This site is the battleground where the Paoli Battle of the Revolutionary War took place. On September 21, 1777, a significant battle was fought by a heroic Continental force right here in Malvern. Just after the serious defeat at Brandywine, Gen. Anthony Wayne camped here and prepared to attack the rear of British forces under Gen. Howe. During the night the British forces attacked with muskets unloaded and bayonets fixed. Revealing their own position by firing their muskets, Wayne’s men were easy targets. SOURCE
Daybreak revealed a grim reality. At least fifty-three Americans were dead and scores were wounded. The graves of those fifty-three men are located to the east of the flag pole in the Paoli Memorial Park, the site of today’s Memorial Parade Activities. The actual graves are under the original monument. There is a long mound under the memorial.
There is an organization which runs the battlefield site. I took the following excerpt from their site: "The Paoli Memorial Association is a privately held non-profit organization that is separate from either PBPF or the Borough of Malvern. Its 20+ acres includes a Parade Ground with many commemorative monuments as well as the mass grave of 53 Continental soldiers killed in the Battle of Paoli and site of an 1817 obelisk, recognized as the second oldest memorial to American soldiers in the United States. Part of the Paoli Battlefield National Historic Place, portions are used for other community purposes, including athletic fields, playgrounds and a log cabin for Boy Scout activities.". SOURCE
There are many components to this site. It is similar to a historic district, only more compact with one singular purpose. All totaled, there are two contributing buildings, two contributing sites, and five contributing objects included on the listing. They are the Paoli Battlefield Site, Paoli Parade Grounds, Paoli Massacre Monument (1817), Paoli Massacre obelisk (1877), World War I monument (1928), World War II urn (c. 1946), and caretaker's house and garage (1922).
To make it clear there are two distinct parts. The Parade Grounds are what one would see when they first enter and come around the curved or horseshoe driveway. This is where the monuments are located and a tract of ground in the center. There are also a ball field, tennis courts and a playground to the right, also part of the old parade grounds. Past the 1817 monument to the left or east of the parade grounds are 40 acres of grass, dotted with interpretives that constitute the battleground.
One is never at a loss to understand what happened here or figure their relative position to the sites as eight, attractive and well-constructed interpretives dot the landscape as well as several other minor signs of history. Each interpretive is held in a thick, black frame, about 3 feet high and tilted at such an angle for suitable and easy reading. The markers seem to follow a kind of walking trail which concludes way out on the preserved battlefield. I believe the marker was produced or paid for by the Pennsylvania Society if Sons of the Revolution and the Color Guard as their insignia is at the bottom right of the interpretive. The interpretive reads:
In 1782, five years after Paoli, this picture was painted in London for a British officer who participated in the battle. Although the artist, Xavier della Gatta, never saw the Paoli Battlefield, this rare contemporary image of Revolutionary War combat is remarkable for its accuracy of landscape detail and key elements in the battle. The image was not intended to be a “still shot” of a specific moment, but rather a composite of different aspects of the battle.
Lieutenant Martin Hunter of the 52nd Regiment, the only British officer wounded in the action, may have commissioned this painting and a companion painting of the Battle of Germantown. Hunter kept a journal, and details in both paintings match Hunter’s descriptions of the battles.
Additional Information on the Marker
The marker is dominated by the painting of “The Battle of Paoli” by Xavier della Gatta, 1782 courtesy of The Valley Forge Historical Society. It has the following captions:
Left: Saber-wielding British horsemen of the 16th Queen’s Own Light Dragoons attack Continental infantrymen. “Then followed a dreadful scene of Havock – The Light Dragoons came on sword in Hand.” Behind them, American troopers of the 1st and 2nd Continental Light Dragoons gallop away, firing pistols over their shoulders.
Center foreground: Red-coated British light infantrymen charge with bayonets. Captain William Wolfe of the British 40th Light Infantry Company lies dead, while in the left foreground, Lieutenant Martin Hunter, the only British officer wounded in the battle, bandages his right hand. Hunter wrote, “Captain Wolfe was killed, and I received a shot in my right hand soon after we entered the camp. I saw the fellow present [aim] at me, and was running up to him when he fired.”
Center background: Two platoons of Americans fire on a group of British troops dressed in green jackets (probably Ferguson’s Riflemen). Further back, a teamster is bayoneted as his supply wagon is captured, and an American regiment fires a volley from the woods to cover the main column’s retreat. Squads of British troops pursue fleeing Continentals, some of whom are firing their muskets over their shoulders as they retreat towards a rail fence in the background.
Right: British light infantrymen bayonet Continental soldiers near huts called “wigwams” or “booths”. A British soldier wrote that, “The Light Infantry rushed in upon their Encampment, directed by the light of their fires, killed and wounded not less than 300 in their Huts and about the fires.”