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The Birmingham Friends Meetinghouse, sometimes called the Birmingham Friends Meetinghouse and School. is a historic Quaker meeting house in Birmingham Township, Pennsylvania, remembered for the part it played in the aftermath of the Battle of Brandywine. It was inscribed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 27, 1971.

History edit

The Birmingham Friends Meeting congregation was founded in 1690, not long after the foundation of Pennsylvania by William Penn. Members initially worshiped in the cabin of William Brinton; the first meetinghouse, constructed of logs, was completed in 1722. In 1756 it was joined by a school; this structure, too, was made out of logs. A cemetery was also established on the property, and a stone wall was built around it; the wall remains in place today. The original meetinghouse was replaced by the current stone structure in 1763.[1]

Battle of Brandywine edit

In the days leading up to the Battle of Brandywine, on September 11, 1777, the Birmingham Friends Meetinghouse was used as a field hospital by the Continental Army, who used it mainly for the treatment of the sick.[1] The battle itself began not far away, on a field near Chadds Ford; before the day was out, however, it would erupt onto the meetinghouse grounds ferociously and violently. The British Army had already successfully routed the Americans in the heaviest of the day's fighting; sensing a possible opportunity for a final stand, George Washington ordered his men to take the high ground around the meetinghouse and hold it.[2] Lord Stirling ranged a small number of his troops along the cemetery's stone wall, allowing the bulk of the force time to get into position. Fighting continued for some time in the area, after the main American line formed on what is today called Skirmish Hill;[3] however, there was much confusion on the field of battle, and the Continentals were never able to gain the upper hand.[2] A mounting block still visible in the cemetery is one of the few remaining landmarks of the battlefield, marking where a group of Americans held off the British advance against heavy odds.[3] Also memorialized is the site of the first line of defense along the wall; this was marked with a bronze tablet marker erected by the Sons of the American Revolution in 1922.[4]

Joseph Townsend was at the time a young member of the Society of Friends, and later recorded some of his impressions on the occasion. He noted that some of the structure's doors were torn off, and were used as stretchers to bear the wounded inside. Notwithstanding the confusion which reigned, wounded officers were the first to receive care. Townsend himself remembered helping to carry two of the wounded inside before standing aside to watch a surgeon prepare for an amputation. The aftermath of the operation is not recorded.[5]


  1. ^ a b Birmingham Monthly Meeting, "Birmingham Friends Meeting: History", www.birminghamfriends.org, www.birminghamfriends.org {{citation}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); External link in |title= (help)
  2. ^ a b USHistory.org, "History of the Battle of the Brandywine", www.ushistory.org, www.ushistory.org {{citation}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); External link in |title= (help)
  3. ^ a b USHistory.org, "Driving Tour of the Battle of the Brandywine", www.ushistory.org, www.ushistory.org {{citation}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); External link in |title= (help)
  4. ^ William Pfingsten, "To Mark the Site marker", HMDB.org, HMDB.org {{citation}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); External link in |title= (help)
  5. ^ ExplorePAHistory.com, "Birmingham Friends Meeting House", ExplorePAHistory.com, ExplorePAHistory.com {{citation}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); External link in |title= (help)


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