fS 2 
A M*' ERIC A,. 
general P re foot, fflio was feized in Ills quarters with his 
.aid-de-camp, in much the fame manner as general Lee had 
been. 'I'his was exceedingly mortifying to the general 
iiimfelf, as he had not long-before fet a price upon gene¬ 
ral Arnold, by offering a turn of money to any one that 
apprehended him ; winch the latter anfwered, hv fetting 
* lower price upon general Prefcot. 
The month .of July was far advanced before the prepa¬ 
rations for the expedition againft Philadelphia were com¬ 
pleted ; and it was the 23d before the fleet was able to 
fail from Sandy Ilook. The force employed in this expe¬ 
dition confided of thirty-fix battalions of Brit ilk and hef- 
fians, a regiment of light horfe, and a body of lovalifls 
.railed at New York. The.remainder of fhefe, with feven- 
tcen battalions, and another body of light horfe, were (ra¬ 
tioned at New York, under Sir Henry Clinton. Seven 
^battalions were .Rationed, at Rhode Illand. After a week’s 
.failing, they arrived at the mouth of the Delaware; when 
they received certain intelligence, that the navigation of 
the river was fo .effectually obfmicted, that no pollibility 
iof forcing a paflage -remained. Upon this, it was refolved 
to proceed farther foudiward, to Chefapeak Bav, in Mary¬ 
land, from whence the diftance to Philadelphia was not 
very great, and where the provincial army would find iefs 
.advantage, .from the nature of the country, than in the 
Jerfeys. .On the news of their arrival in Chefapeak, ge¬ 
neral Washington left the Jerfeys, and haftened to tlie re¬ 
lief of Philadelphia; and, in the beginning of September, 
met the royal army at Brandy-wine Creek, about mid¬ 
day, between the head of the Elk and Philadelphia. Here 
he adhered to his former method of Ikirmifhing and ha- 
vafling the royal army on its march ; but, as this proved 
infufficient to flop it's progrefs, he retired to that fide, of 
the creek next to Philadelphia, with an intent to difpute 
the paffage. This brought on a general engagement, on 
the 11 th of September, in which the Americans were de¬ 
feated ; and it was only through the approach of night 
that they were faved from being entirely deftroyed. On 
this occafion, the provincials loft about 1000 in killed and 
wounded, befides 400 taken prifoners. 
The lofs of this battle proved alfo the lofs of Philadel¬ 
phia. General Wafhington retired towards Lancafter, an 
inland town at a confiderable diftance. Here the Britifli 
general took fuch rneafures as mull have forced the pro¬ 
vincials to a fecond engagement, but a violent rain, which 
Lifted a day and a night, prevented his defign. General 
Wafhington, though he could not prevent the lofs of Phi¬ 
ladelphia, ftill adhered to his original plan of diftrefling the 
royal party, by laying ambuflies, and cutting off detached 
parties: but in this he was lefs fuccefsful than formerly; 
and one of his own detachments, which lay in ambufh in 
a wood, were themfelves furprifed and entirely defeated, 
with the lofs of 300 killed and wounded, befides a great 
number taken, and all their arms and baggage. 
General Howe, now perceiving that the Americans 
would not rifle another battle, even for the fake of their 
capital, took peaceable pu'fleflion of it on the 26th of Sep¬ 
tember. His firft care was then to cut off, by means of 
ftrong batteries, the communication between the upper 
and lower parts of the river: which was.executed, not- 
withftanding the oppofition of foine American armed 
-velTels; one of which, carrying 36 guns, was taken. His 
next tafk was to open a communication with it by fea ; 
and this was a work of no fmall difficulty. A vaft number 
of batteries and forts had been erected, and immenfe ma¬ 
chines, formed like ckevaux de fuze, from whence they 
took their name, funk in thy river to prevent its naviga¬ 
tion. As the fleet was fent round to the mouth of the 
river, in order to co-operHte with the army, this work, 
however difficult, was accomplifhed ; nor did the provin¬ 
cials give much oppofition, well knowing that all places 
.of this kind were now untenable. General Wafhington, 
however, took the advantage of the royal army being di¬ 
vided, to attack the camp of the principal diviflon of it, 
■ihat lay at German-town, in the pcighbourhood of Phila¬ 
delphia. In this he met with very little fuccefs; for, 
though he reached tire place of deftination by three o’clock 
in the morning, the patroles had time to call the troops to' 
arms. The Americans made a very refolute attack ; but 
they were received with fuch bravery, that they were 
compelled to abandon the attempt, and retreat in great 
dif order; with the advantage, however, ofcarrying off their 
cannon, though purfued for a confiderable way, after ha¬ 
ving 360 killed, 600 wounded, and upwards of 400 taken 
prifoners, among whom were fifty-four officers. On the 
Britifh fide, the lofs amounted to 430 wounded and prifo¬ 
ners, and 70 killed ; among which were general Agnevv 
and colonel Bird, with fome other excellent-officers. 
