Battle of Crooked Billet

May 1, 1778 marked a clash near the Crooked Billet Tavern, part of the wider Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War. The engagement unfolded in Moreland Township, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, a place known today as Hatboro and now situated within Montgomery County. Major John Graves Simcoe led British troops in a surprise strike, catching Brigadier General John Lacey and three Pennsylvania militia regiments while they slept. The assault left considerable damage in its wake, compelling Lacey and his men to fall back into nearby Warminster, in Bucks County.

Background

General William Howe's forces had seized New York City back in 1776, then went on to take Philadelphia the following year. The fall of Forts Mifflin and Mercer had already stripped away the defenses that once blocked seaborne supply lines into occupied Philadelphia, yet the British still counted heavily on the land route connecting New York City and Philadelphia to move their men, materiel, and dispatches. Soldiers also made regular sweeps through the surrounding countryside to gather provisions.

Washington's Continental Army had been settled into winter quarters at Valley Forge since December, situated northwest of the city. That January, at just 23 years old, John Lacey earned promotion to Brigadier General and took charge of Pennsylvania's militia. Washington assigned him the job of watching over the territory north of Philadelphia, the stretch of land lying between the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers. His orders were twofold: stop local farmers from smuggling their produce into the city to sell to British buyers, who offered gold at premium rates, and shield the area's patriots from being harassed by British and Loyalist forces.

Washington did not hide his displeasure with either Pennsylvania's efforts to recruit militia or Lacey's conduct in the field. The state had pledged a thousand militiamen for the patrol duty but fell far short of that number, leaving Washington to weigh the option of summoning militia from other states instead. According to Washington's own account, the militia numbers promised by the state had never even reached half the target, and Lacey now commanded a mere 70 men. Compared to Brigadier General James Potter, Lacey had proven less capable of choking off trade with the British, and Washington expressed hope that Potter, then away on leave, would return to duty before long.

Prelude

Throughout the closing days of April, Lacey carried out a string of movements and reconnaissance sweeps through the region, a process that culminated on April 27 with his force settling near the Crooked Billet Tavern, in what is now Hatboro. During this time a British patrol struck one of his scattered companies, and word of Lacey's position reached John Graves Simcoe, who commanded the Loyalist Queen's Rangers, through Loyalist informants.

Back in Philadelphia, General Howe had directed Simcoe to work toward securing the surrounding countryside so that local residents could safely transport their goods to market. Throughout that winter, both British regulars and Loyalist forces had launched repeated incursions into Bucks County, undeterred by the militia stationed there under Lacey. As April progressed, Simcoe obtained Howe's approval to move against Lacey's militia directly. On the afternoon of April 30, he set out from Philadelphia alongside Lieutenant Colonel Robert Abercromby, leading their troops toward the Crooked Billet. At this point Lacey's ranks had swelled to roughly 400 men, bolstered by newly arrived reinforcements from Cumberland and York Counties. That evening, Lacey instructed Lieutenant William Neilsen to conduct a patrol sometime between 2:00 and 3:00 in the morning, while also placing Thomas Downey's brigade on standby. Neilsen, however, did not carry out these instructions as directed, and his patrol did not depart camp until just before dawn broke on May 1. Before they could travel any real distance, they caught sight of the approaching British forces.

Aftermath

The clash left the Americans stripped of ten wagons loaded with badly needed supplies, and nearly a fifth of Lacey's men were killed, wounded, or captured. Lieutenant Nielson, who had command of the pickets, faced a court martial for disobeying orders and was stripped of his militia commission as a result.

The casualty list included several named soldiers. George Matthews of the 5th Battalion, Cumberland County Militia, suffered wounds. John Poorman, from Allen Township and serving in the Third Battalion's 5th Class of the Cumberland County Militia, died and was laid to rest at Crooked Billet. Robert Montgomery, who served under Captain Isaac Miller in the 7th Battalion Cumberland County Militia, was wounded. Aaron Penwell, a member of Captain Walter Denny's Company, lost an arm during the fighting and was captured; he hailed from West Pensboro Township and belonged to the 7th Battalion Militia, and it was his left arm that he lost. John Taylor the elder, of what was then Greenwood Township in Cumberland County (now part of Perry County), served in the 8th Battalion of Militia and was also wounded.

When Potter came back from leave on May 11, command passed out of Lacey's hands. Still, Washington asked that Lacey stay on with the militia briefly so Potter could get his bearings in the area. The British abandoned Philadelphia by late June, after which Washington no longer needed the militia to guard the region.

Word spread quickly following the fight that Simcoe's men had engaged in atrocities, supposedly executing prisoners and setting the American wounded ablaze. Washington responded on May 7 by directing Brigadier General William Maxwell to look into these claims so that findings could go to General Howe. Andrew Long, serving as a Bucks County justice of the peace, gathered sworn statements from Colonel Watts along with four locals who had witnessed the engagement: Samuel Henry, William Stayner, Thomas Craven, and Samuel Erwin. In his statement, Watts described finding corpses treated in a shockingly cruel and inhuman fashion, calling it barbarity worse than anything seen among civilized nations, rivaling even the harshest savagery imaginable.

Lacey's account to Major General John Armstrong Sr. described unfortunate men who fell into British hands being subjected to brutal, inhumane slaughter. Some had buckwheat straw set alight beneath them, while others watched their clothing burn away on their backs. According to surviving witnesses, wounded men were set on fire while still alive, struggling weakly to extinguish the flames before dying from the torment. Lacey himself recalled seeing bodies among the buckwheat straw presenting a deeply sorrowful sight. He also noted others who, having already taken a bullet wound, bore nearly a dozen additional gashes from cutlasses and bayonets. He maintained that witnesses to such cruelty were as numerous as the many onlookers present at the scene.