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Battle of Germantown

The British had occupied Philadelphia after the Battle of Brandywine. Washington planned a surprise attack on the elements of the British forces stationed at Germantown, five miles from the city. The Americans failed of success in this Battle of Germantown, October 4, 1777, because the stubborn British defense of the Chew House enabled them to get reinforcements in time. Again, Wayne and his troops were the rear guard covering the retreat of the American army. During the bitter winter at Valley Forge, Wayne kept "the esteem and confidence" of his men and led foraging expeditions to gather grain and cattle to feed the army. On one occasion in southern New Jersey, he and the Polish general, Count Casimir Pulaski, with six hundred men attacked and frightened away a British force of four thousand. When word came to Valley Forge in early June, 1778, that the British were leaving Philadelphia and moving across New Jersey to New York City, Wayne and his Pennsylvanians were among the first to leave the winter encampment in pursuit of the enemy, and they had an important part in the Battle of Monmouth on June 28, the occasion when Mary Hays, the wife of a Pennsylvania soldier, gained the nickname of "Molly Pitcher."

Molly Pitcher at the Battle of Monmouth.

In the spring of 1779 Wayne was placed in command of a separate corps of light infantry, which was formed of picked units from various states. With this corps on July 16, 1779, he carried out his most famous exploit, the surprise and capture of the British post at Stony Point on the Hudson River. Cannon, military stores, and more than five hundred prisoners were captured with this fort. Congress presented a medal to him for this victory. In 1780 his corps was stationed in the lower Hudson Valley, to hinder the British in New York City from gathering cattle and other supplies. When Benedict Arnold turned traitor and there was danger that West Point might fall to the British, Wayne marched his men sixteen miles at night over mountainous country in four hours and prevented the loss of this important post. The Pennsylvania troops mutinied in December, 1780, because of grievances over pay and term of service. Wayne helped to restore order and persuaded the Pennsylvania government to take care of their complaints.

Battle of Monmouth

In 1781 Wayne recruited new Pennsylvania troops and served under Lafayette in the Yorktown campaign against the British under Lord Cornwallis. During this service in Virginia on the lower James River, Wayne was ordered to attack what was supposedly only a detachment of the British army, but which was really Cornwallis' entire army. In a seemingly hopeless situation, outnumbered nearly ten to one, Wayne ordered a charge into the British army, a bold move which was so unexpected that his men got safely away. This battle at Green Springs, July 6, 1781, was the most startling success of his career.

Carried by aides, the wounded Gen."Mad Anthony" Wayne directs a bayonet attack in a battle.
His name remains a byword for daring.

After the Yorktown campaign had been successfully concluded by the surrender of the main British army, Wayne was sent to Georgia where the British, Loyalists, and hostile Indians were still virtually in control. As his forces and supplies were inadequate, his service there was a series of disappointments, but he held the field, and defeated the Creek Indians, in June, 1782. On July 12 his troops marched into Savannah as the British army sailed away, and after that he helped to restore order in that war-ravaged state. In 1783 he retired from the army with the brevet rank of major-general.

Wayne's civilian life from 1783 to 1792 was less happy than his military career had been. The State of Georgia granted him an estate for his Revolutionary services; he ran into debt to improve it and lost it by foreclosure. He ventured into politics again both in Pennsylvania and Georgia without much success. In Pennsylvania he served in the General Assembly and in the Council of Censors, where his party failed in an attempt to revise the State Constitution. He was elected to Congress from Georgia, but in a few months lost his seat because of charges of irregularity in the election.

"Charge of the Dragoons at Fallen Timbers," painted by R. T. Zogbaum, ca. 1895. The painting illustrates General Anthony Wayne's campaign against the Ohio Indians in 1794.

The treaty of peace with Great Britain in 1783 had left some unfinished business, the actual establishment of United States authority over the western lands. Although by the treaty the territory south of the Great Lakes was ceded to the United State, it was actually held by unfriendly Indians whom the British encouraged to resist the advance of American settlement, in the hope of creating an Indian buffer state between the United States and Canada. The United States tried to bring these Indians under control and to open the Northwest Territory to settlement, first by peaceful means through treaties, and later by military expeditions. These efforts collapsed in 1791, when an army under General Arthur St. Clair was seriously defeated.

