Show the riflemen of f the li he ro lut baon THE pennsylvania COMPANIES by ELMO SCOTT WATSON T WAS the summer of 0 1775 on the benches outside a tavern in the little 11 pennsylvania town 0 of sunbury 1 a group of villagers lounged in the alie warn warm sunshine and gossiped idly about the news from the north at concord and lexington in massachusetts some farmers had fit the rog reg lars and there had been bloodletting blood letting plenty aplenty a awny away up in new york a leader of f the green creen mountain roys boys named milan ithan allen alien had bad thundered at the gates of old tl TI on oil the shores of 0 lake champlain Champl aln and demanded the surrender of the fort lit in the name naine of the groat great jehovah and the continental congress Pons ress ti the king and ills his ministers had sent ilive more generals burgoyne Burgoy nc and clinton and hone home to boston to help general gage hanz hans as rebels and traitors all mho continued to insist UN ills Maje government stirring events thesel these 1 nut mit in fit this sleepy little litile village the possibility of win at still seemed far away and unlikely then blidt its calm was broken A horseman galloping in haste and shouting express hol ho from philadelphia delp hla na as lie rode drew vp rp lit in a swirl of lust dust before the lie jan inn and was lie ile news he brought on june 14 tile lip second continental congress had passed a resolution that hat ix 1 companies of expert riflemen be immediately raised in the colony of tm tn in the colony of 0 maryland and two in the colony of virginia and that each company as soon as completed shall march to join the army near boston to be there employed as light iiri under the command of the chief officer of that army tills this chief officer had just been appointed ile he was a virginian named george washington the same washington who had distinguished himself at that bloody business of braddock raddock ri on the monongahela on onga hela twenty beirs cars before and who was even now riding north to throw tommy gage out of boston so it was to be war mar farmers jogging along the country roads on their way to tile the grist mill stopped to talk of it over stake and ilet fences with their neighbors packhorse men setting out on trading expeditions to the west carried word of it to every backwoods through which they passed and at once in many a cabin in the clearing a lanky frontiersman reached up to the pegs above the lie fireplace and took down his long rifle in his swift sure hands it had barked barbed defiance at pontiacs Ponti acs warriors it had brought many a squirrel tumbling down from the highest branch of a tree and it had stopped short the hounding bounding flight of more than one buck deer but there was bigger game afield now game which offered a target that no rifleman be he expert or not was likely to miss the british redcoats Redcoat sl so from their cabins in buffalo valley and the other settlements along the west branch of the these backwoodsmen backwoods men hastened to sunbury 1 to enroll in the company which their neighbor john lowdon was forming lowdon had been born of quaker parents but apparently he uns as apostate to tile the doctrines of the society of I 1 fiends for he had fought as an ensign in the french and indian war ile he was an innkeeper at lancaster Iao caster for a time then moved to buffalo valley where he was a leading member or of the committee of correspondence on june 25 lowdins Low dons commission as captain of a rifle company was signed by president john Il ancock and secretary charles thomson of the continental congress four das dais later he was leading lits his company across the river to northumberland thum berland to bs be sworn into the continental Eer service vIce there they remained until one day early in july when young dick grosvenor the company drummer beat the long roll to summon CAPT SAM BRADY them to take up the march to reading heading and easton and from there start on the long journey to boston in the meantime congress had passed another resolution directing the colony of pennsylvania to raise two more companies which with the 61 elx already authorized were to be formed into a battalion and to be commanded by such officers as ag the colonial assembly or convention should recommend even before this word ord came out of philadelphia the rifle companies were being filled to the overflowing over overflow flomIng ing at samuel gettys tavern later the historic town of gettysburg the york county men were rallying to the lead enship of capt michael daudel in berks county they were swarming into reading heading to enroll under capt george nagel in northampton county recruiting for capt abraham Al millers Illers company was going forward swiftly anil and from bedford county in the west came word that capt robert kobert Clug gages men were almost ready to march cumberland county was providing two companies commanded by capt james chambers and capt william hendricks in fact so prompt had been the response of the pennsylvania backwoodsmen backwoods men to the call that on july 11 congress was notified that two companies instead of one had been enlisted to in lancaster county by capt james ross and capt matthew smith and that the battalion of riflemen raised tor for the defense of american lib alb U 4 1 r A T I 1 dite r r ff ly r V gwit t A ai W A A RIFLEMAN OF 1775 from the painting by chappel erty and for repelling any hostile invasion thereof would consist of nine companies they were to be commanded by col william thompson of carlisle with mith toward idward hand of lancaster as colonel find and robert magaw as major all men whose courage we have bare the highest opinion of each company consisted of one captain three lieutenants four sergeants tour four corporals a drummer or trumpeter and GS CS privates the captain received 20 a month the lieutenants iala 13 the sergeants 8 alir corporals and the drummer or trumpeter sa and the privates 62 0 1 these riflemen were a miscellaneous lot the majority of them were iilah german or welsh the second generation ot of some of the thousands of immigrants who mho in the early bears of the eighteenth century had settled in william penns colony then too there were many descendants ants of the scots who had been driven by religious persecution from their native highlands in the seventeenth century they