Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 3
Extract—from Gl. W—n to a Member of Congress1
A letter wch. accompanies this to congress will give an account of an unsuccessful attack upon the enemy at Germantown yesterday about day break. My extreme fatigue & hurry and indeed want of knowledge of the causes which produced some great & capital disappointments, do not 401allow me to be particular at this time. Things appeared in a very favourable way once, as a column under Genl. Sullivan (who behaved extremely well) continued to gain Ground upon the enemy till we drove them from Allen’s house to Chew’s, and on their left, much lower, thro the encampment of the light Infantry, which was abandoned with their baggage &c. Among other misfortunes that attended us was a heavy hazy atmosphere without a breath of air, so that the smoke of our artillery & small arms often prevented us from seing thirty yards; and this, not for the instant but of long continuance for want of wind to take it off. The causes why the column under* Genls. Green & Smallwood did not get up in time I cannot now assign. Or, why Genl. Armstrong who was to have acted upon the Enemy’s left did not push it, I am at present equally ignorant of. The plan was concerted upon very probable grounds of success, and in the execution things looked well a long time as we continued to gain upon the enemy during the whole action which lasted two hours & 40 minutes. My next to congress will be able to explain matters fully. Till then yr. Judgement must be suspended. The event turned out contrary to expectation; but, we are in no worse condition (except officers & men) than we were.”
*Since writing the above I have seen Genl. Green, whose column it seems had also driven the enemy and were about closing with ours, when, unhappily, (for I can no otherwise account for it) each took the other for fresh troops of the enemy and retreated precipitately. The fog & clouds of smoke contributed to this, as you could scare distinguish objects 50 yards.”
Genl. Nash dead of his wounds two Colonels from Nth. Carolina made prisoners Bunkum & Irvin. Doctr. Weatherspoon’s Son killed. G. Sullivan’s 2 Aids mortally wounded, White & Sherburn Coll.’s Hendricks, Stone & Lt. Coll. Parker wounded. Our Loss about 700 chiefly wounded & taken including the above.
This is not for the press by any means as the Generals. The substance may be given.
Cols: Bird Abercrombie and Genl. De Huister’s Son K
This letter was written to Benjamin Harrison. The original is missing, but there are other copies of this extract in the Franklin Papers at the American Philosophical Society and in the Charles Carroll Papers at the Maryland Historical Society. It appears in The Papers of George Washington: Revolutionary War Series, 11:401–402.
Following the Sept. 26 loss of Philadelphia to the British, George Washington planned a four-pronged attack on the British at Germantown. Approximately 8,000 Continental troops and 3,000 militiamen faced 9,000 British troops on Oct. 4. In the dense fog and confusion of the day, Washington’s troops panicked and retreated. Cornwallis’s army followed. Both sides suffered heavy casualties. Reported losses were: the Americans, 152 killed, 521 wounded, and over 400 captured; the British, 537 killed and wounded, 14 captured. Among the American generals mentioned in this letter were John Sullivan (1740–1795), Nathanael Greene (1742–1780), William Smallwood (1732–1792), and Francis Nash (d. 1777). Among the British generals were the king’s aide-de-camp James Agnew (d. 1777) and Hessian general, Baron Wilhelm Knyphausen (d. 1777) (Boatner, Encyclopedia of the American Revolution, 426–430).