—compiled by Denis
Cooke
First hand
accounts of the activities surrounding the British
Redoubts built just north of Philadelphia,
1777-1778.
September 27, 1777: “This afternoon began to
reconnoitre the heights near this city, for forming the
defense of it, by Field Works, running from the
Schuylkill to the Delaware rivers. This I was given to
understand was our present grand object. Some party of
the Enemy attacked the Queen’s rangers, killed one
man and wounded three officers, but they were immediately
drove back with some loss. The Commander-in-Chief entered
the city and returned. I attended him and settled for the
payment of the Inhabitants that could be procured to
work. Allowance 8 Shillings a day to four and eight pence
per day.”
—Journal of Captain John Montresor, July 1, 1777 to
July 1, 1778, Chief Engineer of the British Army. GD
Scull, Editor. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and
Biography, 6( 1882), pp. 42-43.
October 2, 1777: “A few of the Inhabitants made a
kind of beginning at the Redoubt this afternoon. At 10
this morning signed the order for Provisions for 340
Inhabitants to work on the redoubts. Not yet attended the
work.”
—Captain John Montresor, PMHB 6 (1882), pp. 44-45.
Undated. Approx. October 2, 1777: “The rebels often
visited while we were in and near Philadelphia, but they
were welcomed and handled in such a manner that their
coming and going was more a special appearance than a
warlike maneuver. Surrounding the city from the Delaware
River to the Schuylkill, fourteen defensive positions
were established, from which one could protect the other.
Each was occupied by a captain, two lieutenants, and
fifty men, who were relieved each day. On one side lay
the English Grenadiers and Light Infantry, which was an
exceptionally fine corps of troops taken from all the
regiments, and on the other side the Hessian Grenadiers
in barracks as a reserve. It must indeed make a fearful
sight when the army is set in motion."
—Johann Conrad Dohla, A Hessian Diary of the
American Revolution. Translated and Edited by Bruce E.
Burgoyne, Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press,
1990, 68-69.
October 13, 1777: “The redoubts for the defence of
Philadelphia continued on, though slowly, as none but
Inhabitants are employed on it, and that at 8 shillings
per day and Provisions.” Captain John Montresor,
PMHB 6 (1882), pp. 48-49.
October 19, 1777: “On the same day, the army
encamped behind the ten redoubts that had been thrown up
between the Delaware and the Schuylkill. The Hessian
Grenadiers covered the right of the camp. The Hessian
Jager Corps, the left, and the English grenadiers and
light infantry, the center.”
—Letters of Major Baurmeister, Bernard A. Uhlendorf
& Edna Vosper, Editors. The Pennsylvania Magazine of
History & Biography, 60(1936), pp. 34-35.
October 19, 1777: “ Quitted the Camp at German Town
and Encamp’d within the Redoubts at
Philadelphia.”
—Archibald Robertson, Lieutenant-General Royal
Engineers, His Diaries and Sketches in America,
1762-1780. Harry Miller Lydenburg, Editor. New York: The
New York Public Library, 1930, p. 153.
October 19, 1777: “ We marched in two columns to
Philadelphia, where we moved into a very strong camp on
the side of Philadelphia facing Germantown. The ten newly
erected but not completed redoubts, which lie scattered
from the Delaware to the Schuylkill are in front of our
camp.”
—At General Howe’s Side 1777-1778. The Diary
of General William Howe’s aide de camp Captain
Friedrich von Muenchhausen. Translated by Ernest Kipping
and Annotated by Samuel Stelle Smith. Monmouth Beach, NJ:
Philip Freneau Press, 1974, p. 40.
October 19, 1777: “ On the 19th, about nine
o’clock in the morning, the army moved back in two
columns a good hour closer to Philadelphia. The right
wing was stationed at the Delaware behind Kensington, in
which village the Queen’s Rangers were cantoned,
and the left was placed behind the Morris country house
on the Schuylkill. The jagers received their post behind
the wood at this plantation, in front of the army’s
left wing. Work began today on redoubts which were to be
constructed around Philadelphia. “
—Captain Johann Ewald. Diary of the American War, A
Hessian Journal. Joseph P. Tustin, New Haven,
Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1979, p. 96.
October 19, 1777: “On the 19th the army marched to
Philadelphia, the Queen’s Rangers formed the rear
guard of the left column, and in the encampment, their
post was on the right side of the line, in front of the
village of Kensington; the army extending from the
Delaware to the Schuylkill.”
