"A Dreadful Scene of Havock": Richard Mansergh St. George and the Battles of Brandywine, Paoli, and Germantown

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Beyond Battlefields: Culture and Conflict through the Philadelphia Campaign" , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The battles around Philadelphia in 1777 radically changed the life of Richard Mansergh St. George, a young Irish officer in the British Army. Wounded at Brandywine, a participant in what he described as “a dreadful scene of havock” at Paoli, and shot in the head at Germantown, St. George returned to Ireland with painful memories and a mangled body. Sketches he created in America reveal both his opinions of the Revolutionary War and his sardonic wit. This presentation will discuss how St. George “brought home” the Philadelphia Campaign by sharing his experiences with people in Britain and Ireland, commissioning paintings to document his experience, and by keeping the uniform he wore at Germantown. St. George himself, his belongings, and his artwork were tangible connections to the campaign for people across the Atlantic who did not see the war themselves. His story helps us grasp the personal impact of these battles.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Beyond Battlefields: Culture and Conflict through the Philadelphia Campaign   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2022

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology