Robert Kirkwood Robert Henry Kirkwood ( 1746 – November 1791 ) was a soldier who fought in the American Revolutionary War . He was named a lieutenant of the 1st Delaware Regiment in the Continental Army on December 9 , 1775 . In 1776 , the Delaware Battalion , under the command of Captain Robert Kirkwood , was assigned to Mifflin ' s Brigade under Gen . Thomas Mifflin of Pennsylvania . He participated in every battle in which George Washington fought in 1777 . In the August 16 , 1780 Battle of Camden , Kirkwood ' s troops won fame and were called " The Blue Hen ' s Chickens " after that . This battle reduced his regiment from eight companies to two by reason of death and capture . At the Battle of Cowpens on January 17 , 1781 , Captain Kirkwood repulsed the British cavalry , and made a famous bayonet charge ordered by Colonel John Eager Howard . He was with General Washington in his pursuit and defeat of Cornwallis . As a captain in the regular army , he joined a 1791 military expedition led by Arthur St . Clair , the governor of the Northwest Territory . In November 1791 , Kirkwood was killed by Native Americans from the Miami tribe in a major defeat near present - day Fort Wayne , Indiana , after having survived 32 Revolutionary battles without a disabling wound . He was a graduate of Newark Academy ( later renamed the University of Delaware ) , which chose the Blue Hen as its mascot to honor Captain Kirkwood . Kirkwood also held a certificate of membership in the Society of the Cincinnati . Kirkwood is the great grandfather of Robert Kirkwood Martin , constructor of the Gunpowder Water works which supply the city of Baltimore , and grandfather of General R . H . K . Whitely of Baltimore . Kirkwood ' s legacy . A monument was erected near Fort Recovery in Ohio to honor Kirkwood and others who died there . In 1938 , a highway was named in honor of Major Kirkwood . The Robert Kirkwood Highway comprises a part of Delaware State Highway 2 in New Castle County . A small village at a crossroads on DE Rte . 71 also bears his name . The Major Robert Kirkwood Reserve Center is the headquarters of Detachment 2 , 11th Battalion , 98th Regiment ( formerly 9th Battalion / 80th Regiment Health Services ) of the United States Army . One of the New Castle County public libraries is called the Kirkwood Library . There is an historical marker for Robert Kirkwood adjacent to the library ' s parking lot . The Major Robert Kirkwood Chapter of the Delaware Society of the Sons of the American Revolution has a Color Guard whose members wear the frontiersman uniform used when the Delaware Continentals fought in remote regions of the Carolinas , far from good cloth and family seamstresses . A North Carolina unit of the Brigade of the American Revolution ( BAR ) portrays Kirkwood ' s Company — the remnant of the Delaware Regiment which fought with the Maryland Brigade after the Delaware Regiment was devastated in the first Battle of Camden . Resources . Excerpt : " " when the British advanced and attackd our Left Flank where the Malitia Lay , who give way , which give the Enemy ' s horse an opportunity to gain our Rear , their Infantry at the same time gaining our Flank , and their Line advancing in our front , which Caused the Action to Become very Desperate , which continued for the Space of Half an hour — in this action , Lt Col . Vaughan , Major Patten , six officers and Seventy Rank and file of our Regt was taken Prisoners with all the Cannon and Baggage of the Army — I can give no account of our Marches on the Retreat until we came to Salisbury which we Arrived at on the 21st " " - September 21 , 1780 Information about historical marker : http : / / www . hmdb . org / marker . asp ? marker = 47261