Barren Hill - May 20, 1778

Real World Walk to Barren Hill

With the onset of spring in 1778, General George Washington expected movement of some sort from the British army in the City of Philadelphia. To protect the encampment at Valley Forge and to determine British intentions along with annoying their foraging expeditions, on May 18, 1778, Washington sent 2,200 men and five guns across the Schuylkill River to the area north of Philadelphia.

Commanding the force was Major General Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gibert Du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette...

...better known simply as Lafayette. Lafayette was just 20 years old, and this was his first command. A fabulously wealthy adventurer, the French volunteer had endeared himself to General Washington, who viewed him as the son he never had.

Unfortunately for the fledgling Americans, the British came out of Philadelphia that day. Generals Grant, Grey, and Clinton had the patriots nearly surrounded. Lafayette and his forces were lucky to escape that day.


You can see the distant heights on the left which rise above the river. Lafayette's men marched down Barren Hill Road in the hollow visible to the right of these heights. They then continued along the riverbank on the left of the picture. A mile or so further, near the center of the modern town of Conshohocken, Lafayette crossed the river to safety at Matson's Ford (which is now the name of the road that goes over a bridge at this site). Once across the river, he was protected from any British pursuit by heights similar to those on the right of the picture.

The forces of Clinton and Grant met up at Barren Hill, making it clear that "the boy Lafayette" had escaped. The British returned to Philadelphia, with Clinton and Grey getting back by 2 PM, but Grant's men arriving only in the evening after marching a total of forty miles that day.

Source

Pictures from the Real World Walk to follow.