Battle of Paoli The Battle of Paoli ( also known as the Battle of Paoli Tavern or the Paoli Massacre ) was a battle in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War fought on September 20 , 1777 , in the area surrounding present - day Malvern , Pennsylvania . Following the American retreats at the Battle of Brandywine and the Battle of the Clouds , George Washington left a force under the command of Brigadier General Anthony Wayne behind in order to monitor and harass the British as they prepared to move on the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia . On the evening of September 20 , British forces under the command of Major General Charles Grey led a surprise attack on Wayne ' s encampment near the Paoli Tavern . Although there were relatively few American casualties , claims were made that the British took no prisoners and granted no quarter , and the engagement became known ( from an American perspective ) as the " Paoli Massacre . " Background . After the American defeat at the Battle of Brandywine , American Major General George Washington was intent on accomplishing two tasks . He wanted to protect Philadelphia from British forces under the command of Lieutenant General William Howe , and he needed to replenish the rapidly dwindling supplies and munitions which were stored in Reading , Pennsylvania . Washington withdrew across the Schuylkill River , marched through Philadelphia , and headed northwest . Since the Schuylkill was fordable only far upstream starting at Matson ' s Ford ( present - day Conshohocken ) , Washington could protect both the capital and the vital supply areas to the west from behind the river barrier . Yet he reconsidered , and recrossed the river to face the British , who had moved little since Brandywine , owing to a shortage of wagons to carry both their wounded and their baggage . After a potential battle was aborted by bad weather on September 16 , Washington again withdrew across the Schuylkill , leaving Brigadier General " Mad " Anthony Wayne ' s Pennsylvania Division at Chester . When the British columns passed by , Wayne followed , under orders from Washington to harass the British and attempt to capture all or part of their baggage train . Wayne assumed that his presence was undetected and camped close to the British lines in Paoli . His division consisted of the 1st , 2nd , 4th , 5th , 7th , 8th , 10th and 11th Pennsylvania Regiments , plus Hartley ' s Regiment , and an attached artillery company and a small force of dragoons . All told , it was about 1 , 500 strong . Camped about a mile ( 1 . 6 km ) away was William Smallwood ' s Maryland militia , about 2 , 100 relatively inexperienced troops . The British heard rumors that Wayne was in the area , and General Howe sent out spies who reported his location near the Paoli Tavern in September 19 . Since his position was just from the British camp at Tredyffrin , Howe immediately planned an attack on Wayne ' s relatively exposed camp . Battle . At 10 p . m . on September 20 , British commander Major General Charles Grey marched from the British camp , and launched a surprise attack on Wayne ' s camp , near the General Paoli Tavern , from which the battle takes its name , located near present - day Malvern . Grey ' s troops consisted of the 2nd Light Infantry , a composite battalion formed from the light companies of 13 regiments , plus the 42nd and 44th Foot . Altogether , his brigade comprised some 1 , 200 men . To ensure that the Americans were not alerted , Grey had the flints removed from his troop ' s muskets , earning him the nickname " No Flint " Grey . The British , led by a local blacksmith forced to act as guide , approached the camp from a wood and were able to achieve complete surprise . They stormed the camp in three waves — the 2nd Light Infantry in the lead followed by the 44th and the 42nd . Completely unprepared , Wayne ' s troops fled from the camp and were pursued . Near the White Horse Tavern the British encountered Smallwood ' s force and routed it as well . With casualties of only 4 killed and 7 wounded , the British had routed an entire American division . Historian Thomas J . McGuire says that 53 Americans were buried on the battlefield but " whether these were all of the American dead or only those found on the campsite - battlefield is uncertain . Local tradition says that 8 more Americans killed in the battle were buried at the nearby Anglican church of St . Peter - in - the - Great Valley . 71 prisoners were taken by the British , 40 of whom were so badly wounded that they had to be left behind in nearby houses . A total of 272 men were killed , wounded or missing from Wayne ' s division after the battle . Aftermath . An official inquiry found that Wayne was not guilty of misconduct but that he had made a tactical error . Wayne was enraged and demanded a full court - martial . On November 1 , a board of 13 officers declared that Wayne had acted with honor . The incident gained some notoriety with rumors that the British had stabbed or burned Americans who tried to surrender , making martyrs out of the casualties and the battle was dubbed , " the Paoli Massacre " . Military historian Mark M . Boatner III has this to say on the matter : " American propagandists succeeded in whipping up anti - British sentiment with false accusations that Grey ' s men had refused quarter and massacred defenseless patriots who tried to surrender . . . The ' no quarter ' charge is refuted by the fact that the British took 71 prisoners . The “ mangled dead ” is explained by the fact that the bayonet is a messy weapon " . Nevertheless , some of Wayne ' s troops swore revenge . There is a tradition that , to show their defiance , the men of the 2nd Light Infantry dyed their hat feathers red so the Americans would be able to identify them . In 1833 the Light Company of the 46th Regiment were authorized to wear red cap distinctions instead of the regulation Light Infantry green , apparently in commemoration of this gesture , and in 1934 The Royal Berkshire Regiment , which carried on the traditions of the 49th Foot , were authorized to wear a red distinction in their head dress although , misleadingly , this was granted ' to commemorate the role of the Light Company at the battle of Brandywine Creek ' . In the second half of the 20th century , the descendants of both regiments wore red backing to their cap badges and did so until 2006 when the Light Infantry and the Royal Gloucester , Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry were absorbed by The Rifles . Monument . In 1877 , a granite monument was erected at the site of the battle . It stands tall and is inscribed on all four sides . It is located in a local park in Malvern that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997 as the Paoli Battlefield Site and Parade Grounds . There are two contributing buildings , two contributing sites , and five contributing objects included on the listing . They are the Paoli Battlefield Site , Paoli Parade Grounds , Paoli Massacre Monument ( 1817 ) , Paoli Massacre obelisk ( 1877 ) , World War I monument ( 1928 ) , World War II urn ( c . 1946 ) , and caretaker ' s house and garage ( 1922 ) .