This painting of the signing of the Treaty of Greenville shows the defeated chief Little Turtle presenting a belt of wampum to General Anthony Wayne while William Wells translates.

President Washington decided both to reopen negotiations for peace with the western Indians and to build an army capable of imposing United States authority if the peace negotiations failed. To carry out these plans, Anthony Wayne was appointed as major-general in 1792 to command a new American army, called the Legion of the United States. He set up a training camp at Legionville, present-day Ambridge, Pennsylvania, and drilled and trained his soldiers to create a reliable and effective force. Cornplanter, the famous Seneca leader, tried to make peace between the United States and the western Indians at some risk of his life, for Wayne worried about his "safe return" in 1792. In March, 1793, Cornplanter visited Legionville and urged Wayne to hold back his army until United States commissioners could talk with the western Indians, and Wayne agreed in accordance with Washington's plans.

This flag was presented to the Miami chief She-Moc-E-Nish by General Anthony Wayne at the Treaty of Greenville in Ohio in 1795. The flag was handed down through two granddaughters of the chief. It is composed of fifteen stripes, red, white, and blue, made of domestic bunting, probably originally 3 feet 6 inches by 6 feet. The white linen field contains, in place of stars, the inscription, "A. Wayne, Commander in Chief."

The failure of these negotiations was Wayne's signal to move in the fall of 1793. Although he had been restless about delay, he advanced slowly, building roads and forts, making sure of his supplies, and sending out scouts. The next summer, he advanced into the heart of hostile territory, building more forts. About fifteen miles up the Maumee River from present Toledo, Ohio, Wayne's army finally met the main force of the Indians not far from the British post called Fort Miamis, and defeated them in the Battle of Fallen Timbers, August 20, 1794. This battle, together with the British refusal to help their allies, led to the submission of the Indians at the Treaty of Greenville in August, 1795.

Meanwhile, Jay's Treaty settled the existing disputes with the British, who agreed to withdraw from the posts on United States territory which they had been holding since the Revolution. In 1796 Wayne received orders to occupy these posts. On his return from a triumphal visit to Detroit, he landed at the new Pennsylvania fort at Presque Isle (Erie). There he fell ill and died on December 15, 1796, in the northwest blockhouse of Fort Presque Isle. He was buried at the foot of the flagpole of the fort, but in 1809 his son removed his bones to Radnor churchyard, Chester County. A replica of the original blockhouse stands on the site of his first grave on the grounds of the Pennsylvania Soldiers and Sailors Home at Erie.

Additional Sources:

earlyamerica.com
www.americanrevwar.homestead.com
www.ushistory.org
www.ohiohistorycentral.org
memory.loc.gov
sdcl.wayne.edu
teachpol.tcnj.edu
www.garrigus-family.com
www.archives.gov
www.state.oh.us
www.reuther.wayne.edu
cfhahn.freeyellow.com

