regiment was commanded by the senior officer present for duty, Major William Williams. Williams led the unit in patrol actions in New Jersey during the spring and summer, including an engagement at Bound Brook on April 11 or 12 and a skirmish at Amboy on April 25 in which one officer was killed. At the Battle of Brandywine, the regiment was part of the force guarding Chadds Ford until the British stormed across the creek and compelled Wayne's Division to withdraw. It sustained casualties at Paoli on Sept. 21, including one officer killed, and at the Battle of Germantown it was the left flank of the American troops attacking the British center that was mistakenly fired on by other American troops. By the end of October, the unit had suffered substantially from all the fighting, including the loss of Major Williams who was captured at Germantown. Capt. Joseph Howell became acting regimental commander and the Second Pennsylvania Regiment numbered only 13 other officers and 74 enlisted men present for duty at the end of the month. The few present were able to man a section of the army's first line of defense at Whitemarsh in early December, before moving with the rest of Washington's forces into the legendary winter encampment at Valley Forge. Here the regiment shared the sufferings of the Continental Line, trained in Von Steuben's new manual of arms and brought itself up to strength. With France entering the conflict on the side of the new United States in May, the British abandoned Philadelphia and moved across New Jersey to the more easily defended stronghold of New York City. On June 19, 1778, the Continental Army left Valley Forge in pursuit and engaged the British in the Battle of Monmouth on an extremely hot June 28. Here the Second Pennsylvania served in a provisional brigade commanded by Lt. Col. Aaron Burr and made a charge from the American left flank into a British force trying to assault the American center. It halted the British attack but was itself compelled to retire under subsequent artillery fire. The regiment lost two men wounded in this action. On July 1, 1778, the regiment absorbed the remainder of the 13th Pennsylvania Regiment, most of its men's enlistments having expired. The colonel of the 13th, 23-year-old Walter Stewart, became the Second's new commander. The young officer, nicknamed "The Irish Beauty" by the ladies