Historic Waynesborough

On October 26, 1775, King George III spoke before both houses of British Parliament to discuss growing concern about the rebellion in America, which he viewed as a traitorous action against himself and Great Britain. He began his speech by reading a Proclamation of Rebellion and urged Parliament to move quickly to end the revolt and bring order to the colonies. The king spoke of his belief that many of these unhappy people may still retain their loyalty, and may be too wis...e not to see the fatal consequence of this usurpation, and wish to resist it, yet the torrent of violence has been strong enough to compel their acquiescence, till a sufficient force shall appear to support them. With these words, the king gave Parliament his consent to dispatch troops to use against his own subjects, a notion that his colonists believed impossible. Exactly one year later on October 26, 1776, one month to the day after being named an agent of a diplomatic commission by the Continental Congress, Benjamin Franklin set sail from Philadelphia for France to negotiate and secure a formal alliance and treaty. While deftly moving in French high society and meeting influencers, Franklin pushed for a formal alliance. France had been secretly supporting the Patriot cause with shipments of war supplies, but not until the Battle of Saratoga in October 1777 did the French think American victory in the war was possible. The Treaty of Alliance signed in February 1778 - and subsequent aid in money, supplies, soldiers and sailors - was crucial to the Americans victory in the Revolutionary War.

Today in 1781 the British surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia. The American Revolution, with victory at Yorktown, was over. General Anthony Wayne and his Pennsylvanians had been in Virginia since early July, under the command of the Marquis de Lafayette. Their combined efforts at Green Springs Farm was a near disaster, but in the months to come, Wayne secured positions to help confine Cornwallis at Yorktown awaiting the combined forces of George Washington and the Comte de Roch...ambeau with 5,000 troops. By October 9th, Cornwallis and his army were pinned down near Yorktown. The French fleet of 24 ships, under Admiral Francois De Grasse, arrived with a sufficient number to drive off the British ships attempting to evacuate Cornwallis. On October 9, the shelling began with one hundred field guns firing away 24 hours per day. Wayne’s Pennsylvanians dug trenches, advancing toward Cornwallis’ line of defense, but did little else during the siege. Wayne had been wounded at Williamsburg by a sentry who did not recognize him as an American officer, which put Wayne out of commission for a while. The siege continued under the leadership of a combined Franco-American army, commanded by Washington and Rochambeau, until October 19th, the day that Cornwallis surrendered. Although Anthony Wayne’s wound was still painful, he was able to sit astride a horse to take part in the formal surrender. He is depicted in the John Trumbull painting with the American officers on the right side of the painting. Wayne is the officer on a white horse with a cockade on his tri-corn hat festooned with, possibly, ostrich feathers dyed red. This famous John Trumbull painting depicts the forces of British Major General Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis (1738-1805) (who was not actually at the surrender), surrendering to French and American forces after the Siege of Yorktown (September 28 October 19, 1781). The United States government commissioned Trumbull (himself a veteran of the Revolution) to paint patriotic paintings, including this piece, in 1817, paying for the piece in 1820. In 1780, needing money, Trumbull turned to art as a profession. He traveled to London, where upon introduction from Benjamin Franklin, Trumbull studied under Benjamin West. At West's suggestion, Trumbull painted small pictures of the War of Independence and miniature portraits. He painted about 250 in his lifetime.

History you will enjoy from other friends of Anthony Wayne.

On October 2nd, George Washington conceived a bold plan of attack on Howe's 9,000-troop garrison stationed in Germantown, just outside of Philadelphia (now part of Philadelphia County). It called for the simultaneous advance of four different units of troops moving by night on October 3rd. At dawn on October 4th the four columns were to converge not far from General Howe's headquarters and catch the British by surprise.It started well for the Americans as they had the Brit...ish retreating. But Washington's plan went awry when one of his four columns lost its bearings in dense fog and thick smoke. Other columns failed to coordinate effectively. The British defense was particularly strong at a Germantown mansion named Cliveden (pictured here) where dozens of soldiers had taken refuge. Valuable time was lost while the Americans under Henry Knox bombarded the house. Those inside did not surrender because they feared that Anthony Wayne's men, still furious over the Paoli Massacre, would kill them anyway. In the end, bad luck and poor timing forced Washington to retreat to nearby Whitemarsh with the British in pursuit. The Battle was an American defeat but it served to boost morale and self-confidence. They believed the defeat was the result of bad luck, not poor tactics. The Americans suffered 152 losses, 521 wounded, and over 400 captured. The British casualties numbered 537 plus 14 captured. Every year there is a reenactment, except 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anthony Wayne was back on Jeopardy tonight. The question: "What is Fort Defiance?" Fort Defiance was built by General "Mad" Anthony Wayne in the second week of August 1794 at the confluence of the Auglaize and Maumee rivers. It was the one of a line of defenses constructed by American forces in the campaign leading to the Northwest Indian War's Battle of Fallen Timbers on August 20, 1794.