On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on November 15:
1397 Nicholas V pope (1447-55); ended schism, founded Vatican Library
1708 William Pitt the Elder (Whig) UK PM (1756-61, 66-68) `Great Commoner'
1738 Sir William Herschel astronomer (discovered Uranus)
1815 John Banvard NYC, painted world's largest painting (3 mile canvas)
1862 Gerhart Hauptmann Germany, writer (Before Dawn-Nobel 1912)
1874 August Krogh Denmark, physiologist (Nobel-1920)
1879 Lewis Stone Worcester MA, actor (Prisoner of Zenda)
1881 Franklin P Adams Chicago IL, columnist (Information Please)
1882 Felix Frankfurter Vienna Austria, US supreme court justice (1939-62)
1886 Pedro Sanjuan San Sebastian, Spain, composer (Castilla)
1887 Georgia O'Keeffe Sun Prairie WI, painter (Cow's Skull)
1887 Marianne Moore St Louis, poet (Pulitzer-1951-Collected Poems)
1891 Erwin Rommel German field marshall (WW II-African campaign)
1891 W Averell Harriman US, (Gov-D-NY)/ambassador to USSR (1943-46)
1895 Ina Claire actress (Claudia, Ninotchka, Rebound)
1897 Sacheverell Sitwell English poet/writer (People's Palace)
1905 Mantovani Venice Italy, orchestra leader (Mantovani)
1907 Count Claus Schenck von Stauffenberg, German anti fascist colonel
1909 Don Large Canada, choral director (Wayne King)
1914 Jorge Bolet Havana Cuba, pianist (C'eurties Instituka)
1919 Carol Bruce Great Neck NY, actress (Lillian Carlson-WKRP)
1919 Joseph Albert Wapner La, judge (People's Court)
1922 Francesco Rosi Naples Italy, director (Lucky Luciano)
1925 Howard Baker (Sen-R-TN), presidential chief of staff
1929 Edward Asner Kansas City KS, actor, mindless moron (Mary Tyler Moore Show, Lou Grant)
1930 Whitman Mayo NYC, actor (Grady-Sanford & Son)
1931 John Kerr NYC, actor (South Pacific, Peyton Place, Pit & Pendulum)
1932 Petula Clark England, singer (Downtown, My Love)
1933 Barbara Carson Memphis TN, actress (Comedy Tonight, Carter Country)
1933 Jack Burns Boston MA, comedian (Burns & Schreiber)
1934 Joanna Barnes Boston, actress (Parent Trap, Spartacus, Goodbye Charlie)
1937 Yaphet Kotto NYC, actor (Brubaker, Alien, Raid on Entebbe)
1939 Erik Hansen Denmark, 1K kayak (Olympic-gold-1960)
1939 Thalmus Rasulala [Jack Crowder], Miami FL, actor (Blacula, Roots)
1940 Sam Waterston Cambridge MA, actor (Law & Order, Capricorn One, Heaven's Gate)
1942 Daniel Barenboim Buenos Aires Argentina, pianist/conductor
1945 Anni-Frid Lyngsdtad [Fryeda Anderson] Sweden, rocker (ABBA)
1946 Janet Lennon Culver City CA, singer (Lennon Sisters)
1954 Beverly D'Angelo Columbus Ohio, actress (Vacation, European Vacation)
1955 Oliver Conant NYC, actor (Summer of '42)
1956 Ashley Cox Dallas Texas, playmate (December, 1977)
1968 Brenda Alyce Bassett Kokomo Indiana, Miss Indiana-America (1991)
1968 James Brady Brooklyn NY, columnist (NY Post)
1970 Karin Von Breeschoteen Rotterdam Holland, Playmate (Sept, 1989)
1970 Mirjam Von Breeschoteen Rotterdam Holland, Playmate (Sept, 1989)
1977 Peter Mark Andrew Phillips 9th in sucession to British throne

Deaths which occurred on November 15:
0565 Justitianus I, [Petrus Sabbatius], Byzantine emperor (527-65), dies
1280 Albertus Magnus German scholar, dies at 87
1630 Johann Kepler German astronomer, dies at 58
1897 John Mercer Langston dies at 67
1958 Tyrone Power actor, dies of a heart attack at 44
1963 Fritz Reiner conductor (Chicago Symphony Orchestra), dies at 74
1978 Margaret Mead anthropologist, dies in NY at 76
1983 John LeMesurier actor, dies at 71
1984 Baby Fae who received a baboon's heart, dies at California medical center
1996 Alger Hiss, former State Department official, spy, died in New York just four days after his 92nd birthday
1998 Kwame Ture, the civil rights activist formerly known as Stokely Carmichael, died in Guinea at age 57.

