The Battle of Paoli also known as the Paoli Massacre
War: American Revolutionary War
Date: 20-21st September 1777
Place: Paoli, Pennsylvania, USA
Combatants: Americans and the British
British Light Infantry and Light Dragoons
attacking the Pennsylvania camp 20th September 1777 -
painted in London by Xavier della Gatta in 1782
Generals: Major General Anthony Wayne commanded the Americans.
Major General Charles Grey commanded the British troops.
Size of the armies: Around 1,500 men in Wayne’s Pennsylvania
Continental Division and some 1,000 of Smallwood’s Maryland Militia.
Grey’s British brigade comprised some 1,200 men (the 40th and 50th)
with an additional 500-600 in support 2 miles away and who did not
engage in the battle.
Uniforms, arms and equipment: The British wore red coats and headgear
of bearskin caps, round hats or tricorne hats depending on whether
the troops were light infantry or battalion company men.
The two regiments of light dragoons serving in America, the 16th and
17th, wore red coats and leather crested helmets.
The Americans dressed as best they could. Increasingly as the war
progressed regular infantry regiments of the Continental Army wore
blue uniform coats but the militia continued in rough clothing.
Both sides were armed with muskets and guns. Until late in the war the
American troops suffered a shortage of bayonets which put them at a
disadvantage in close quarter fighting.
Winner: This was a decisive British success.
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