Milford chronicle., 1962-04-20
Loyalty Day Ceremonies
On Sunday, April 29

Foreign Wars, of plans for Loyalty
Day ceremonies, Sunday, April 20,
at Cooch's Bridge has served to
again focus public attention upon
an otherwise obscure stream cross
ing where, according to tradition,
the Stars and Stripes were first
unfurled in land battle, advises the
Delaware State Development De-
partment.
In the eight year struggle for
American liberty and Independent
ce every state on the Atlantic Sea-
board felt at one time or another
the heavy tread of British and Hes
sian boots. The campaign on Del
aware soil was a short one-from
Sept. to Sept. in 1777-yet es-
tablished a niche in history for the
area surrounding a small bridge
that crosses the sluggish, shallow
Christina Greek at point about
3.5 miles south of Newark, notes
the state information agency.
No great victory was attained at
Cooch's Bridge: in fact what is re-
ferred to as THE Battle of Cooch's
Bridge" was merely one of a series
of skirmishes that served to annoy
and delay the British in their
march on Philadelphia. However,
this delaying action undoubtedly
did give General Washington Con-
tinentals the time needed to re-
group and keep intact some of the
forces that would at later day
and year attain victory.
On August 25, 1877, Lord Corn
wallis brought $4,000 troops from
New York into Chesapeake Bay for
the purpose of striking overland
across northern Delaware n o
southeastern Pennsylvania with
Philadelphia as the ultimate goal
Disseminating at Oldfield p II I,
near the head of the Elk River, Tn
British and Hessian forces famed
out on northeastern course.
General Washington, who h d
anticipated the British move to-
wards Philadelphia, deployed t h e
main part of his forces along the
Red Clay Greek, near present day
Newport, and sent a corps under
Brig. General William Maxwell TO
the area along the Christina Greek
near Cooch's Mill.
Maxwell's instructions were I o.
watch for the British and "be pre-
pared to give them as much trouble
as you possibly can"
The invaders marched from the
Elk River TO a point near present
day Glasgow and then north on
winding road that led to Newark.
On the morning of September 8,
1777, German soldiers, leading in
the woods that skirted the narrow
road. British reinforcements a d
cannon fire eventually dislodged
the Americans who withdrew to-
wards Cooch's Mill Determined
stands were made by the continen-
tails at both the stream crossing
and at the mill itself, and it was
here, according TO tradition, that
new emblem, the Stars and Stripes,
was first lnfurled in skirmish with
an enemy force.
AS additional British troops were
moved up, the outnumbered Ameri-
cans withdrew and eventually re-
Joined Washington forces. After
establishing a line from Iron Hill,
near Newark, 10 Aiken's Tavern
(now Glasgow, with c Cooc his
Bridge as an outpost, the British
and Hessian troops rested and re-
formed, and then, before dawn on
September s, 1777, moved north
ward through Newark.
On September IL, 1777, the Brit
ish forces defeated the Americans
in a bloody battle near Chadd's
Ford, just over the Pennsylvania
border, Spening the way to Phila-
delphia. That evening, the British
sent troops back into Delaware and
occupied Wilmington, capturing
President John McKinly and a ship
containing official state records
and funds. On October Is, the Brit
ish troops in Wilmington were
moved to Philadelphia and the
tread of invaders boots was no
longer heard on Delaware soil al
though the Delaware River con-
tinued to remain in control of the
British.
Although Continentals and Brit
ish no longer fought on Delaware
soil, Della ware soldiers continued TO
give a good account of themselves
in the American Colonies struggle
for independence.
Delaware, the site of the initial
unfurling of Stars and Stripes in
battle. subsequently gained anoth-
er first-first to join the present
Union under the Federal Constitu-
tion. This latter action, which took
place at Dover on December Z, 1887
earned for Delaware it's nickname
of The First State" advises h e
Development Department.
The historic old Cooch House,
overlooking the site where Max
wells men, fighting under an in
spring new emblem, gave the in
vading British plenty of trouble"
is still standing and is occupied
by descendants of Thomas Cooch,
who built the house in 1860 and
gave his name to a mill and a
stream crossing, and, later, to
battle site. Within a stones throw
OF the house, alongside OF a mod
ern bridge that replaced the earlier
structure, stands monument COM
morating the gallantry and cour-
age of small force Of Americans
that away back in 1777 harassed
and delayed far superior invad-
ing force.
Each year, on the Sunday near
est May /, the Department of Del
aware, Veterans of Foreign Wars,
as mart of a statewide observance