FSC-2014 Cooch's Bridge Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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This cache was originally placed for the the First State Challenge 2014 sponsored by Delaware Geocachers! Although the challenge has ended, this cache is still available to be found!!
FSC-2014 Cooch's Bridge
Cache Details:
This cache is located at the end of a nice stroll across the historic Cooch's Bridge battle field, site of a Revolutionary War Battle. You can go across the dry old mill raceway or walk a few yards down the road to the gate and go in the easy way.
This is the location of the only battle of the Revolutionary War fought in the state of Delaware. Many historians believe this is the first battle in which the Stars and Stripes flag was flown.
The cache container is both a large ammo box with room inside for larger items and a quick park and grab.
Description:
On August 25, Howe's army disembarked below a small town called Head of Elk (now known as Elkton, and located at the head of navigation of the Elk River) in Maryland, about 50 miles (80 km) south of Philadelphia. Due to the relatively poor quality of the landing area, his troops moved immediately to the north, reaching Head of Elk itself on August 28. Advance troops consisting of British light infantry and German jägers went east across Elk Creek and occupied Gray's Hill, about one mile (1.6 km) west of Iron Hill, near Cooch's Bridge, which was a few miles south of Newark. The bridge was named for Thomas Cooch, a local landowner whose house was near the bridge. Washington would normally have assigned the duties of advance guard to Daniel Morgan and his riflemen, but he had detached these to assist Horatio Gates in the defense of the Hudson River Valley against the advance of General John Burgoyne. Since they were unavailable, he organized a light infantry corps consisting of 700 picked men from Continental Army regiments and about 1,000 Pennsylvania and Delaware militia, and placed them under the command of Brigadier General William Maxwell. These troops occupied Iron Hill and Cooch's Bridge, and Maxwell sent out patrols to monitor British movements. Maxwell's men were encamped on either side of the road leading south from Cooch's Bridge toward Aiken's Tavern (present-day Glasgow, Delaware) in a series of small camps designed to facilitate ambushes. On August 28, Washington, atop Iron Hill, and Howe, on Gray's Hill, observed each other as they took stock of the enemy's position; one of the Hessian generals wrote, "These gentlemen observed us with their glasses as carefully as we observed them. Those of our officers who know Washington well, maintained that the man in the plain coat was Washington." On September 2, Howe's right wing, under the command of the Hessian general, Wilhelm von Knyphausen, left Cecil County Court House and headed north, hampered by rain and bad roads. Early the next morning, Howe's left wing, headed by troops under the command of Charles Cornwallis, left Head of Elk, expecting to join with Knyphausen's division at Aiken's Tavern, about 5 miles (8.0 km) east. Cornwallis reached the tavern first, and Howe, traveling with Cornwallis, decided to press on to the north without waiting for Knyphausen.
A small company of Hessian dragoons led by Captain Johann Ewald headed up the road from the tavern toward Cooch's Bridge as Cornwallis's advance guard. These were struck by a volley of fire from an American ambush, and many of them fell, either killed or wounded. Ewald did not, and he quickly alerted the Hessian and Ansbach jägers, who rushed forward to meet the Americans. This began a running skirmish that Major John André described as follows: "Here the rebels began to attack us about 9 o'clock with a continued irregular fire for nearly two miles." The jägers, about 300 men led by Lieutenant Colonel Ludwig von Wurmb, formed a line and, with the support of some artillery, advanced on the Americans. Von Wurmb sent one detachment to Maxwell's left, hoping to flank his position, and supported the move with a bayonet charge against the American center. Maxwell fell back, avoiding the flanking maneuver, and the battle dissolved into a running skirmish as the Americans retreated. The battle lasted for much of the day; at Cooch's Bridge, Maxwell's men made a stand until they "had shot themselves out of ammunition" and "the fight was carried on with the sword" and bayonet (the latter being a weapon Maxwell's militia lacked experience in using). The Americans eventually retreated across Cooch's Bridge, taking up a position on the far side. Von Wurmb and the jägers stopped their pursuit at Cooch's Bridge, and occupied Iron Hill. A battalion of British light infantry that had been sent across the Christina River, in an attempt to flank Maxwell's force, became mired in swampy terrain, but emerged in time to help dislodge the Americans from that position. The militia retreated back toward the main Continental Army camp near Wilmington
This was the only battle of the revolutionary war that was fought in Delaware. General Cornwallis occupied the house of Thomas Cooch for a time. The British continued their advance toward Philadelphia, and the two armies clashed again in the major Battle of Brandywine on September 11. The British victory in that battle paved the way for their eventual entry into and occupation of the city of Philadelphia. This success was more than offset by the failure of the expedition to the Hudson, in which General Burgoyne surrendered his army after the Battles of Saratoga, in October 1777. News of Burgoyne's surrender greatly changed the war, because it (and the Battle of Germantown, fought after the British occupied Philadelphia) was a major factor in France's decision to enter the war as an American ally in 1778
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ynetr trbcvyr