The Delaware Series
'Delaware Blues' Part I: Colonel Haslet to Colonel Hall
By Olde Delaware
"This regiment was the best uniformed and equipped in the army of 1776. Their dress was a short blue jacket, faced and lined with red; a white waistcoat and buckskin breeches; white knit stockings with short black canvas gaiters or spatterdashes. The buttons were of pewter for the men, and gilt for the officers, marked "D B" for "Delaware Battalion." - "Diary of Captain Thomas Rodney," in Papers of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, no. VIII (1888)
The 1st Delaware Regiment was raised on December 9th 1775 for service with the continental army in response to the request of the Continental Congress. It would not be until January 13th, 1776 that the Delaware Battalion would receive its first Colonel, John Haslet.
Colonel John Haslet
Haslet was born in Straw, Dungiven, County Londonderry in Ulster, Ireland, about 1727, son of Joseph and Ann Dykes Haslet. As the eldest son, he attended the University of Glasgow in Scotland, earned his degree in divinity in 1749 and was ordained a Presbyterian minister at Ballykelly, County Londonderry, in 1752. Arriving in America in 1757, he served in the French and Indian War as a captain in the Pennsylvania militia. He was part of the Forbes expedition that captured Fort Duquesne in November 1758.
January to August 1776
While the conflict raged in Boston, Delaware assembled the first companies and appointed the first company commanders of the Delaware Battalion.Three companies from New Castle County, three from Kent County and two from Sussex County. David Hall, company commander of a Sussex regiment was appointed second in command of the Battalion. While not listed as a company commander, Captain Thomas Holland, formerly of the 23rd Royal Welch Fusiliers, an elite British unit served as adjutant of the unit and was responsible for their training and outfitting.
Captain Joseph Stidham’s Company – New Castle County
Captain Jonathan Caldwell’s Company – Kent County
Captain David Hall’s Company– Sussex County
Captain Henry Darby’s Company – New Castle County
Captain Charles Pope’s Company – Kent County
Captain Nathan Adams’ Company – Kent County
Captain Samuel Smith’s Company – New Castle County
Captain Joseph Vaughan’s Company – Sussex County
The Battalion trained from January to July and then were deployed north, arriving in time to engage British Forces for the first time.
Battle of Long Island
After defeating the British in the Siege of Boston on March 17, 1776, commander-in-chief General George Washington brought the Continental Army to defend the port city of New York, then limited to the southern end of Manhattan Island. Washington understood that the city's harbor would provide an excellent base for the British navy during the campaign, so he established defenses there and waited for the British to attack. In July, the British under the command of General William Howe landed a few miles across the harbor from Manhattan on the sparsely-populated Staten Island, where they were slowly reinforced by ships in Lower New York Bay during the next month and a half, bringing their total force to 32,000 troops. Washington knew the difficulty in holding the city with the British fleet in control of the entrance to the harbor at the Narrows, and he moved the bulk of his forces to Manhattan, believing that it would be the first target.
At about 11pm on August 26, the first shots were fired in the Battle of Long Island, near the Red Lion Inn (near present-day 39th Street and 4th Avenue). American pickets from Samuel John Atlee's Pennsylvania regiment fired upon two British soldiers who were foraging in a watermelon patch near the inn. At 1:00am on August 27, the British approached the vicinity of the Red Lion with 200–300 troops. The American troops fired upon the British; after approximately two fusillades, they fled up the Gowanus Road toward the Vechte-Cortelyou House. Major Edward Burd had been in command, but he was captured along with a lieutenant and 15 privates. This first engagement was fought in the vicinity of 38th and 39th streets between 2nd and 3rd avenues near a swamp located adjacent to the Gowanus Road.
Brigadier General Samuel Holden Parsons and Colonel Atlee were stationed farther north on the Gowanus Road. Parsons was a lawyer from Connecticut who had recently secured a commission in the Continental Army; Atlee was a veteran of the French and Indian War in command of the First Regiment of Pennsylvania Musketry. Putnam had been awakened by a guard at 03:00 and told that the British were attacking through the Gowanus Pass. He lit signals to Washington, who was on Manhattan, and then rode south to warn Stirling of the attack.
