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| THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA |
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION |
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| INTRODUCED BY MURT, O'NEILL, BEAR, BRADFORD, BROOKS, CALTAGIRONE, CLYMER, COHEN, D. COSTA, CREIGHTON, DiGIROLAMO, DONATUCCI, J. EVANS, EVERETT, FARRY, GEIST, GINGRICH, GOODMAN, GROVE, HARHART, HARKINS, HEFFLEY, HENNESSEY, HESS, HUTCHINSON, KAVULICH, KORTZ, KULA, MAJOR, MANN, MARSICO, METZGAR, MILLARD, MIRABITO, MOUL, MUSTIO, MYERS, QUINN, RAPP, READSHAW, REICHLEY, ROCK, ROSS, STEPHENS, SWANGER, TALLMAN, VEREB, VULAKOVICH AND WATSON, APRIL 26, 2011 |
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| INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35, 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 John Lacey with the mission to |
12 | keep the local inhabitants from selling supplies to the British |
13 | Army, which occupied Philadelphia, and to reroute those supplies |
14 | to the Continental Army at Valley Forge; and |
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1 | WHEREAS, Due to the success of the Pennsylvania Militia, the |
2 | British Army developed a plan to annihilate the Pennsylvania |
3 | Militia by ambush; and |
4 | WHEREAS, The British Army also planned to capture General |
5 | John Lacey; and |
6 | WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania Militia was comprised of |
7 | approximately 300 men from Bucks County and historic Cumberland |
8 | County as well as from other places throughout this |
9 | Commonwealth; and |
10 | WHEREAS, The British Army attacked the Pennsylvania Militia |
11 | with a force of approximately 850 men in the early morning of |
12 | May 1, 1778, in the present-day Borough of Hatboro, Montgomery |
13 | County, and the present-day Township of Warminster, Bucks |
14 | County; and |
15 | WHEREAS, The Queen's Rangers attempted to push the |
16 | Pennsylvania Militia south toward the point of ambush along |
17 | present-day Horsham Road; and |
18 | WHEREAS, General John Lacey was not fooled by the trap and |
19 | led the Pennsylvania Militia north, fighting its way through a |
20 | blockade held by British Dragoons, escaping deeper into Bucks |
21 | County; and |
22 | WHEREAS, The British committed war atrocities on the wounded |
23 | by throwing them into burning piles of buckwheat straw and |
24 | stabbing, with their bayonets and cutlasses, militiamen who were |
25 | surrendering and wounded; and |
26 | WHEREAS, Twenty-six Pennsylvania Militiamen were killed in |
27 | action that day; and |
28 | WHEREAS, Fifty-eight Pennsylvania Militiamen were captured; |
29 | and |
30 | WHEREAS, General John Lacey's heroic leadership and quick |
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1 | thinking on that fateful day prevented further casualties, |
2 | saving the lives of hundreds of Pennsylvania Militiamen; and |
3 | WHEREAS, General John Lacey, 48 hours after the battle, |
4 | continued with his orders of keeping supplies from occupied |
5 | Philadelphia and redirecting supplies to Valley Forge; and |
6 | WHEREAS, General John Lacey continued to serve the people of |
7 | Pennsylvania when, in November of 1778, he was elected to the |
8 | Pennsylvania General Assembly and, in November 1779, he was |
9 | elected to the Pennsylvania Supreme Executive Council; and |
10 | WHEREAS, It is fitting to honor the men of the Pennsylvania |
11 | Militia under the command and leadership of Brigadier General |
12 | John Lacey for their heroism and, especially for those men who |
13 | paid the ultimate sacrifice on May 1, 1778, to recognize the |
14 | competent and heroic leadership of Brigadier General John Lacey |
15 | in preserving the militia from annihilation and leading it to |
16 | safety, and to remember the militia's sacred participation in |
17 | the fight and struggle for freedom in the early years of the |
18 | young republic that would become the United States of America; |
19 | therefore be it |
20 | RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives designate May 1, |
21 | 2011, as "The Battle of the Crooked Billet Day" in Pennsylvania. |
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