very little apprehension from the enemy at present, as they seem very much panic- struck ; and in so great haste were they to get to a place of security, that they did not stay long enough at Princeton to take care of their wounded.

VANIA.

" Since I did myself the pleasure of writing to you, our affairs have taken not only a fortunate, but a very surprising turn, the good effects whereof we now enjoy. It might perhaps be £is tedious as it is unnecessary for me to point out particulars, as the actions at Trenton, and afterwards at Princeton, are so generally known. We have had, and still continue to have, more or less skirmishing every two or three days with the enemy's foraging parties, in which, for the most part, we get the better; so that they do not pretend to come out now under twelve or fifteen hundred strong. This method of fighting I believe will not be long in vogue ; for those military gentry have a great aversion to the entertainment they receive on such occasions, it being more agreeable to the genius of their army to move in a body, than to venture out in detachments. Of this we were very near having fatal experience, while we lay at Trenton, after crossing the Delaware a second time, when the enemy advanced from Princeton, with a superior force, nearly double of ours. Our out-guards were repulsed, and the enemy entered one part of the town, while we remained in possession of the other. There was now only a small branch of

4 October 1777

Battle of Germantown

BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN. DISAFFECTION OF PENNSYL-

BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN. DISAFFECTION OF PENNSYL- VANIA.

MEMOIR. 43

" Since the action at Germantown, nothing very material has taken place between the two armies, excepting the affair at Red Bank, and the operations in the river. Fort Mifflin has at length, after a most gallant resistance, been evacuated ; though not till its block-houses were levelled, the works torn to pieces, and all its cannon dismounted by the exceeding heavy fire of the enemy's batteries and shipping. The noble defence of that place has been the means of keeping the enemy out of the river with their fleet, till the season has got too far advanced for them to weigh the chevaux-de-frise. This will render their stay in Philadelphia inconvenient, if not dangerous. It is with the most sensible affliction I must here mention the loss of a friend, almost as near as a brother, — the brave, the amiable, the mod- est Captain Treat, who was killed by a cannon-ball while de- fending his post with an intrepidity that would have done honor to an old soldier. Surely, if real merit and true courage, joined with the greatest benevolence of heart, and a most ardent desire to promote the good of his country, could ' shield one mortal from the shaft of death,' the deceased hero, who possessed those qualities in an eminent degree, had yet remained. Unrelenting war! that, without distinction, layest in the same dust the coward and the brave ! I pity, — from my soul I pity, his dis- tressed mother, who, by this severe stroke, has lost the staff and comfort of her age. May Heaven afford her that support and consolation of which she must stand so greatly in need ! "

CHARACTER.

Major Shaw, while absent on the preceding voyage, had given orders for a ship to be built, expressly for the China trade, on his account, at a point of land in the town of Q,uincy, called Germantown. At that period the building of a ship of the burden of eight or nine hundred tons, larger than any merchant vessel before built in the United States, was a subject of great interest to the commercial community. After his return the ship was launched, in September, 1789, and was named the Massachusetts. On this interesting occasion the hills around Germantown, and the boats which covered the harbour and river, were filled with spectators from Bos- ton and the neighbouring country. Both English and French naval commanders, at that time visiting Boston in national ships, expressed their admiration of the model of this vessel ; and it was afterwards pronounced, by na- val commanders at Batavia and Canton, " as perfect as the then state of the art would permit."

17 January 1781

Battle of Cowpens

CHAPTER Vn.

Revolt of the Pennsylvania Line. — The French Army under Ro- chambeau. — Battle near the Cowpens. — Revolt in the New Jersey Line. — A Subaltern's Outfit in the American Army. — Impositions on the Army, and the Injustice done to its Soldiers by the States. — Chevalier Mauduit du Plessis 84

DER KOCHAMBEAU. BATTLE NEAR THE COWPENS. — REVOLT

REVOLT OF THE PENNSYLVANIA LINE. THE FRENCH ARMY UN- DER KOCHAMBEAU. BATTLE NEAR THE COWPENS. — REVOLT