Talk:John Lacey
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john lacey was not a general in the continental army. he was a general in the pennsylvania state militia. he was relieved of his command by george washington after he was ambushed near present day hatboro in may 1778. lacey had a poor record as a soldier. he had been threatened with court martial by anthony wayne, who Italic textwasItalic text a general in the continental army, for cowardice during the american invasion of canada in 1775. he was not held in great regard by his superiors and seems to have spent a lot of time editing his memoirs and letters during the war so they would portray him in a positive light. his consistent message was that his failures were always due to someone or something else.
lacey was not feared by the british who refered to him as 'general' lacey. he was regarded by them as a terrorist who killed farmers and burned their property if they traded with the british or shipped supplies into philadelphia during the time the british occupied the city. he held impromtu 'trials' of loyalist farmers, convicted them of treason and appealed to george washington to execute them. washington refused and tried to temper lacey's obvious hatred of his loyalist neighbors by writing a letter explaining why it would not be practical or expedient to remove every farmer between the delaware and schuylkill rivers from their land thereby creating a 'zone sanitaire' north of the city, as lacey had proposed.
on may 1, 1778, a british force consisting of regulars and loyalists ambushed lacey's command of 400 men, about 100 of whom were armed, near hatboro, pa. perhaps 40 to 100 americans were killed or taken prisoner with the loss of no british soldiers. lacey led the bulk of his force on a retreat of about 5 miles. the british took their prisoners and lacey's supplies back into philadelphia and the americans found several bayonetted and burned corpses after they returned to the site of the event. (notice i do not call it a battle). the queen's rangers, a loyalist unit was engaged that day and they had been involved in an action in new jersey earlier in the year where they set fire to a barn in which americans were hiding and either killed them as they tried to escape or waited outside while the americans burned to death. it is probable that something like that happened in hatboro since some wounded americans did attempt to hide in a barn or a pile of hay. the reports are varied and there is no definitive explanation of what happened that day but lacey immediately wrote a letter to the pennsylvania legislature decrying the barbarity of the british. he also sent a letter to washington blaming his officers for failing to keep an adequate watch.
washington, tired of hearing requests for supplies and men, unworkable ideas, and explanations for failure wrote back that when a guard is not maintained ambushes happen. shortly after washington thanked lacey for his valuable service and replaced him.