Stirling led two units of Colonel John Haslet's 1st Delaware Regiment under the immediate command of Major Thomas Macdonough, and Colonel William Smallwood's 1st Maryland Infantry under the immediate command of Major Mordecai Gist; both Haslet and Smallwood were on courts-martial duty in Manhattan. Following close behind was Parson's Connecticut regiment with 251 men. Stirling led this combined force to reinforce Parsons and Atlee and stop the British advance. Stirling had a total of 1,600 troops at his command. Stirling placed Atlee's men in an apple orchard owned by Wynant Bennett on the south side of the Gowanus Road near present-day 3rd Avenue and 18th Street.
Stirling took up positions with the Delaware and Maryland regiments just to the north of Atlee's men on the slopes of a rise of land between 18th and 20th streets. Some of the Maryland troops were positioned on a small hill near 23rd Street, which the local Dutch called "Blokje Berg" (Dutch for cube or block hill). At the base of this hill, the Gowanus Road crossed a small bridge over a ditch which drained a marshy area. When the British advanced up the Gowanus Road, the American troops fired upon them from positions on the north side of the ditch.
Unbeknownst to the Americans, this was not the main attack of the British.
At 09:00, Washington arrived from Manhattan. He realized that he had been wrong about a feint on Long Island and he ordered more troops to Brooklyn from Manhattan. His location on the battlefield is not known because accounts differ, but most likely he was at Brooklyn Heights where he could view the battle.
The First Delaware Regiment engaging General James Grant's division during the morning of August 27th 1776
Stirling still held the line against Grant on the American right, to the west. He held on for four hours, still unaware of the British flanking maneuver, and some of his own troops thought that they were winning the day because the British had been unable to take their position. However, Grant was reinforced by 2,000 marines, and he hit Stirling's center by 11am, and Stirling was attacked on his left by the Hessians. Stirling pulled back, but British troops were coming at him from the rear, south down the Gowanus Road. The only escape route left was across a Brouwer's millpond on the Gowanus Creek which was 80 yards wide, on the other side of Brooklyn Heights.
Stirling ordered all of his troops to cross the creek, except a contingent of Maryland troops under the command of Gist. This group became known to history as the "Maryland 400", although they numbered about 260–270 men. Stirling and Gist led the troops in a rear-guard action against the overwhelming numbers of British troops, which surpassed 2,000 supported by two cannons. Stirling and Gist led the Marylanders in two attacks against the British, who were in fixed positions in and in front of the Vechte-Cortelyou House (known today as the Old Stone House). After the last assault, the remaining troops retreated across the Gowanus Creek. Some of the men who tried to cross the marsh were bogged down in the mud and under musket fire, and others who could not swim were captured.
Retreating across Westchester County, Haslet's men won a victory over a corps of Loyalists at Mamaroneck, New York. At White Plains, on October 28, 1776, the Delaware Regiment again fought with Colonel William Smallwood's Marylanders, reinforcing militia placed on the strategic Chatterton's Hill. The local militia fled under the British attack, but Haslet and Smallwood fought on until, at last, they too yielded the ground. The Battle of White Plains was another British victory, but because of the difficulty in taking Chatterton's Hill, the price was great and the reward to the British was little. With expiring enlistments leaving fewer than 100 men remaining in his regiment, Haslet crossed the Delaware with Washington and joined the attack on Trenton on the morning of December 26, 1776.
