OCR Text |
Show -6- Connecticut Militiamen as they prepared for their first battle. "Day after tomorrow we meet the British at a place called Brandywine, a few miles from this place. His excellency, General Washington, will command. My men are anxious. I sense some fear in the ranks. We go against General Howe and Lord Cornwallis, commanding the best of the British forces in the colonies. It is rumored that the Hessians are enroute to join the British. May God be with us." An entry dated September 11, 1777, gave a heartrendering scene of defeat at Brandywine. "General Washington placed the continental regulars in the center and the best militia units on the flank. I still tremble when I remember the slow roll of the British drums, seventy-five to the minute, and the measured, methodical approach of the brightly uniformed Highlanders, stretched out in two lines each a quarter of a mile long, bayoneted rifles ready for the thrust. As they approaced to within two hundred yards of the center of our lines, the militiamen on both flanks panicked and ran away towards the woods. They were terrified of the bayonets. General Washington's regulars stood firm, and at seventy-five yards opened their first volleys which decimated General Howe's Britishers in the first line. But it was too late. Lord Cornwallis attacked the exposed American flanks and our army was completely routed. We lost 1000 men this day. We are ashamed, yet we do not know how to fight such disciplined troops as the British. The 40th held fairly well, but when the Virginia militia, considered the strongest, ran away, my men went with them." Major Avery's last entry in his diary was dated October 2, 1777. He mentioned that in two days General Washington's troops, including |