—Lieutenant Colonel John Graves Simcoe, A Journal
of the Operations of the Queen’s Rangers. [New
York: Bartlett & Welford 1844] Reprinted New York:
The New York Times & Arno Press, 1968, p. 17.
October 19, 1777: “The Army marched in three
Columns toward Philadelphia, and took a new position,
extending from the Delaware to the Schuylkill.”
—Major John Andre. Major Andre’s Journal,
Operations of the British Army, June 1777 to November
1778. [Tarrytown, New York: William Abbatt, 1930]
Reprinted New York: The New York Times & Arno Press,
1968, p. 59.
October 19, 1977: “A thick fog, weather very fine.
The Commander in Chief with the army marched from
Germantown to the heights North of Philadelphia extending
from the river Delaware to the Schuylkill 2 ½ miles and
encamped in the rear of the 10 redoubts.”
—Captain John Montresor , PMHB, 6 (1882), p. 51.
October 20, 1777: “I went this afternoon to see the
British encampment, which extends in nearly a line from
Delaware to Schuylkill.”
—The Diary of Robert Morton, The Pennsylvania
Magazine of History & Biography, 1 (1877), p. 21.
October 25-29, 1777: “The other works were ten
redoubts, which were laid out at intervals from the
Delaware to the Schuylkill and begun soon after we took
possession of Philadelphia. They were afterwards
completed.”
—Major John Andre, p. 61.
November 19, 1777. “These (Gates Northern Army
Continentals) reinforcements amount to 5,000 men, but
according to rebel reports 18,000 which probably accounts
for the rumor they tend to attack us. This we doubt very
much because of our well fortified camp, the right flank
of which is anchored on the Delaware and the left on the
Schuylkill. In the front we have 10 well placed redoubts,
which are connected by parapets.”
—Captain Friedrich von Muenchhausen 44.
December 2, 1777: “The want of fuel obliged the
army to burn all the Woods and fences about the City.
Genl Howe’s outpost is at Mr. Dickensson’s
& their lines, which are pretty strong extend from
Frankford road bridge to Schuylkill.”
—The Diary of James Allen, Esq. Of Philadelphia
Counsellor At Law, 1770-1778. The Pennsylvania Magazine
of History & Biography, 9 (1885), pp. 427-428.
December 2, 1777; “In each of the ten redoubts,
guard houses are being built. They are fully supplied
with artillery and ammunition.”
—Major Carl Baurmeister, PMHB 60 (1936), p. 40.
Approx. December 30, 1777: “We have taken up our
quarters in such a way that from the battalion alarm
places each brigade can march into the city (as well as
conditions and order will permit) and also behind the
redoubts within the city. To explain the arrangements
more fully, I shall describe how the several brigades
daily move into the eleven redoubts along the line from
their own quarters. The redoubts are numbered beginning
on the Delaware. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd are occupied by
the English Guards and the Queen’s Rangers, the 4th
by the 1st English Brigade, the 5th by the 2nd, the 6th
by the 4th, the 7th by the 3rd, the 8th, by the 5th and
the 2nd Battalion of Anspachers, the 9th by Stirn’s
brigade, the 10th by Woellwarth’s, and the 11th by
the Hessian grenadiers. The Hessian dismounted jagers
have their quarters on the Neck, which is the point of
land where the Schuylkill flows into the Delaware. The
main part of this corps is on Gloucester Point and faces
Province Island. The English dragoons and the mounted
jagers have their headquarters in the center of the city.
The daily duty in the city is performed by two captains,
ten subalterns, thirty-seven noncommissioned officers,
ten drummers, and 362 soldiers, from which one captain
and a hundred men are detached across the Schuylkill to
cover the wood-cutters.”
—Major Carl Baurmeister, PMHB, 60 (1936), pp.
49-50.
Approximately January 1 –4 , 1778: “The
general directions he received was to secure the country,
and facilitate the inhabitants bringing in their produce
to market. To prevent this intercourse, the enemy added,
to the severe exertions of their civil powers, their
militia. The roads, the creeks, and the general
inclination of the inhabitants to the British government,
and to their own profit, aided the endeavor of the
Queen’s Rangers. The redoubt on the right had been
garrisoned by the corps till, on Major Simcoe’s
representation that the duty was too severe, it was given
to the line: within this redoubt the corps fitted up
their barracks.”
—Lieutenant Colonel John Graves Simcoe, pp. 33-34.
