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| THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA |
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| SENATE RESOLUTION |
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| INTRODUCED BY GREENLEAF, RAFFERTY, FERLO, ERICKSON, DINNIMAN, FONTANA, TARTAGLIONE, PIPPY, ORIE, FARNESE, BOSCOLA AND PILEGGI, APRIL 26, 2011 |
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| INTRODUCED AND ADOPTED, APRIL 26, 2011 |
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| A RESOLUTION |
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1 | Designating May 1, 2011, as "The Battle of the Crooked Billet |
2 | Day" in Pennsylvania. |
3 | WHEREAS, During the American War for Independence at the time |
4 | of the Valley Forge Encampment in 1777 and 1778, President |
5 | Thomas Wharton of the Pennsylvania Supreme Executive Council |
6 | commissioned Brigadier General John Lacey, the youngest general |
7 | in American history and a native of Bucks County, to lead the |
8 | Pennsylvania militia in patrolling the countryside outside |
9 | Philadelphia; and |
10 | WHEREAS, General George Washington, Commander-in-Chief of the |
11 | Continental Army, charged General Lacey with the mission to keep |
12 | the local inhabitants from selling supplies to the British Army, |
13 | who occupied Philadelphia, and to reroute those supplies to the |
14 | Continental Army at Valley Forge; and |
15 | WHEREAS, Due to the success of the Pennsylvania militia, the |
16 | British Army developed a plan to annihilate the Pennsylvania |
17 | militia by ambush and planned to capture General Lacey; and |
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1 | WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania militia was comprised of |
2 | approximately 300 men from Bucks County and historic Cumberland |
3 | County, as well as from other places throughout this |
4 | Commonwealth; and |
5 | WHEREAS, The British Army attacked the Pennsylvania militia |
6 | with a force of approximately 850 men in the early morning of |
7 | May 1, 1778, in the present-day Borough of Hatboro, Montgomery |
8 | County, and the present-day Township of Warminster, Bucks |
9 | County; and |
10 | WHEREAS, The Queen's Rangers attempted to push the |
11 | Pennsylvania militia south toward the point of ambush along |
12 | present-day Horsham Road; and |
13 | WHEREAS, General Lacey was not fooled by the trap and led the |
14 | Pennsylvania militia north where they fought their way through a |
15 | blockade held by British Dragoons, thereby escaping deeper into |
16 | Bucks County; and |
17 | WHEREAS, Twenty-six Pennsylvania militiamen were killed in |
18 | action that day and 58 Pennsylvania militiamen were captured and |
19 | the Pennsylvania militia lost all of their supply wagons; and |
20 | WHEREAS, General Lacey's heroic leadership and quick thinking |
21 | on that fateful day prevented further casualties, saving the |
22 | lives of hundreds of Pennsylvania militiamen; and |
23 | WHEREAS, Forty-eight hours after the battle, later referred |
24 | to as the Battle of the Crooked Billet, General Lacey continued |
25 | with his orders of keeping supplies from occupied Philadelphia |
26 | and redirecting supplies to Valley Forge; and |
27 | WHEREAS, General Lacey continued to serve the people of |
28 | Pennsylvania when, in November of 1778, he was elected to the |
29 | Pennsylvania General Assembly and, in November 1779, he was |
30 | elected to the Pennsylvania Supreme Executive Council; therefore |
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1 | be it |
2 | RESOLVED, That the Senate designate May 1, 2011, as "The |
3 | Battle of the Crooked Billet Day" throughout this Commonwealth |
4 | to honor the men of the Pennsylvania militia under the command |
5 | and leadership of Brigadier General John Lacey for their |
6 | heroism, and especially those men who paid the ultimate |
7 | sacrifice on May 1, 1778, for the competent and heroic |
8 | leadership of Brigadier General John Lacey in preserving the |
9 | militia from annihilation and leading them to safety and for all |
10 | their sacred participation in the fight and struggle for freedom |
11 | in the early years of the Republic of the United States of |
12 | America. |
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