218 HISTORY OV 



"The buildings are singular, and of very ancient 

 architecture; all the outwalls being covered with shin- 

 gles, or clapboards. The two houses, for the brethren 

 and sisters, are very large, being tliree and four stories 

 high : each has a chapel for their night meetings, and 

 the main buildings are divided into small apartments, 

 each containing between fifty and sixty, so that six 

 dormitories, which are barely large enough to contain a 

 cot (in early days a bench, and billet of wood for the 

 head) a closet and an hour glass surrounded a common 

 room, in which each subdivision pursued their respec- 



no more ; the spot it occupied is still pointed out to the casual 

 visitor, by the courteous inhabitants of Ephrata. 



A few days after the battle of Brandywine had been fought, 

 September 11, 1777, four or five hundred of the wounded 

 soldiers were taken to Ephrata, and placed in the Hospital.— 

 Doctors Yerkel, Scott and Harrison, were the attending 

 surgeons and physicians. The wounds and camp fever, 

 baffled their skill : one hundred and fifty of the soldiers died 

 here ; they were principally from the Eastern States, and 

 Pennsylvania, and a tew British, who had deserted and joined 

 the American Army. "The first of them that died here, was 

 buried by the honors of war ; a funeral sermon, preached by 

 one of their own number, appointed for that purpose. This 

 practice was continued for some time, till they began to drop 

 off too rapidly to allow time for the performance of the cere- 

 mony, when every thing of the kind was dispensed with." 



The place where they rest, is enclosed ; and for many years, 

 a board, with this inscription : 



was placed over the gate of the enclosure. The board, with 

 the inscription, is no more. Measures are now, upon sugges- 

 tion of Joseph Konigmachei'^ Esq., and many of his fellow 

 citizens, taken to raise a plain and durable monument, to 

 rescue from oblivion, and perpetuate the memories of the 

 entombed soldiers, who were wounded at Brandywine, and died 

 at Ephrata. 