February 9, 1778: “Since the English supplies
completely ruin the trade of the Americans, they were
chiefly short of salt and clothing. For this reason,
everyone who traveled across the line had to be searched
carefully by the sentries, which compelled the
inhabitants to resort to trickery. For example, two women
who had the appearance of pregnancy passed through the
outposts toward Germantown yesterday. The noncommissioned
officer of the light infantry, who had charge of the
picket, showed an interest in examining the pregnancy of
these women. He found that it consisted of a quantity of
salt on one woman and twenty-five calfskins on the other.
Here again something is learned. One cannot be too
careful at the outposts, for who knows whether or not
these women might have supplied the leather for shoes for
an entire regiment of the enemy?
—Captain Johann Ewald , 119.
March 19, 1778: “Fine weather. Began to repair the
Parapets at the Redoubts.”
—Captain John Montresor, 6 (1882), p. 197.
March 19-20,1778: “On the night of the 19-20th this
post sent out a party of sixty men, who crept up close to
the Schuylkill opposite the 10th redoubt, where they
collected some cattle and set fires.”
—Major Carl Baurmeister, PMHB 60 (1936), p. 163.
March 29, 1778: “Sun. On the command in No. 9 on
the Scul-Kiel with Capt. Shotz of the body-regiment
[Leibregiment]; 1 Ensign, 3 Sub-officers, 1 drummer and
50 privates.”
—Journal of Lieutenant John Charles Philip von
Krafft [New York: The New York Historical Society,
Collections XII, 1882] Reprinted New York: The New York
Times & Arno Press, 1968, p. 32.
April 16, 1778: “In No. 9 on the Scul-Kiel.”
—Lieutenant John Charles Philip von Krafft p. 34.
April 20, 1778: “Engineers marked out two advanced
works in the Lines.”
—Captain John Montresor, PMHB 6 (1882), p. 201
April 24, 1778: “Begun on our advanced works in
Front of the lines consisting of 400 men for the working
party. Two semi-circular Redoubts, one for 100 men to the
left one for 50 in the right.”
—Captain John Montresor, PMHB 6 (1882), p. 201.
April 24, 1778: “Two redoubts are to be constructed
about 600 paces in front of our lines on well selected,
commanding heights toward Germantown. Work was started
today, and working parties of 400, with 200 men to cover
them, are to be sent daily.”
—Captain Freidrich von Muenchhausen, 51.
May 2, 1778: “On the night of the 1-2nd of May
there assembled between the 1st and 2nd redoubts fourteen
companies of British grenadiers and light infantry, the
Queen’s Rangers, and 120 dragoons under Major
Crewe, the entire detachment under the command of
Lieutenant Colonel Abercromby. After a forced march along
the Old York Road, they encountered at the Crooked Billet
Tavern, twelve English miles from our lines, Brigadier
Lacey’s militia brigade of 500 men, busily engaged
in throwing up fortifications on the road in order to
make Bristol and all of Bucks County secure.”
—Major Carl Baurmeister, PMHB 60 (1936), p. 172
May 2, 1778: “In No.9 on sharp command.”
—Journal of Lieutenant John Charles Philip von
Krafft, p. 35.
May 14, 1778: “On sharp command in No. 9.”
—Journal of Lieutenant John Charles Philip von
Krafft, p. 35.
May 24, 1778: “Some of the Redoubts were dismantled
without my knowledge, rather unmilitary.”
—Captain John Montresor, PMHB 6 (1882), p. 286.
June 4, 1778: “Today I was ordered to No. 10, but
was taken along on this expedition. At the ruined inn
called the Risin Sun, to which the command marched, I was
detached with 15 men to a hill on the right side of the
road where I place 5 sentinels.”
—Journal of Lieutenant John Charles Philip von
Krafft, pp. 38-39.
June 16, 1778: “All the redoubts that form the Line
of Defence of this City dismantled of their Field pieces
& c. before daybreak, but without my
knowledge.”
—Captain John Montresor, PMHB 6 (1882) 291-292.
June 17, 1778: “One enemy patrol which had come by
way of Bush Hill passed between our 9th & 10th
redoubts and advances to 7th St. in Philadelphia. At the
corner of 3rd and 2nd Sts, it finally came upon our last
patrol and exchanged some shots with them, after which we
evacuated Philadelphia entirely, leaving the rebels
positively nothing but empty redoubts and houses.”
—Major Carl Baurmeister, PMHB 60 (1936), pp.
181-182.
June 18, 1778: "This morning early the Kings Troops
evacuated the city of Philadelphia and the several
Redoubts and works that form its Defences and retired by
land to Gloucester point 4 miles below it on the
Pennsylvania Shore…”
—Captain John Montresor, PMHB, 6 (1882), p.
292.