Heeding intelligence reports and hearing combat from his early-warning picket posts, General Anthony Wayne ordered his four irreplaceable cannons and the 1st PA. Division supply wagons to evacuate west to Sugartown Road through wide fence openings prepared the day before. Meanwhile, Wayne's 2,200 infantry retreated toward the same muddy road but were slowed by narrowing gates in local farmers' stout rail fences. They arrived moments behind the cannon and oxen-drawn supply wagons as they were driven wildly to escape the advancing British bayonet attack. One of the fleeing cannons lost a wheel on the narrow, rutted road and crashed, blocking the escape route just as the Redcoats' attack enveloped the stalled American forces. Sugartown Road was eventually cleared of the disabled cannon, but not before the Americans suffered heavy carnage in what became known as the Paoli Massacre and gave rise to the battle cry, Remember Paoli.
