The sites of many scenes of the Revolution are covered up and forgotten forever. I tried in vain to find some living person who could point ont the localities of the intrenchments which Howe caused to be thrown up across the isthmus at Philadelphia, between the Delaware and the Schuylkill, and the place of the encampment of the British army when they first occupied the city. I am enabled, however, to point out those localities through the aid of a more reliable cicerone than tradition, a rare and valuable map of Philadelphia, (v) published in London in 1779, the year following the evacuation of that city by the British. It was drawn by competent engineers in the king's service. It is upon the same scale as the plan of Philadelphia published in Tanner's Atlas in 1843. By a careful comparison
* A picture of this building may be found in another part of this work.
** This is a mistake. Mr. Morris was never governor of Vermont. He was clerk of the lower branch of the Legislature of that state in 1790, and a member of Congress from 1797 to 1803.
* (v) This map is entitled, "A Plan of the City and Environs of Philadelphia, with the works and encampments of his majesty's forces, under the command of Lieutenant-general Sir William Howe, K.B."
[[[British Fortifications in Philadelphia.--The British Encampment.--Personal Appearance of the British Officers.]]]
{ 309}of the two I have obtained the following result, which I am satisfied is quite correct: The line of intrenchments from the Delaware to the Schuylkill extended from the mouth of Conoquonoque Creek, just above Willow Street, to the "Upper Ferry" on the Schuylkill, then nearly on a line with Callowhill Street. They consisted of ten redoubts, connected by strong palisades. The first redoubt, which was garrisoned by the Queen's Rangers, under Simcoe, was near the junction of Green and Oak Streets, and then near the forks of the roads leading to Frankford and Kensington. The second redoubt was a little west of North Second and Noble Streets; the third, between North Fifth and Sixth, and Noble and Buttonwood Streets; the fourth, on Eighth Street, between Noble and Buttonwood; the fifth, on Tenth, between Buttonwood and Pleasant; the sixth, on Buttonwood, between Thirteenth and North Broad; the seventh, on North Schuylkill Eighth, between Pennsylvania Avenue and Hamilton Street; the eighth, on North Schuylkill Fifth and Pennsylvania Avenue; the ninth, on North Schuylkill Second, near Callowhill Street; and the tenth, on the bank of the Schuylkill, at the "Upper Ferry."