had sought temporary refuge in the province of ulster ireland whence between the bears ears 1720 and 1710 1740 thousands of them migrated to america and peopled the hills bills ot of pennsylvanian Pennsyl frontier with a sturdy rugged race that was destined to play an important part in the formation of our national character besides these there were mere others of 0 pule english stock and to malie make the cosmopolitan nature of the he battalion more complete the rolls ot of captain lowdins Low dons company carried the name of john shawnee a SLa shawanese wanese indian warrior on these same rolls were three other names which should liae baie made londono Low LoN dons company forever famous one of them was a german peter bentz pennsylvania would later hall him under the name of peter pence as one of her greatest indian figh fighters tend another was a seventeen year old boy ft a redheaded red headed irish lad ad name named samuel brady the future would mould see him making the name of capt sam brady chief ot of rangers hangers a household woid mold along the pennsylvania ohio border it would know him as the hero of bradys Er adys leap across the chasm of the lie cuya hoga bogn rier in northern ohio but tills this would be only one of many of his bis hairbreadth escapes irom from the red men the third was another irishman a rollicking dark eyed celt named timothy murphy two years later the sharp crack of 0 ills his long iong ilelle would sound the doom of a british army as his bullet punctuated the death sentence of gen simon fraser at saratoga another year would add to his fame as tile the most re ous marksman in north america and as the scout of the schoharie Scho harle arle lie would become the terror of his iroquois and tory enemies in new york no less notable than the he eagerness of duill such men as these to enlist in the fight for liberty was their speed in reaching the theater ot of war Bet between meen the ath of july and the ad instant the rifle men under the command of captains smith lowdon Low doii doude chambers nagel miller and hendricks passed through new AVInd windsor sor a few miles north of west point in the new york government on their way may to boston said a new york item in the philadelphia evening post of august 17 1775 but it was mas evidently incorrect so far as two ot of the companies and Dou dowdels dels mere ere concerned A letter dated from cambridge july 24 1775 says tile the reading company 0 of rifles got into camp last tuesday ielli the rest are hourly expected and much wanted thus the men from berks county had the honor of being the first pennsylvania company to appear on the scene of action by july 25 2 they had been joined by their sharp shooing brethren from york county under captain captain chambers company arrived on august 7 and captain hendricks endricks II on august 8 on the same day tim murphy sam brady peter bentz and their mates in captain lowrys lowres company shuffled their well worn moccasins through the grass on the campus of harvard college and shook the dust of the weary miles from their green thrummed hunting shirts ten days later captain ross poss and his company swung into camp to be met with much good natured banter at his tardy arrival because his bis lancaster county dutchmen were so slow A al though there Is no record of the date 0 of arrival of the companies commanded by captains smith Clugg Clug gage and fliller ll iller ler it was evidently prior to august 18 an army return from headquarters of that date shows that the pennsylvania syl rania riflemen had three field officers nine captains 27 lieutenants the adjutant quartermaster surgeon and mate 2 29 sergeants 13 drummers and cifers and privates present and fit for duty besides these regularly enlisted men there were mere several gentlemen volunteers who mho had accompanied the riflemen on their march among them were edward burd jesse lukens matthew thew duncan and john joseph henry aho vho ft ho later rose to prominence in the history of their state but more important than these was a i 5 oung doctor named james AVI lkInson A native of tidewater md aid lie he had studied medicine in philadelphia and there made the acquaintance of 0 officers of a british regiment the royal irish ills association mith them as he later wrote inspired in me that love 0 of filings military eier eer after the guiding star of my life so lie accompanied colonel thomp sons riflemen to cambridge where began that amazing career which carried him eventually to the high position of commander in chief of the army of the united states despite the fact that he was in the words of one historian venal coward ous treacherous a bribe taker from spain a traitor to the united states and faithless in all relations public and private soon after the arrival of the pennsylvania companies at cambridge the battalion became the second regiment of the army of the united colonies thus losing their identity as riflemen GEN EDWARD HAND in the light infantry authorized by congress but they lost noue none of their characteristic fig fighting lit qualities for as one of their captains wrote home the riflemen go where they please and keep keel the regulars in continual hot water early in september captain hendricks and captain smiths companies accompanied arnold and montgomery on their ill iii rated fated expedition against quebec where hendricks was killed hilled and most of the riflemen taken prisoners in the meantime the other companies mere giving their officers and the in calef plenty of trouble by rebelling a against ainest attempts to enforce discipline but their disobedient and mutinous behavior was forgiven by their conduct in a skirmish at Lec Lech limeres meres point in november which won for colonel thompson and his regiment the public thanks of washington on january 1 the army was z reorganized and these riflemen became members of tile the first regiment of the continental army in march thompson became a brigadier general and hand succeeded him as colonel under his leadership the regiment distinguished itself at the battles of long island germantown Geiman Gelman town and monmouth MOuth and its members frequently referred to in terms of their commander made the name a hand rifleman a badge of special distinction tor for a first erst class fl fighting htide man in ilia bt ruggle for american liberty fi 0 western New union |