February 19 marks the 235 anniversary of the raid at the tavern in Newtown, Pennsylvania, in which five American soldiers were killed and the 2000 yards of cloth for uniforms was lost. Here is the spot.
40 Loyalist members of the Light Dragoons and Bucks County Volunteers carried out the raid. The Americans guarding the area were Pennsylvania militia. It's another example of the civil war nature of the Revolution and the fierceness of the war between Loyalists and militia. It was also yet another setback to the efforts to clothe the men at Valley Forge, while the British in occupied Philadelphia enjoyed relative luxury.
It is good to pay attention to these markers. Not every exchange in which men died during the Revolution was a major battle or even skirmish; in many instances, these guerrilla-styled raids that disrupted supplies were as important to the war as well.
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