{376}of Elk, and to secure the stores deposited there. In this, however, they failed, for, before their arrival, the British army had debarked, and all the stores, among which was a large quantity of salt, * fell into their hands. Generals Greene and Weeden thoroughly reconnoitered the country between Wilmington and the Elk; and Washington himself rode through [[August 26, 1777]] heavy rains to the head of that river, to make personal observations. An eligible place was selected by Greene for the American army to encamp, within six miles of Howe's position on Gray's Hill; but, before information of the selection reached Washington, it had been determined in a council of war to take a position on Red Clay Neck, about half way between Wilmington and Christiana, with the left of the army on Christiana Creek, and the right extending toward Chad's Ford, upon the Brandywine. Greene's sagacity foresaw the hazard of the chosen position, and he expressed his opinion that the Americans must abandon it on the approach of the enemy. The sequel proved the correctness of his opinion. Distressed for want of horses, hemmed in by strong parties of the American militia, and almost daily annoyed by the attacks of Captain Henry Lee's and other smaller detachments of cavalry upon his pickets, Howe did not move forward until the 3d of September. On the 27th of August he issued a proclamation to the people, assuring them that he did not come to make war upon the peaceable, but to put down the rebellious; that private property should be respected; that their persons should be secure, and that pardon should be extended to all who should return to their allegiance, and surrender themselves to any detachment of the royal forces within a specified time. But the people of Lower Pennsylvania had heard of the falsity of professions put forth in his proclamation to the inhabitants of New Jersey the year previous, and his "Declaration," as he termed it, produced very little effect in his favor. The people had learned to suspect the flattering words of British officials, whether in Parliament or in the camp, and, instead of "remaining quietly in their houses," they flocked to the standard of the patriots, and annoyed the common enemy on every side. The advance of the royal forces toward the Brandywine was marked by a series of skirmishes, in which the Americans made a number of prisoners. **