Patrick Ferguson at the Battle of Brandywine



Captain Patrick Ferguson

A slim captain dressed in a short green coat slipped through the forest. He looked quickly left and right, visually checking that his corps was in position. They had an important task: spearheading the advance of General Knyphausen across the Brandywine River. Captain Patrick Ferguson concealed himself in the brush and checked that his weapon was ready for action. This was no ordinary musket, but a highly-sophisticated breech-loading rifle. Ferguson held a patent for it and had even demonstrated it before King George III.

The British realized the importance of Ferguson’s rifle, and ordered him to form a unit of riflemen to aid them in their war against the American rebels. 100 men were put into Ferguson’s Riflemen, and since their guns could fire 6 shots a minute, they were a formidable asset to General Knyphausen’s column.

As Ferguson watched the countryside, he noticed two riders come slowly toward his ambush. One was unusually dressed in a hussar uniform, while the other rode a bay horse and wore a large cocked hat. Ferguson ordered three of the best shots in his corps to come and shoot down these officers, but countermanded the order. To deliberately target officers like this was not civilized warfare.

The hussar made a circuit away from Ferguson, but the other came within range. Slipping out of the brush, Ferguson called, ordering him to stop. The rider looked back and slowly continued on his way, heedless of Ferguson’s deadly rifle. Again Ferguson motioned for him to halt, but the rider’s back was turned and he kept on.

What an opportunity! Patrick Ferguson, one of the best marksmen in the British army, could have shot this rider, who was obviously a general officer, in the back. Yet as he fingered the trigger, a thought flashed through his mind. It is not pleasant to shoot an unoffending individual in the back, he mused, especially while this individual is only attempting to do his duty. Ferguson lowered his rifle and the man rode away.

Minutes later, a musket ball slammed into Ferguson’s right elbow. He was helped to the field hospital, where the bullet was extracted. As he was recovering, he told this story to other wounded British officers. One of the surgeons, who had been attending the wounded Americans, heard it.   He informed Ferguson that the officer he had earlier refused to shoot was none other than the rebel commander-in-chief, General George Washington.

God’s hand of Providence had clearly kept George Washington safe at this battle of Brandywine.

"Washington's Encounter Along the Brandywine"
Painting by Pamela Patrick White.
Visit http://www.whitehistoricart.com/ppatrickwhite/Pages/WashingtonBrandywine.htm

Ferguson's own account of the battle is as follows:

A member of Ferguson's Rifles, as illustrated by Don Troiani

"We had not lain long...when a rebel officer, remarkable by a hussar dress, passed towards our army within a hundred yards of my right flank, not perceiving us.  He was followed by another, dressed in dark green or blue, mounted on a bay horse, with a remarkably large cocked hat.
I ordered three good shots to steal near...and fire at them, but the idea disgusted me.  I recalled the order.  The hussar in returning made a circuit, but the other passed again within a hundred yards of us, upon which I advanced from the woods towards him.
On my calling, he stopped, but after looking at me, proceeded.  I again drew his attention and made signs to stop but he slowly continued his way.  As I was within that distance at which in the quickest firing I could have lodged half-a-dozen of balls in or about him before he was out of my reach, I had only to determine.  But it was not pleasant to fire at the back of an unoffending individual, who was acquitting himself very coolly of his duty, so I let him alone.
The day after, I had been telling this story to some wounded officers who lay in the same room with me, when one of our surgeons, who had been dressing the wounded rebel officers, came in and told us they had been informing him that General Washington was all the morning with the light troops and only attended by a French Officer in a hussar dress, he himself dressed and mounted in every point as above described.  I am not sorry that I did not know at the time who it was."

Friar Roubaud and the William Henry Massacre 1757

A French officer informed me that a Huron at that very time in the camp, had in his possession an infant of six months whose death was certain if I did not immediately hasten to its rescue. ...The result was, that the infant should be given to me, if I would deliver to him in return the scalp of an enemy. ..."Well, there is the infant, carry it away, it belongs to you."...I arrived at the for, and at the sound of its feeble cries all the women ran towards me.  Each one flattered herself with the hope of recovering the object of her maternal tenderness.  They eagerly examined it, but neither the eyes nor the heart of any one recognized in it her child. ...I was absorbed in my reflections when I saw an English officer pass who happened to be well acquainted with the French language.  I addressed him therefore in a firm tone: "Sir, I have just ransomed this young infant from slavery, but it will not escape death, unless you direct some one of these women to take the place of its mother, and nurse it, until I shall be able to provide for it otherwise."...With that he spoke to the English women.  One of them offered to render it this service, if I would be willing to answer for her life and that of her husband, to charge myself with their support, and to see that they were conveyed to Boston from Montreal. I immediately accepted the proposition...

