page_title: 11th Pennsylvania Regiment
section_title: Princeton
hierarchical_section_title: 11th Pennsylvania Regiment / History / Princeton
caption_attribution_description: English: The site of Joseph Moulder's battery on the Princeton Battlefield, looking west. Mawhood's British soldiers advanced directly toward the camera.
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: The 11th Pennsylvania Regiment came into existence on 16 September 1776. Richard Humpton, a former captain in the British Army and Seven Years' War veteran, was appointed colonel on 25 October. The soldiers hailed from Philadelphia City, Berks, Chester, Philadelphia (now Montgomery), and Northumberland Counties. In the 1776 establishment of a Continental Army infantry regiment, there were three field officers, one colonel, one lieutenant colonel, and one major. The staff included one each of the following: surgeon, surgeon's mate, adjutant, quartermaster, paymaster, sergeant major, quartermaster sergeant, drum major, fife major, and chaplain. Each of the eight line companies included one captain, one first lieutenant, one second lieutenant, one ensign, four sergeants, four corporals, one drummer, one fifer, and 76 privates. The Continental regiment was formidable on paper but typically operated far below its nominal strength. The Pennsylvania infantry company organization of October 1775 was weaker than the Continental standard by one lieutenant, the two musicians, and eight privates. The American infantry regiment was designed to fight in two ranks from its inception.
  The 11th Pennsylvania Regiment was assigned to the main army on 27 December 1776. Together with the 2nd, 4th, 10th, and 12th Pennsylvania Regiments, the 11th was assigned to Thomas Mifflin's brigade. Since the brigade fielded 1,500 troops, the five regiments averaged around 300 men each. Mifflin's brigade crossed the Delaware River to Burlington, New Jersey on 28 December. By 1 January 1777, Mifflin moved his troops to Bordentown, New Jersey. He joined the main army the next day in time to be present at the Battle of the Assunpink Creek. Mifflin was at George Washington's council of war that evening.
  Before the Battle of Princeton on 3 January 1777, the Pennsylvanians made the second night march in a row with very little sleep and the soldiers were exhausted. The order of march for John Sullivan's division was a vanguard under Isaac Sherman followed by the brigades of Arthur St. Clair and Mifflin. While Sullivan's column swung to the right, the troops under Nathanael Greene turned to the left, led by 350 men under Hugh Mercer. Charles Mawhood's British 17th Foot and 55th Foot immediately confronted Greene's column. After a firefight, the British charged and routed the American vanguard, mortally wounding Mercer. Mawhood's soldiers advanced toward the Thomas Clark House and hill but were halted by cannon fire from Joseph Moulder's artillery company. As the British attack stalled, Washington patched together a line from the brigades of John Cadwalader, Daniel Hitchcock, Edward Hand, and Mifflin. After exchanging volleys with the British, the Americans finally advanced. Mawhood's outnumbered force put up a spirited resistance but his soldiers finally broke ranks and fled.
caption: Mifflin's brigade joined other Americans in defending this hill at the Battle of Princeton.
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