Revolution And Occupation

The scene in Independence Hall as the Continental Congress voted for independence (above) was painted by Robert Edge Pine and Edward Savage some years after that historic occasion. Fourteen months after the Declaration was issued, General Howe moved into Philadelphia. The painting by Xavier Delia Gatta (opposite page) pictures the action about Benjamin Chew’s house on the Germantown Road as Washington gallantly but unsuccessfully tried to loosen the redcoats’ hold on the city.

There were enough Tories and lonely girls in Philadelphia to make it a pleasant winter for the British troops, while Washington retired to the miseries of Valley Forge. When Howe was called home to England to report, Major André and twenty other officers subscribed £3,312 to stage a farewell party, the Mischianza (opposite page, bottom), of such extravagant splendor as America had never seen and, as one of the weary belles ruefully concluded, would probably never see again.