LYDIA DARRAGH

Dublin, Ireland
1728−December 28, 1789
A Mother’s Instinct

Lydia Darragh, a Quaker and resident of Philadelphia, helped save Washington’s army from defeat at White Marsh, Pennsylvania, in December 1777. She did it by using a sack of flour as a pretext and making a dangerous trek outside the city to warn the Americans that General William Howe was heading their way. Afterwards, she returned to the mundane life she was used to—and excommunication by the Quakers.

A Victim of the Quartering Acts Mentality

When the British occupied Philadelphia on September 26, 1777, the Darraghs were told to vacate their dwelling as the Quartering Acts allowed the British to demand.

Lydia Darragh asked General Howe, who was domiciled nearby, if she could stay in her home. She explained that she had already sent her two youngest children to live with relatives and that she had no place else to go.

Howe offered a compromise. If she would reserve a room in her house where British officers could hold meetings, she could stay, as long as she gave them complete privacy.

Done, said Darragh. Unknowingly, Howe had made a tactical blunder.

Lydia Darragh Becomes a Snoop

There were no discernible problems with Darragh’s living arrangements at first. On December 2, 1777, several British officers, including Howe, showed up at the house for a meeting. They warned Darragh to make sure nobody lingered around the meeting room. Howe’s purpose for the meeting was twofold: to discuss new information he had acquired from his spies regarding Washington’s move to a new camp and to plan how to catch the Americans in the open, when they were most vulnerable.

Darragh suspected the British were up to devilry, and that their plans might have a bearing on her son Charles, who was fighting with the Second Pennsylvania Regiment stationed near White Marsh. Darragh’s maternal instincts prompted her to turn a linen closet next to the meeting room into a listening post. What she heard through the wall confirmed her suspicions. Howe was planning to attack Washington near White Marsh, thirteen miles down the road.

She improvised a plan to thwart the British.

A Flour Sack and a Brisk Hike

Darragh decided on a way to warn Washington. All she needed was a pass and a flour sack. Local citizens often asked British authorities for passes to places outside the city where they could buy supplies. The British routinely authorized the requests. Accordingly, Darragh procured a pass to the flour mill in nearby Frankford.

With flour sack in hand, she headed through the snow in that direction. She also had with her a notebook in which she kept notes about the information she garnered in Philadelphia. She reached the mill—and kept right on going.

According to the diary of Colonel Elias Boudinot, Washington’s commissary general of prisoners, she handed her notebook to him as he was dining at the Rising Sun Tavern, north of the city, along the route to White Marsh. Boudinot passed the information to Washington.

“Did You Do It?”

The British marched out of Philadelphia on December 4 to surprise Washington. But Washington was ready for them. Based on the information Darragh had fed Boudinot, Washington knew Howe’s strength. According to Boudinot, Darragh had given him “a piece of paper rolled up into the form of a pipe shank. On unrolling it I found information that General Howe was coming out the next morning with 5,000 men, 13 pieces of cannon, baggage wagons, and 11 boat on wheels. On comparing this with other information, I found it true and immediately rode post to headquarters.”

The two armies sparred around the area for the next few days. Neither gained an advantage, and damages were held to a minimum.

FEDERAL FACTS

There were 150 Americans killed or wounded and fifty-four captured at White Marsh. The British suffered 112 casualties, seventy-nine of whom were killed or wounded. The more significant statistic for the British was the number of missing (thirty-three) and desertions—a staggering 238 soldiers.

Howe returned to Philadelphia, convinced that he could not destroy Washington’s army. That ended the fighting in 1777. Six months later the British left Philadelphia and the reunited Darragh family moved back into their house on Second Street—but not before Lydia misled the British for the last time.

The day after the British troops returned to Philadelphia, British Major John André visited Darragh’s house and asked her if she had tipped off the Americans about Howe’s plans. She said no. André was not convinced, but he let the matter drop. Unfortunately, the Quakers did not.

Quotations to Live (and Die) By!

“ONE THING IS CERTAIN. THE ENEMY HAD NOTICE OF OUR COMING, WERE PREPARED FOR US, AND WE MARCHED BACK LIKE A PARCEL OF FOOLS. THE WALLS MUST HAVE EARS.”

—JOHN ANDRé TO LYDIA DARRAGH ON DECEMBER 9, 1777

Technically, Darragh could have been treated as a traitor and executed had the British determined that she was a spy, but they didn’t. However, the Quakers excommunicated her in 1783—the same year her husband died—because of her involvement in the war. They reinstated her in 1789—the same year she died.

After the war, Darragh operated a store in Philadelphia, the city that owed her so much for her heroic stand that saved it from possible permanent occupation—and Washington from a devastating military defeat.