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1966 KEIPER JOHN C.---RENOVO PA.
1966 RAVENNA HARRY M. III---SAN ANTONIO TX.
1966 TIMMONS BRUCE ALLAN FORT LAUDERDALE FL.
[CRAFT OVERTURNED SUBJ DROWNED]
1968 BIRCHIM JAMES D.---INDEPENDENCE CA.
1969 GRAF JOHN G.---GLENDALE CA
[DIED ESCAPING 02/15/70]
1969 SUBER RANDOLPH B.---BALLWIN MO.
1969 WHITE ROBERT T.---ST CHARLES IL.
[04/01/73 RELEASED BY PRG, ALIVE IN 98]

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

On this day...
1315 Swiss soldiers ambush and slaughter invading Austrians in the battle of Morgarten.
1348 Rudolph of Oron claims Jews have confessed to poisoning wells
1492 Christopher Columbus notes 1st recorded reference to tobacco
1492 In Spain, 6 Jews & 5 Conversos are accused of using black magic
1533 The "explorer" Francisco Pizarro enters Cuzco, Peru
1626 The Pilgrim Fathers, who have settled in New Plymouth, buy out their London investors
1660 1st kosher butcher (Asser Levy) licensed in NYC (New Amsterdam)
1715 Barrier Treaty, Austria cedes area to the Netherlands
1763 Charles Mason & Jeremiah Dixon begin surveying Mason-Dixon Line between Pennsylvania & Maryland
1777 The Articles of Confederation, instituting perpetual union of the United States of America, are adopted by Congress
1791 1st Catholic college in US, Georgetown, opens
1806 1st US college magazine, Yale Literary Cabinet, publishes 1st issue
1806 Explorer Zebulon Pike sights Pikes Peak
1824 Series of fires kills 10 (Edinburgh Scotland)
1845 The opera "Maritana" is produced (London)
1849 1st US poultry show opens in Boston
1864 1st US mines school opens in basement of Columbia University, NY
1864 Sherman burns Atlanta
1869 Free postal delivery formally inaugurated
1881 American Federation of Labor (AFL) founded (Pittsburgh)
1884 Colonization of Africa organized at international conference in Berlin
1889 Dom Pedro II, Emperor of Brazil, deposed; republic proclaimed
1899 Morning Post reporter Winston Churchill & wife captured in Natal
1919 Senate 1st invokes cloture to end a filibuster (Versailles Treaty)
1920 Free City of Danzig established under League of Nations protection
1920 League of Nations holds 1st meeting, in Geneva
1921 KYW-AM in Philadelphia PA begins radio transmissions
1926 NBC on-air debut with a radio network of 24 stations
1932 Walt Disney Art School created
1935 Commonwealth of Phillipines inaugurated
1937 1st congressional session in air-conditioned chambers
1938 1st telecast of an unscheduled event (fire), W2XBT, NY
1939 Nazis begin mass murder of Warsaw Jews
1939 Social Security Administration approves 1st unemployment check
1940 1st 75,000 men called to armed forces duty during peacetime
1941 Cow Palace opens in San Francisco
1948 William Lyon Mackenzie King retires as PM of Canada
1949 KRON (Channel 4, San Francisco) signs on, from 7 to 10 PM
1950 1st Negro player in organized hockey-Arthur Dorrington signed
1954 1st regularly scheduled commercial flights over North Pole begins
1957 US sentences Soviet spy Rudolf Ivanovich Abel to 30 years & $3,000
1959 Richard Hickock & Perry Smith kill Clutters
1960 Elgin Baylor of NBA Los Angeles Lakers scores 71 points vs NY Knicks
1960 The first submarine with nuclear missiles, USS George Washington, takes to sea from Charleston, South Carolina.
1964 Mickey Wright shoots a 62, lowest golf score for a woman pro
1965 In the second day of combat, regiments of the 1st Cavalry Division battle on Landing Zones X-Ray against North Vietnamese forces in the Ia drang Valley
1965 Craig Breedlove sets land speed record (600.601 mph-966.57 kph)
1966 Gemini XII returns to Earth
1967 Michael Adams in X-15 reaches 80 km
1969 250,000 peacefully demonstrate in Wash DC against the Vietnam War
1969 Janis Joplin, accused of vulgar & indecent language in Tampa, FL
1972 Small Astronomy Satellite Explorer 48 launched to study gamma rays
1976 A Syrian "peace force" takes control of Beirut, Lebanon
1977 President Jimmy Carter welcomes Shah of Iran
1978 183 die as Icelandic Airlines DC-8 crashes in Colombo, Sri Lanka
1979 ABC-TV announces it would broadcast nightly specials on Iran hostage
1979 British government identifies Sir Anthony Blunt as 4th man in Soviet spy ring
1980 Pope John Paul II began 5 day visit to West Germany,
1982 Funeral services held in Moscow's Red Square for Leonid I Brezhnev
1983 75th hat trick in Islander history-Mike Bossy
1983 Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus proclaimed
1987 28 of 82 aboard Continental Airlines DC-9 die in crash at Denver
1987 NY Giant Raul Allegre kicks 2, 50 or more yard field goals in a game
1988 91 m radio telescope dish at Green Bank, WV collapses
1988 PLO proclaims the State of Palestine, recognizes Israeli existence
1988 Soviet space shuttle makes unmanned maiden flight (2 orbits)
1989 "Batman" is released on video tape
1989 Walter Davis (Denver) begins NBA free throw streak of 53 games
1990 President Bush signs the Clear Air Act of 1990
1990 Producers confirm that Milli Vanilli didn't sing on their album
1990 US 68th manned space mission STS 38 (Atlantis 7) launches into orbit
1990 The "Keating Five"--Sens. Alan Cranston, D-Calif.; Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz.; John Glenn, D-Ohio; John McCain, R-Ariz.; and Donald Riegle, D-Mich.--maintained their innocence at the opening of Senate hearings into charges of influence peddling on behalf of S&L kingpin Charles Keating.
1991 A federal appeals panel threw out former National Security Adviser John M. Poindexter's felony convictions in the Iran-Contra affair, saying his immunized testimony to Congress was improperly used against him.
1991 Ricky Pierce (Seattle) begins NBA free throw streak of 75 games
2000 Al Gore made a surprise proposal for a statewide hand recount of Florida's 6 million ballots - an idea immediately rejected by George W. Bush. Earlier, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris had rejected requests from the counties to update presidential vote totals with the results of hand recounts under way at Gore's urging.

