General "Mad Anthony" Wayne
"He is Chester County’s only notable revolutionary war hero, although he would probably be just as happy to know that the phrase 'Remember Paoli' was long forgotten."
-Mark Ashton, Chester County: A Modern History
Early Life
General Anthony Wayne (1745-1796) was the son of Isaac and Elizabeth Wayne, and was born in the Wayneborough home just south of Paoli. When it was time to go to college, his father wanted Anthony to study at the College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania). Rather, Anthony decided he would become a tanner and a surveyor. After a stint surveying land boundaries in New Brunswick, Canada, Wayne returned to Philadelphia and becomes radicalized. He is elected to represent Chester County in the General Assembly in 1774.
Joining the American Cause
"When the Revolution breaks out, Wayne joins the 4th Pennsylvania Regiment and accompanies Benedict Arnold in his campaign to capture Canada in 1775. His daring conduct in that campaign sees him promoted to a Brigadier General early in 1777. When the war comes to Chester County, Wayne is at every battle although one wonders how he did not warn his commanders about the fords north of Chadds along the Brandywine on the night before that battle."
- Mark Ashton, Chester County: A Modern History
The Events Leading Up to Paoli
As British general William Howe was approaching to capture Philadelphia (was the capital during that time), General George Washington sent 14,000 troops of the Continental Army to Pennsylvana to settle between Philadelphia and the British at Brandywine Creek, not far from Wayne's home, to prevent the British from capturing the city. Unfortunately, Howe's army had 16,000 men, outnumbering Washington's troops who were in PA.
On September 11, 1777, the Battle of Brandywine took place where Wayne and his division were defending the center of the American line. With the British outnumbering Washington's troops, Wayne was forced to abandoned his canons to the British. After their defeat, Washington and his troops withdrew to the Schuylkill River, but had Wayne stay behind with 1,500 men to to observe and resist the British who are encamped 2 miles north of Paoli near Howellville.
On the night of September 20-21, under the commands of General Charles "No Flint" Grey, he ordered 1,200 men to attack Wayne and his men who were encamped at the Paoli Tavern. The results Grey reported are 270 Americans killed, wounded or captured compared to 11 casualties for the British. Wayne and the remaining soliders were able to escape into the dark woods.
Becoming "Mad Anthony"
After the French joined the war in Spring 1778, the British decided to abandon Philadelphia, and retreated to Manhattan. There, the British had a fortress at Stony Point which Washington hoped to capture. He had Wayne take charge of the assault which Wayne had planned strategically, taking a page out of General Grey's playbook.
On July 16, 1779 Wayne attacked Stony Point with 1,500 light infantrymen. It was the battle that redeemed Wayne for his embarassing loss at Paoli.
In 1781, he was sent to Virginia, along with Marquis de Lafayette and his forces, to face the British army under General Charles Cornwallis. During the Battle of Green Spring, Wayne and his troops were surrounded by 7,000 British troops. Instead of surrendering, Wayne ordered a "frenzied bayonet charge and broke out of the encirclement." With this reckless but successful action, Wayne was given the nickname "Mad Anthony."
"Mad Anthony" Continues to Lead
Once Cornwallis surrendered in October 1781, Wayne was sent south to Georgia to disrupt British forces then courting the Creek and Cherokee tribes. Georgia rewarded his efforts by granting him a rice plantation and Wayne retired as a Major General as the war concluded.
After he failed in the rice business, he was elected in the Georgia House of Representatives. But that also was not a success. When Washington learned General Arthur St. Clair's crushing failure at the Battle of Wabash, he asked Wayne to take St. Clair's place.
"On August 20, 1794 1,400 confederated Indians clashed with 3,000 troops under Wayne at Fallen Timbers in western Ohio. The battle lasted little more than an hour with the native forces vastly outnumbered. They tried to retreat to British Fort Miami only to find the gates closed to them as the British were not about to engage American troops and trigger another war. For three days Wayne camped outside the British fort, messaging the British inside that this was American territory now.... While there and with assistance from future President William Henry Harrison and two fellows named Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, Wayne negotiated an end to the Northwest Indian Wars, The Treaty of Greenville. Among those defeated in the conflict were the last remnants of the Lenni-Lenape who once inhabited Chester County. "
- Mark Ashton, Chester County: A Modern History
Aftermath
"Wayne died 15 months after Fallen Timbers, in August, 1795, age 50. His diplomacy and his military aggression in 1794 made him a 19th century hero. In what sounds like a gruesome misadventure, Wayne’s son had his body removed from its burial site in Presque Ise on Lake Erie to find that it had scarcely decomposed after 13 years. Moving a rotting corpse several hundred miles seemed problematic, so the cadaver was boiled, the bones scraped and the remains were carted back to St. David Episcopal Church. Those who favor the macabre may also enjoy learning that Wayne may have been murdered by his subordinate General James Wilkinson. Wilkinson had been plotting against Wayne while the Ohio campaign was underway. It is also said that Wayne’s actual bones were lost somewhere along the trail back east (today’s Rte 322) and that his ghost wanders that highway each New Years’ Day (his birthdate) searching for his bones."
-Mark Ashton, Chester County: A Modern History
Bibliography
Mark, Harrison W. "Anthony Wayne." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified July 11, 2024. https://www.worldhistory.org/Anthony_Wayne/.