Battle of Princeton
The Battle of Princeton was a battle of the American Revolutionary War, fought near Princeton, New Jersey on January 3, 1777. Lord General Charles Cornwallis had left 1,400 British troops under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Charles Mawhood in Princeton. Following a surprise attack at Trenton early in the morning of December 26, 1776, General George Washington of the Continental Army decided to attack the British in New Jersey before entering winter quarters. On December 30, he crossed the Delaware River back into New Jersey. His troops followed on January 3, 1777. Washington advanced to Princeton by a back road, where he pushed back a smaller British force but had to retreat before Cornwallis arrived with reinforcements. The battles of Trenton and Princeton were a boost to the morale of the Continental troops, leading many recruits to join the Continental Army in the spring.
After defeating the Hessians at the Battle of Trenton on the morning of December 26, 1776, Washington withdrew back to Pennsylvania. He subsequently decided to attack the British forces before going into winter quarters. On December 29, he led his army back into Trenton. On the night of January 2, 1777, Washington repulsed a British attack at the Battle of the Assunpink Creek. That night, he evacuated his position, circled around General Lord Cornwallis' army, and went to attack the British garrison at Princeton.
On January 3, Brigadier General Hugh Mercer of the Continental Army clashed with two regiments under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Charles Mawhood of the British Army. Mercer and his troops were overrun, and Mercer was mortally wounded. Washington sent a brigade of militia under Brigadier General John Cadwalader to help them. The militia, on seeing the flight of Mercer's men, also began to flee. Washington rode up with reinforcements and rallied the fleeing militia. He then led the attack on Mawhood's troops, driving them back. Mawhood gave the order to retreat and most of the troops tried to flee to Cornwallis in Trenton.
It would be in this instance, the skirmish of January 3rd 1777 that Colonel Haslet would lose his life.
January 3rd 1777 Skirmish
Mawhood ordered his light troops to delay Mercer, while he brought up the other detachments. Mercer was walking through William Clark's orchard when the British light troops appeared. The British light troops' volley went high, which gave time for Mercer to wheel his troops around into battle line. Mercer's troops advanced, pushing back the British light troops. The Americans took up a position behind a fence at the upper end of the orchard. However, Mawhood had brought up his troops and his artillery. The American gunners opened fire first and for about ten minutes, the outnumbered American infantry exchanged fire with the British. However, many of the Americans had rifles which took longer to load than muskets. Mawhood ordered a bayonet charge and because many of the Americans had rifles, which could not be equipped with bayonets, they were overrun.
Both of the Americans' cannons were captured, and the British turned them on the fleeing troops. Mercer was surrounded by British soldiers and they shouted at him "Surrender you damn rebel!". Declining to ask for quarter, Mercer chose to resist instead. The British, thinking they had caught Washington, bayoneted him, and then left him for dead. Haslet, serving as Mercer's second in command tried to rally Mercer's brigade and was himself shot in the head and killed instantly.
The Death of General Mercer at the Battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777 displays several events at the Battle of Princeton. At the center, American General Hugh Mercer, with his horse beneath him, is mortally wounded. At the left, American Daniel Neil is bayoneted against a cannon. At the right, British Captain William Leslie is shown mortally wounded. In the background, American General George Washington and Doctor Benjamin Rush enter the scene. At the far left, below the cannon near the edge of the painting is American Colonel John Haslet.
Aftermath
While the Americans did win the battle for Princeton, the Delaware Regiment would return to its home state without its Commanding Officer, escorted by Colonel Thomas Rodney's Kent County Militia. I have not been able to locate solid casualty figures for the Delaware Regiment during the Battle of Princeton, it is believed the regiment began the fight with 108 men and returned with roughly the same amount to Delaware. Haslet was first buried at the First Presbyterian Church cemetery in Philadelphia. By an act of the Delaware General Assembly on July 1, 1841, his remains were disinterred and moved to the Presbyterian Cemetery in Dover, Delaware. In 2001, the State of Delaware dedicated a monument to honor him at Battle Monument Park in Princeton, New Jersey.
John Haslet was perhaps the best soldier Delaware had to offer, and the next best soldier, his good friend Caesar Rodney, rushed to the Continental Army to try and fill his place. Haslet was succeeded as colonel by David Hall as Rodney returned home to be Delaware's wartime Governor.
End of Part I