I was about quitting the fort, when the father of the infant was found, wounded by the bursting of a bomb, and utterly unable to succor himself.  He could not therefore put acquiesce with pleasure in the arrangements I had made for the security of his child, and I departed, accompanied by my English...  I cannot undertake to portray to you faithfully the new occurrence which here crowned my enterprise, for it is one of those events which a person flatters himself in vain with the hope of presenting true to nature.  We had scarcely reached the entrance of the camp, when a shrill and animated cry suddenly struck my ears.  Was it a cry of grief? or was it of joy?  It was all this, and much more, for it was that of the mother, who from a distance had recognized her child, so keen are the eyes of maternal love.  She ran with a precipitation which showed that this was indeed her child.  She snatched it from the arms of the English woman with an eagerness which seemed as if she feared that some one might a second time deprive her of it.  It is easy to imagine to what transports of joy she abandoned herself, particularly when she was assured of the life and the freedom of her husband, to whom she though that he had bid a final adieu."--pp. 183-185, Early Jesuit Missions in North America (read here: https://archive.org/stream/earlyjesuitmissi00kipwrich#page/184/mode/2up)

Madame Riedesel

"And the LORD God said, It is not good that man should be alone: I will make him an help meet for him"--Genesis 2:13

Madame Frederike Charlotte Louise von Riedesel was born on July 11, 1746.  On December 21, 1762, she married Baron von Riedesel.  1776 saw Baron Riedesel and troops from Brunswick posted to Canada, to defend that colony against rebels.  Madame Riedesel and her children sailed to Canada in 1777, as Baron Riedesel led the German contingent of Burgoyne's expedition.  Madame Riedesel accompanied her husband, and observed the battles of the Saratoga Campaign.  Her husband was taken prisoner when Burgoyne surrendered, but was exchanged in 1780.

Madame Riedesel was loved by many, as this story from her Memoirs shows:

"One day I saw out of a window of my room, a fleet of thirty-five ships approaching under full sail, and shortly afterward, from another window, I perceived them all lying at anchor between us and the city.  My husband had many English under his command, and among others the light dragoons.  Although the English troops are proud, and, as it is said, difficult to manage, yet they loved my husband, and were perfectly contented under his command.  On one occasion, when the English officers were dining with us, my husband said to them that he would accompany them back to their camp; whereupon they very politely begged me also to go with the party.  I, therefore, seated myself in a carriage, and reached the camp in advance of them.  But I believe that they had sent word of my arrival ahead of me, for an officer came up, and, to my great perplexity, requested me to get out of the carriage and walk with him down the line.  Upon my complying with his request, I was greeted with all military honors, even to the beating of drums, which still more increased my confusion.  I remarked to the officer that this was not suitable to me, and that we German women were not accustomed to such distinctions.  But he at once very politely answered that their whole corps could not sufficiently honor the wife of a general who, as their commanding officer, treated them with so much kindness; and more than all this, they would never forget what I had done for their comrades at Saratoga.  Although no unmindful of all this, which was very flattering and agreeable, I welcomed the first favorable moment to get away."--pgs. 184-185, Letters and Journals relating to the War of the American Revolution, and the Capture of the German Troops at Saratoga by Madame Riedesel, translated by William L. Stone

She died on March 28, 1808.

Edward Braddock, described by Mrs. Bellamy

Edward Braddock--the first British general to fight on the North American continent.  His army was defeated and himself killed in the Battle on the Monongahela.  In the years following the battle, Braddock has not been portrayed well.  He appears as a brutal, self-confident general.

One person, however, knew and was known by Braddock very well: the actress Mrs. George Anne Bellamy.  She had, as she says, "been known from my infancy" by General Braddock.

She gives this interesting account:

"This great man having been often reproached with brutality, I am induced to recite the following little accident, which evidently shews the contrary.

"As we were walking in the Park one day, we heard a poor fellow was to be chastised; when I requested the General to beg off the offender.  Upon his application to the general officer, whose name was Drury, he asked Braddock, How long since he had divested himself of brutality, and of the insolence of his manners?  To which the other replied, "You never knew me insolent to my inferiors.  It is only to such rude men as yourself, that I behave with the spirit which I think they deserve."--pg. 29, volume 3, An Apology for the Life of Mrs. George Anne Bellamy, found here

Not only does Mrs. Bellamy recount that Braddock was not as brutal as he seemed, she even writes in a stated effort to dispel the idea!