Paoli 1777: No Flint Grey's Night Raid, Wayne's Campfires and Red Feathers

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On the night of September 20, 1777, British troops marched on an American camp in Pennsylvania with their muskets deliberately made useless. Nine days after the defeat at Brandywine and four days after the rain-soaked Battle of the Clouds, George Washington left Brigadier General Anthony Wayne and about 1,500 men of the Pennsylvania Division behind to harass Sir William Howe's baggage trains. Wayne camped near the Paoli Tavern believing his position was secret, but loyalist informants had already led British scouts to it, just four miles from the main British camp in Tredyffrin Township. At 10 p.m., Major General Charles Grey set out with about 1,200 light infantry, foot regiments and dragoons, guided by a local blacksmith they had forced into service, and ordered his men to remove the flints from their muskets so no stray spark or shot could give them away.

American sentries fired warning shots and were overrun, and Wayne's men began withdrawing west, only to be stalled when a disabled cannon blocked their route through fenced fields. The campfires Wayne had left burning lit up his troops for the attackers coming out of the dark, and the Second Light Infantry, the 44th and 42nd Regiments and the dragoons broke the column. Survivors described men bayoneted after surrendering, and the night became known as the Paoli Massacre. Historian Mark M. Boatner III rejects that label, pointing out that the British took 71 prisoners and that the multiple bayonet wounds reflected a night melee fought only with steel. Americans later charged into battle shouting Remember Paoli, and the British light infantry answered with a gesture that became a regimental tradition.

• Grey earned the nickname No Flint Grey, and only Major Maitland's battalion was allowed to keep loaded weapons after he vouched for his men's discipline.
• The British lost four killed and seven wounded, while at least 52 Americans were killed, about 149 wounded and 71 captured.
• Wayne demanded a court-martial to clear his name and was exonerated of misconduct, though his handling of the campfires drew lasting criticism.
• The Second Light Infantry dyed their hat feathers red so the Americans would know exactly whom they faced, a distinction later worn by the 46th Regiment and the Royal Berkshire Regiment until 2006.
• Monuments went up on the battlefield as early as 1817, followed by a granite obelisk for the 1877 centennial, and the site is now on the National Register of Historic Places.