page_title: 11th Pennsylvania Regiment
section_title: Philadelphia campaign
hierarchical_section_title: 11th Pennsylvania Regiment / History / Philadelphia campaign
caption_attribution_description: English: A Dreadful scene of havock, depicting the British light infantry and light dragoons attacking the Continental Army encampment at Paoli on 20 September 1777. The picture was painted in London and was commissioned for a British Army officer who had participated in the battle, possibly a Lieutenant Martin Hunter of the 52nd Regiment of Foot, the only British officer wounded in the battle. Left: Horsemen of the 16th Light Dragoons charge Continental infantry, while horsemen of the 1st and 2nd Continental Light Dragoons ride away firing their sidearms. Center foreground: Captain William Wolfe of the 40th Regiment of Foot lies dead, while Lieutenant Hunter bandages his right hand. Center background: Two Continental platoons fire on greenjackets, likely Ferguson's Riflemen. A supply wagon is captured, and a Continental line fires from the woods to cover the main column's retreat. Right: British light infantry bayonet Continental soldiers by their camp huts.
context_page_description: The 11th Pennsylvania Regiment or Old Eleventh was authorized on 16 September 1776 for service with the Continental Army. On 25 October, Richard Humpton was named colonel. In December 1776, the regiment was assigned to George Washington's main army and was present at Assunpink Creek and fought at Princeton in January 1777. During the spring the unit assembled at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in a strength of eight companies. The soldiers were recruited from Philadelphia and four nearby counties. On 22 May 1777 the regiment became part of the 2nd Pennsylvania Brigade. The 11th was in the thick of the action at Brandywine, Paoli, and Germantown in 1777. It was present at White Marsh and Monmouth. On 1 July 1778, the unit was consolidated with the 10th Pennsylvania Regiment and the 11th Regiment ceased to exist. Humpton took command of the reorganized unit.
  A new 11th Pennsylvania Regiment was formed in January 1779 by consolidating two "additional" regiments and elements of a third. The New Eleventh served in the Sullivan Expedition in the summer of 1779. The unit existed until January 1781 when it merged with the 3rd Pennsylvania Regiment.
context_section_description: On 22 May 1777, Washington placed the 11th Regiment in the 2nd Pennsylvania Brigade. The other units in the 2nd Brigade were 4th, 5th, and 8th Pennsylvania Regiments. Major General Benjamin Lincoln led the Pennsylvania division, but he was later sent on detached duty and the 1st Pennsylvania Brigade's commander Brigadier General Anthony Wayne led the division in his absence. Brigadier General John Philip De Haas was named commander of the 2nd Pennsylvania Brigade, but he never joined his brigade for reasons that remain unclear to this day.
  In De Haas' absence, Humpton led the brigade at the Battle of Brandywine on 11 September 1777. Wayne's 2,000-man division deployed in a single battleline 500 yards (457 m) east of Chadds Ford on Brandywine Creek. The 1st Brigade under temporary commander Thomas Hartley formed on the right while the 2nd Brigade held the left. The 5th Pennsylvania held the extreme left flank, while to its right, in order, were the 11th, 8th, and 4th Pennsylvania Regiments. Wilhelm von Knyphausen's British and Hessians advanced across the creek and captured Thomas Proctor's artillery redoubt. Wayne's troops held their ground at first, then retired in good order from one position to the next. As darkness fell Wayne withdrew his division to a hill 600 yards (549 m) farther east.
  Washington withdrew behind the Schuylkill River with his main army while leaving Wayne's division on the west bank to harry Sir William Howe's British army. During the day of 20 September, Wayne, Humpton, and Hartley scouted Howe's nearby camp. At the same time, Howe directed Charles Grey to conduct a silent night bayonet attack on Wayne's Pennsylvanians. Grey had 1,200 troops, including the 2nd Light Infantry Battalion, 42nd Foot, and 44th Foot. Just after midnight on the 21st, the Battle of Paoli began when an American dragoon alerted the camp and Wayne ordered his soldiers out of their shelters. A soldier of the 11th Pennsylvania recalled that the soldiers formed up in "less than five Minutes". As the British attack overran the pickets, Wayne sent the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment to hold off the British and got his men in motion to the rear. The artillery pulled out first, then the 2nd and 1st Brigades followed in order. One of the guns broke down, blocking the road, and as the Pennsylvanians waited for the obstruction to be cleared, the British burst through the 1st Regiment and fell on the immobile column with bayonet and sword. Those Americans who survived the slaughter retreated or fled into the night. An approaching body of 2,100 Maryland militia under William Smallwood was also involved in the stampede and over 1,000 militiamen ran away and never returned. In the so-called "Paoli Massacre" the Americans admitted suffering 300 casualties, including 52 dead. British losses were only three dead and eight wounded.
  At the Battle of Germantown on 4 October 1777, the 11th Regiment fought in John Sullivan's right column. The attack was led by Thomas Conway's 3rd Pennsylvania Brigade. In the foggy dawn, Conway's men engaged the British 2nd Light Infantry Battalion at Mount Airy. Sullivan fed in his own division of two Maryland brigades on the right flank while Wayne deployed his two brigades on the left of Germantown Road. As at Brandywine, Hartley's 1st Brigade formed on the right, next to the road, while Humpton's 2nd Brigade, including the 11th Regiment, deployed on the left. Faced with their tormentors of Paoli, Wayne's men attacked in a battle frenzy. Set upon by the Pennsylvanians and Marylanders, the 2nd Light Infantry were routed for the first time and suffered the loss of their camp.
  A little later, the 5th Foot and 55th Foot arrived  at the front and the 2nd Light Infantry attempted to rally. Sullivan's column overpowered this position and pressed ahead. A British officer in command of a picket of the 46th Foot watched in amazement as the light infantry ran away. Then the 2nd Pennsylvania Brigade and part of Nathanael Greene's left column forced his men to flee also. As Sullivan's line passed the Benjamin Chew House, 120 men 
caption: The Paoli Massacre, 21 September 1777
exif: {}