British Flag Captured by Pennsylvanians in Battle of Monmouth June 28, 1778

Just before dawn June 18, 1778, the British began their evacuation of Philadelphia. They crossed the Delaware, and that evening encamped around Haddonfield, N. J.

The news of this evacuation reached Washington, at Valley Forge, before morning. He immediately sent General Maxwell, with his brigade, to co-operate with the New Jersey militia, under General Dickinson, in retarding the march of the British.

They were 17,000 strong, marching in two divisions, one under Cornwallis and the other led by Knyphausen.

General Arnold, whose wounds kept him from the field, entered Philadelphia with a detachment before the rear guard of the British had left it. The remainder of the army, under the immediate command of Washington, crossed the Delaware above Trenton and pursued.

General Clinton had intended to march to New Brunswick and embark his army for New York, but, finding Washington’s army in his path, he turned toward Monmouth Court House. Washington followed him in a parallel line, prepared to strike him whenever an opportunity should offer. But Clinton wished to avoid a battle, for he was encumbered with baggage, wagons and a host of camp followers, 444which made his line twelve miles in length. He encamped in Freehold on the night of June 27, and there Washington resolved to strike him if he should move the next morning.

General Lee was in command of the advanced corps. Washington ordered him to form a plan of attack, but he failed to do so, or to forward any orders to Generals Wayne, Lafayette or Maxwell, who called upon him.

On the morning of June 28, a hot Sabbath, Washington was told Clinton was about to move, and he ordered Lee to fall upon the British rear, but he was so tardy that the enemy had ample time to prepare for battle. When Lee did move he had no plan for battle, and his orders so perplexed his generals that they requested Washington to appear on the field with the main army immediately.

Wayne attacked with vigor, with a sure prospect of victory, Lee ordered him only to make a feint. Clinton, at that moment changed front, and sent a large force against Wayne; Lafayette sensed the situation and asked Lee for permission to gain the rear of the British. At first he refused, then ordered him to attack Clinton’s left. At the same time he weakened Wayne’s detachment by taking three regiments from it to support the right. While Wayne was in a desperate struggle Lee’s courage weakened and he withdrew, saying that the temerity of Wayne had brought against him the whole flower of the British army.

Washington was pressing forward to the support of Lee, when he learned that his division was in full retreat. Washington, angered at the actions of Lee, ordered Wayne with three Pennsylvania regiments and two others from Virginia and Maryland to stop the British pursuit.

The British, about 7000 strong, attempted to turn the American left flank, but were repulsed and disappointed. A severe battle ensued, in which the Americans did great execution. For a while the result seemed doubtful, when General Wayne came up with his troops and gave victory to the Americans.

Colonel Henry Monckton tried to drive Wayne from his position, leading his troops in a bayonet charge. So terrible was Wayne’s storm of bullets that almost every British officer was slain, Colonel Monckton being among the killed.

The battle ended at twilight, when both armies rested on their weapons, prepared for another conflict at dawn. But Clinton withdrew his army so silently, that he was far away when the American sentinels discovered his flight in the morning. Washington did not pursue.

The British lost 1000 by desertion while crossing New Jersey, and they left 245 on the field. The Americans lost 228 killed, wounded and missing.

It was during part of this action that Molly McKolly, wife of an artilleryman in Proctor’s regiment, carried water for the thirsty soldiers, 445and when her husband was wounded, an officer ordered the piece to be withdrawn.

Molly dropped her pitcher, seized the rammer and, displaying great courage and presence of mind, kept the gun in action. She performed the duty with a skill and daring that attracted the attention of all who saw her. On the following morning, covered with dirt and blood, General Greene presented her to Washington, who, admiring her bravery, conferred upon her the commission of sergeant.

She was called Captain Molly, and became a heroine, always afterward known as “Molly Pitcher.” A monument on the battlefield at Monmouth attests to her act, and her grave in the Carlisle, Pa., cemetery is marked by a stone and cannon.

John Blair Linn, in his Annals of Buffalo Valley, says that the flag of the Royal Grenadiers and the sword of Colonel Monckton were captured on the field of Monmouth by Captain William Wilson, of Northumberland County.

The flag is five feet four inches by four feet eight, lemon color ground, heavy corded silk; the device at upper right corner is twenty inches square, British Union, consisting of the cross of St. George and St. Andrew’s Cross. The field of the device is blue, the central stripes red, the marginal ones white.

When Monckton waved his sword and ordered his grenadiers to charge and Wayne met them with a deadly fire, the colors were in advance, to the right, with the colonel, and they went down with him. Captain Wilson and his company, who were on the right of the First Pennsylvania, made a rush for the colors and the body of the brave colonel.

Captain Wilson gave Monckton’s sword to General Wayne, who presented it to General Lafayette, who took it with him to Europe. When he returned to the United States in 1824, he brought the sword with him, intending to restore it in person to Captain Wilson.

Captain Wilson having died in 1813, General Lafayette handed the sword to Colonel Samuel Hunter, who turned it over to Judge A. S. Wilson, a son of Captain William Wilson.

The flag has frequently been brought into requisition in patriotic demonstrations in subsequent years. It is still in the possession of descendantsdescendants of Captain Wilson, now residents of Bellefonte.

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