OCR Text |
Show -7- the 40th Connecticut would try to surprise the British garrison at Germantown, seven miles from Philadelphia. He estimated American troop strength at 11,000 while the British had only 9,000 regulars, since their Hessian friends had pulled back to New Jersey. He seemed optimistic that the larger American force, having the advantage of surprise, could win. A final entry in the diary was in a different hand. "October 4, 1777. Major Rufus Avery, Adjutant, 40th Connecticut Regiment of Foot, killed this day. I, Col. Tobias Greene, commanding, make this final entry for Mattie and the children a.nd Ruf s posterity. The war goes badly. I lost all but ten of my men at Battle of Germantown. Three are sorely wounded and myself also. They were all friends and neighbors. I knew each man by his first name. Again our lack of discipline and organization destroyed us. We marched on Germantown in four columns, 11,000 strong. Our plan was to surprise the British at their breakfast. Fog from the river was heavy. It was impossible for one of our columns to see the other. As Rufus was checking the stragglers in the rear of our column the fog lifted momentarily, and several Virginia Militiamen in the column one hundred yards south of ours thought he was a Britisher and shot him from the saddle. In the confusion the 40th opened fire on the Virginians, thinking they were a British column approaching. As the shooting spread, all the American troops began firing at each other. The British garrison was alerted, and they attacked in full force, completely panicking our army. We ran. Later we returned to the battlefield under flag of truce and buried our dead. |