PRINTER'S NO. 1698
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE RESOLUTION
No.
339
Session of
2015
INTRODUCED BY GREENLEAF, TEPLITZ, DINNIMAN, SCAVELLO, FONTANA,
COSTA, RAFFERTY, McILHINNEY, VULAKOVICH, MENSCH AND AUMENT,
APRIL 12, 2016
INTRODUCED AND ADOPTED, APRIL 12, 2016
A RESOLUTION
Designating May 1, 2016, as "The Battle of the Crooked Billet
Day" in Pennsylvania.
WHEREAS, During the American War for 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 Lacey with the mission to keep
the local inhabitants from selling supplies to the British Army,
who 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
militia by ambush and planned to capture General Lacey; and
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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 Lacey was not fooled by the trap and led the
Pennsylvania militia north where they fought their way through a
blockade held by British Dragoons, thereby escaping deeper into
Bucks County; and
WHEREAS, Twenty-six Pennsylvania militiamen were killed in
action that day and 58 Pennsylvania militiamen were captured and
the Pennsylvania militia lost all of their supply wagons; and
WHEREAS, General Lacey's heroic leadership and quick thinking
on that fateful day prevented further casualties, saving the
lives of hundreds of Pennsylvania militiamen; and
WHEREAS, Forty-eight hours after the battle, later referred
to as the Battle of the Crooked Billet, General Lacey continued
with his orders of keeping supplies from occupied Philadelphia
and redirecting supplies to Valley Forge; and
WHEREAS, General Lacey continued to serve the people of
Pennsylvania when, in November of 1778, he was elected to the
Pennsylvania General Assembly and, in November 1779, he was
elected to the Pennsylvania Supreme Executive Council; therefore
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be it
RESOLVED, That the Senate designate May 1, 2016, as "The
Battle of the Crooked Billet Day" throughout this Commonwealth
to honor the men of the Pennsylvania militia, under the command
and leadership of Brigadier General John Lacey, for their
heroism, especially those men who paid the ultimate sacrifice on
May 1, 1778, for the competent and heroic leadership of
Brigadier General John Lacey in preserving the militia from
annihilation and leading them to safety and for all their sacred
participation in the fight and struggle for freedom in the early
years of the Republic of the United States of America.
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