Smallwood's Brigade at Germantown

[smirnoff]

McGuire in 'The Philadelphia Campaign' doe not seem to give an arrival time for Smallwood's Militia arriving late on the British right flank. Anyone know what time they arrived?

[Baron von Wreckedoften]

None of my books indicate exactly when Smallwood's and Foreman's militia brigades first came into action, unfortunately.  However, we do know that:-
(a) it was the first formation to march off when evening fell on the previous day (Oct. 3);
(b) it had the furthest to march - almost 20 miles into the centre of Germantown, 15 of them down the Lime Kiln Road and then Old York Road; and
(c) it came into action against the QRs and the flank companies of the Foot Guards, at around the same time that MacDougall's men were engaging the 1st Light Infantry (both formations accused the other of "bugging out" and leaving them to fight the British alone!). 

The march would have taken them some 6 hours+ in good light, I would suggest half-speed (1-2 mph) in the darkness and fog.  Some of the left flank column's scouts got lost, taking wrong turnings to left and right, and some were captured.  To be honest, I don't think Smallwood's men did any fighting at all, and Foreman's only a little - most writing on Germantown don't even mention them (even when it does mention the right wing attack by the PA militia).

Based on when most of Greene's division got into action, which was some time after Sullivan's given how they blundered into Wayne's rear, my guess would be somewhere between 07:30 and 08:00, probably engaging their opponents (which later included the 27th and 28th Foot) for about 30 minutes, no more, and then retreating - possibly because their ammunition ran low, but I suspect that confusion and loss of officers may also have been responsible.  Also, Smallwood's brigade may well be the same units that had run away in panic during the night march to support Wayne at Paoli (I'll check that).

If I find anything more definite I'll come back to you. 

[vtsaogames]

My recollection is that the two militia columns did nothing of much note and the two center columns of Continentals did all of the fighting.

[smirnoff]

Thank you Baron
In a game I will be giving Smallwood the chance to arrive, so this is useful stuff

[Baron von Wreckedoften]

I'm afraid I cannot find for certain whether or not Smallwood's units were the same ones that ran away during the march to assist Wayne at Paoli.  However, given that there was barely a fortnight between that incident and the action at Germantown, and given how the Maryland militia was organised, I strongly suspect that they were.  You may wish to factor that into how well (or not!) Smallwood's command fights in your re-creation of Germantown.  If it helps, here is Smallwood's orbat for Paoli, and a small paragraph on how the Maryland Militia was organised during this period (which is unique in some respects); the figures are suggested strengths at 1:10 for a Paoli game I was preparing for a future British Grenadier Scenario Book (so for higher - or is it lower? - figure:man ratios, eg 1:20, you may well need to combine units to make them viable for the tabletop):-

Western Shore Brigade – Brigadier General William Smallwood
o   Baltimore Battalion (Col Darby Lux)         Militia      12 militia
o   Prince George Battalion (Col Luke Marbury)      Militia      12 militia
o   Montgomery Battalion (Col John Murdock)      Militia      12 militia
o   Frederick Battalion (Col Baker Johnson)      Militia      12 militia
o   Ann Arundel Battalion (Col Thomas Dorsey)      Militia      12 militia

Eastern Shore Brigade – Colonel Mordecai Gist
o   Queen Anne Battalion (Unknown)         Militia      12 militia
o   Caroline Battalion (Col William Hopper)      Militia      12 militia
o   Kent Battalion (Unknown)                    Militia      12 militia
o   [Talbot Battalion (Unknown)            Militia      } Probably
o   [Dorset Battalion (Unknown)]            Militia      } elsewhere

Maryland formed “marching militia battalions” which were provisional organizations of varying size.  The State’s policy was to call out various classes of men from several counties and form them into “ad hoc” units, in order to ensure that no undue burden fell on any one county (albeit at the cost of “esprit de corps” and unit cohesion).  Other states, such as New Jersey and Pennsylvania, operated a similar calling out system, but kept the men in their “home” regiments.

I hope that that helps you in some way; sorry I could not be more definitive in answer to your original questions.

BvW

[Baron von Wreckedoften]

Further to my last post, I have managed to turn up the following orbat for Germantown which suggests that Smallwood's division was composed as follows:-
1) Smallwood's Division comprised 1,100 men
2) The Western Shore Brigade seems to be exactly as I posted.
3) However, the Eastern Shore Brigade may have included the 5th Maryland Regiment of the Continental Line (Colonel William Richardson)
4) The attached New Jersey Militia Brigade, under Brig-Gen David Forman, had 600 men and consisted of:
o   Forman's Additional Continental Regiment
o   1st Battalion, Somerset Militia
o   2nd Battalion, Somerset Militia
o   1st Battalion, Monmouth Militia
o   Eastern battalion, Morris Militia

Once again, hope this helps.