PRINTER'S NO. 3111
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No.
792
Session of
2015
INTRODUCED BY MURT, BAKER, BENNINGHOFF, COHEN, D. COSTA,
DiGIROLAMO, DUSH, EVERETT, GINGRICH, GROVE, KINSEY, KIRKLAND,
MAHONEY, MILLARD, O'NEILL, PASHINSKI, PAYNE, PETRI, QUIGLEY,
READSHAW, ROSS, SONNEY, THOMAS, TOOHIL, VEREB, WATSON,
YOUNGBLOOD, GOODMAN AND PHILLIPS-HILL, APRIL 7, 2016
INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35,
APRIL 7, 2016
A RESOLUTION
Designating May 1, 2016, as "The Battle of the Crooked Billet
Day" in Pennsylvania.
WHEREAS, During the American War of Independence at the time
of the Valley Forge encampment in 1777 and 1778, President
Thomas Wharton of the Pennsylvania Supreme Executive Council
commissioned Brigadier General John Lacey, the youngest general
in American history and a native of Bucks County, to lead the
Pennsylvania Militia in patrolling the countryside outside
Philadelphia; and
WHEREAS, General George Washington, commander in chief of the
Continental Army, charged General John Lacey with the mission to
keep the local inhabitants from selling supplies to the British
Army, which occupied Philadelphia, and to reroute those supplies
to the Continental Army at Valley Forge; and
WHEREAS, Due to the success of the Pennsylvania Militia, the
British Army developed a plan to annihilate the Pennsylvania
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Militia by ambush; and
WHEREAS, The British Army also planned to capture General
John Lacey; and
WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania Militia was comprised of
approximately 300 men from Bucks County and historic Cumberland
County as well as from other places throughout this
Commonwealth; and
WHEREAS, The British Army attacked the Pennsylvania Militia
with a force of approximately 850 men in the early morning of
May 1, 1778, in the present-day Borough of Hatboro, Montgomery
County, and the present-day Township of Warminster, Bucks
County; and
WHEREAS, The Queen's Rangers attempted to push the
Pennsylvania Militia south toward the point of ambush along
present-day Horsham Road; and
WHEREAS, General John Lacey was not fooled by the trap and
led the Pennsylvania Militia north, fighting its way through a
blockade held by British Dragoons, escaping deeper into Bucks
County; and
WHEREAS, The British committed war atrocities on the wounded
by throwing them into burning piles of buckwheat straw and
stabbing, with their bayonets and cutlasses, militiamen who were
surrendering and wounded; and
WHEREAS, Twenty-six Pennsylvania Militiamen were killed in
action that day; and
WHEREAS, Fifty-eight Pennsylvania Militiamen were captured;
and
WHEREAS, General John Lacey's heroic leadership and quick
thinking on that fateful day prevented further casualties,
saving the lives of hundreds of Pennsylvania Militiamen; and
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WHEREAS, General John Lacey, 48 hours after the battle,
continued with his orders of keeping supplies from occupied
Philadelphia and redirecting supplies to Valley Forge; and
WHEREAS, General John Lacey continued to serve the people of
Pennsylvania when, in November 1778, he was elected to the
Pennsylvania General Assembly and, in November 1779, he was
elected to the Pennsylvania Supreme Executive Council; and
WHEREAS, It is fitting to honor the men of the Pennsylvania
Militia under the command and leadership of Brigadier General
John Lacey for their heroism and, especially for those men who
paid the ultimate sacrifice on May 1, 1778, to recognize the
competent and heroic leadership of Brigadier General John Lacey
in preserving the militia from annihilation and leading it to
safety and to remember the militia's sacred participation in the
fight and struggle for freedom in the early years of the young
republic that would become the United States of America;
therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives designate May 1,
2016, as "The Battle of the Crooked Billet Day" in Pennsylvania.
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