There ftill remained two ftrong forts on the Delaware to 
be reduced. Thefe were Mud Ifland and Red Bank. The 
various obftruftions which the Americans had thrown in 
the way rendered it necelfary to bring up the Augufta, a 
fill ip of the line, and the Merlin frigate, to the attack of 
Mud Ifland ; but, during the heat of the action, both 
v.ere grounded. Upon this, the Americans fent down four 
fire-fhips, and directed the whole fire from their galleys 
againft them. The former were rendered ineffectual by 
the courage and (kill of the Britifli feainen ; but, during 
the engagement, both the Augufta and Merlin took fire, 
and were burnt to afttes, and the other fhip? obliged to 
withdraw. The enemy, encouraged by this unfuccefsful 
attempt, proceeded to throw new obftruttions in the way; 
but the Britifh general having found means to convey a 
number of* cannon, and to erect batteries within a gun- 
fliot of the fort, by land, and bringing up three lliips of 
the line which mounted heavy cannon, the garrifon, after 
making a vigorous defence for one day, perceiving that 
preparations were making for a general affiuilt on the next, 
abandoned the place in the night. Thofe who defended 
Red Bank followed their example, and abandoned it on 
the approach of lord Cornwallis. A great number of thef' 
American (hipping, finding themfelves entirely deftitute 
of any protection, failed up the river in the night-time. 
Seventeen remained, whofe retreat was intercepted by a 
frigate and fome armed velfels ; on which the Americans 
ran them afhore and burnt them, to prevent their falling 
into the enemy’s hands. 
Thus the campaign of 1777, in Pennfylvania, concluded 
fuccefsfully on the part of the Britifh. In the north, how¬ 
ever, matters wore a different afpect. The expedition in 
that quarter had been projected by the Britifh miniftry, as 
the molt effectual method that could be taken tocrufh the 
colonies at once. The four provinces of New England 
had originally begun the confederacy againft Britain, and 
they were ftill confidered as the molt active in the conti¬ 
nuation of it ; and it was thought, that any impreffion 
made upon them would contribute in an effectual manner 
to the reduction of tlie reft. For this purpofe, an army of 
4000 chofen Britifh troops, and 3000 Germans, were put 
under the command of general Burgoyne: general Carle- 
ton was directed to life Ills intereft with the Indians to 
perfuade them to aflift in this expedition ; and the pro¬ 
vince of Quebec was to furnifti large parties to join in the 
fame. The officers who commanded under general Bur- 
goyne were, general Philips of the artillery, generals Fra- 
fer, Powell, and Hamilton; with the German officers, ge¬ 
nerals Reidefel and Speecht. To aid the principal ex¬ 
pedition, another was projected on the Mohawk river, 
under colonel St. Leger, who was to be affifted by Sir John 
Johnfon, fon to the famous Sir William johnfon, who had 
fo greatly diftinguifhed himfelf in tlie war of 1755. 
On the 21 ft of June, 1777, tlie army encamped on tlie 
weftern fide of the Lake Champlain; where, being joined 
by a confiderable body of Indians, general Burgoyne made 
a fpeech, in which he exhorted thefe new allies to lay alide 
their ferocious and barbarous manner of making war; to 
kill Only fuch as oppofed them in arms ; and to fpare pri¬ 
foners, with fuch women and children as fhould fall into 
their hands. After iffuing a proclamation, in which the 
force of Britain, and that Which ife commanded, was fet 
it forth 