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Belgium : King's Day
Brazil : Republic Day (1889)
Japan : 7-5-3 Festival Day (parents give thanks for girls 7 and 3 and boys 5 and 3)
West Germany : Repentance Day (Wednesday)
US : American Enterprise Day
US : Doublespeak Day
US : Holidays Are Pickle Days (thru 12-31)
One Nation Under God Month

Religious Observances
Christian : St Leopold
RC : Mem of St Albert the Great, bishop, confessor, doctor (opt)

Religious History
1626 The original Mayflower "pilgrims" (Separatists), having lived in their American colony for six years, bought out their London investors for 1,800 pounds.
1760 Anglican hymnwriter John Newton wrote in a letter: 'Our love to Him is the proof and measure of what we know of His love to us.'
1804 Anglican missionary to Persia, Henry Martyn wrote in his journal: 'Corruption always begins the day, but morning prayer never fails to set my mind in a right frame.'
1839 Scottish clergyman Robert Murray McCheyne wrote in a letter: 'I know well that when Christ is nearest, Satan also is busiest.'
1957 Patriarch Ignatius Yacoub III officially established the Archdiocese of the Syrian Orthodox Church in the U.S. and Canada. At the same time, Archbishop Mar Athanasius Yeshue Samuel, former Syrian Orthodox metropolitan of Jerusalem, was appointed primate of the new archdiocese, and soon after took up residence in Hackensack, New Jersey.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Thought for the day :
"Life can't be all bad when for ten dollars you can buy all the Beethoven sonatas and listen to them for ten years."

Question of the day...
Is the Hokey Pokey really what it's all About???

Murphys Law of the day...(Abbott's Admonitions)
If you have to ask, you're not entitled to know.
If you don't like the answer, you shouldn't have asked the question

Todays piece of completely useless information...
In 1987, a 1,400-year-old lump of still-edible cheese was unearthed in Ireland.