On the evening of September 20, 1777, near Paoli, Pennsylvania (and the home of General Anthony Wayne), General Charles Grey and nearly 5,000 British soldiers launched a surprise attack on a small regiment of Patriot troops commanded by General Wayne in what became known as the Paoli Massacre. Not wanting to lose the element of surprise, Grey ordered his troops, under the cover of darkness, to empty their muskets and use only bayonets or swords to attack the sleeping America...ns. With the help of a Loyalist spy who provided a secret password and led them to the camp, General Grey and the British launched the successful attack on the unsuspecting men stabbing them to death as they slept. It was also alleged that the British soldiers took no prisoners during the attack, stabbing or setting fire to those who tried to surrender. Before it was over, nearly 200 Americans were killed or wounded. Historian Thomas J. McGuire says that 53 Americans were buried on the battlefield but whether these were all of the American dead or only those found on the campsite-battlefield is uncertain. Local tradition says that 8 more Americans killed in the battle were buried at the nearby Anglican church of St. Peter-in-the-Great Valley. The British, 40 of whom were so badly wounded that they had to be left behind in nearby houses, took seventy-one prisoners. A total of 272 men were killed, wounded or missing from Wayne's division after the battle. The Paoli Massacre became a rallying cry for the Americans against British atrocities for the rest of the Revolutionary War. Less than two years later, Wayne became known as Mad" Anthony for his bravery leading an impressive Patriot assault on British cliff-side fortifications at Stony Point on the Hudson River, 12 miles from West Point. Like Grey’s attack at Paoli, Wayne’s men used only bayonets in the 30-minute night attack, resulting in 94 dead and 472 captured British soldiers.

Twenty-five miles west of Philadelphia, the White Horse Tavern, kept by the forever patriot John Kerlin, and still standing today as a private house, was among the earliest inns established in Pennsylvania. Strategically located at a 6-point crossroads, the Tavern was the site of Washington’s army following defeat at the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777. Here General Washington planned to protect Philadelphia from General Howe’s British forces, and replenish his ra...pidly dwindling supplies. On the morning of September 15, 1777 the Continental Army, consisting of about 11,000 men, marched back into Chester County and down into the Great Valley. Apart from the likelihood of Wayne being at the front of the march, and Greene at the back, the exact order of march on the 15th is not fully documented. On September 16, Washington’s 11,000 men faced 15,000+ British approaching from the south. Suddenly, gray clouds rolled through, obscuring the view of the enemy. A torrential downpour drenched the gunpowder and rendered all the muskets useless. Seizing an opportunity, Washington beat a tactical retreat to Yellow Springs, saving his forces from almost certain loss in what became known as the Battle of the Clouds. To John Kerlin’s dismay, Howe and his officers then occupied the White Horse Tavern, carrying off or destroying everything of value when they decamped. Many historians say the washout was probably a super tropical storm, negating any fighting, which was, undoubtedly, a win for the outnumbered patriots. Today the sight of the Battle of the Clouds is a public park in Frazer, Chester County, Pennsylvania.

September 11 marks a day of loss. One known only from history books, when George Washington, Anthony Wayne and several other Revolutionary generals lost the crucial Battle of Brandywine in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania in 1777. They were outmaneuvered by British General Howe and had to retreat, eventually to Valley Forge several miles away, where they spent the devastating winter of 1777/1778. Another September 11 day of loss most of us remember all too vividly. On "9/11" in 200...1 our nation was attacked in New York City and at the Pentagon in Washington, DC. The final plane, destination unknown, ended its flight when heroic Americans brought down their own plane in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. And now on September 11, 2020, another day of loss during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sadly, 2020 will be a year of loss as hundreds of thousands will be gone forever. Never forget the patriots who fought for our freedom, the thousands who perished on 9/11/2001, and those who have succumbed to a coronavirus.

On September 9, 1776, the Continental Congress formally declared the name of the new nation to be the United States of America. This replaced the term United Colonies, which had been in general use. "United" States? Are we? Maybe the discontent in 1776 looked a lot like what is going on today. Imagine what the Loyalists thought about the protesting patriots. No taking of sides here, just offering something to think about. This is Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, where the First Continental Congress would meet to form the United States of America.

On August 20, 1794, General Mad Anthony Wayne proves that the fragile young republic can counter a military threat when he puts down Shawnee Chief Blue Jacket’s confederacy near present-day Toledo, Ohio, with his newly created 3,000-man strong Legion of the United States at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. Although the Treaty of Paris ceded the so-called Northwest Territory, stretching west to the Mississippi River and south to Spanish Florida to the United States, the British... failed to abandon their forts in the region and continued to support their Indian allies in skirmishes with American settlers. Two earlier Army expeditions into the Ohio territory by Generals Josiah Harmar and Arthur St. Clair in 1790 and 1791, respectively, failed to end the unrest. In fact, St. Clair’s effort concluded with an Indian victory and 630 dead American soldiers. Some historians say Wayne earned the moniker mad for his enthusiastic and successful undertaking of a seemingly impossible mission in 1779 at Stony Point, New York. When President George Washington confronted a frontier Indian crisis in 1794, he called upon Wayne to bring the ongoing violence to a close. Wayne was victorious and gained much of what would become Ohio and several other territories. By the terms of the treaty of Greeneville, signed one year later, the Indians ceded parts of what became Indiana, Illinois and Michigan. The American Revolution and the opening of the Northwest Territory at Fallen Timbers is why Anthony Wayne is Historic Waynesborough's hero of two wars.

Another interesting piece of Anthony Wayne history.

Appropriately, from Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Things that are "growing on" at Historic Waynesborough.

When Anthony Wayne was just 20 years old, Benjamin Franklin sent him to Nova Scotia to survey the land and look for natural resources on land owned by Franklin and others. Who knew that 255 years later Ben Franklin would be showing up at a Phillies-Braves double-header. In a pandemic, no less. The man is 314 years old and still loving Philadelphia. (Yes, we need a little humor during these very trying times.)... Historic Waynesborough is open for tours, by appointment only. Just call 610.647.1779 to plan your visit.