General George Washington Hastily Maneuvers to Prevent the American Capital of Philadelphia From Falling into British Hands

Washington asks for McDougall’s fidelity to prompt action and the cause: “I shall not add more, than to urge your unremitted diligence to join me, as early as possible assuring you, that your aid is extremely wanted and cannot arrive too soon.”

In August 1777, General William Howe and his army of British regulars and Hessian mercenaries departed Sandy Hook in northern New Jersey, traveling south by sea. Howe’s goal: nothing less than the taking of the American capital of Philadelphia. Howe hoped that by seizing Philadelphia, he would rally the Loyalists in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, discourage the rebels by capturing their capital, and bring the war to a speedy conclusion. Howe’s force of some 16,000 British regulars landed at Head of Elk, Maryland on August 25, 1777. Marching north toward Philadelphia, the British Army brushed aside American light forces in a few skirmishes.

General George Washington determined to offer battle and prevent the British from gaining their object. The Brandywine Creek and its surrounding countryside, consisting of thick forests, rolling hills, and treacherous ravines, made a formidable obstacle for the British advance on Philadelphia. So Washington organized his army’s defense around Chadds Ford, the primary crossing of the Brandywine. Anticipating the heart of the British attack to focus on his center and the crossing at Chadds Ford, Washington deployed his most experienced units at the center: one division under the command of General Nathanael Greene, with the bulk of the army’s artillery; and another under the command of General Anthony Wayne, with the army’s reserves. Washington’s right, where the threat seemed less likely, remained unsecured, as it gently faded into the rolling hills of the Pennsylvania countryside with no natural obstacle to anchor it. Washington placed General John Sullivan in charge of his entire right flank, with three divisions responsible for defending all the territory north of Chadds Ford.

Taking advantage of excellent intelligence and reconnaissance, Howe recognized the weakness of Washington’s right flank and devised a battle plan to take full advantage of the American position. Around 5:00 am on the morning of September 11, 1777, Howe and General Charles Cornwallis departed the British camp near Kennett Square with approximately 8,200 regulars and Hessian mercenaries. They marched some twelve miles north to the fords the Americans had left undefended, safely taking their army through a number of dangerous, narrow defiles, so he would be able to surprise the rebel right and turn the army’s flank. While Howe was maneuvering to outflank the rebels, General Wilhelm von Knyphausen and the remaining 6,800 British and Hessian troops would march directly on Chadds Ford and capture the heights on the western side of the creek, then wait for the arrival of Howe’s force and launch a coordinated attack to envelop Washington’s army.

Due to poor scouting, the Americans did not detect Howe’s column until it reached a position in rear of their right flank. Belatedly, three divisions were shifted to block the British flanking force. After a stiff fight, Howe’s wing broke through the newly formed American right wing which was deployed on several hills. At this point the Hessians attacked Chadds Ford and crumpled the American left wing. As Washington’s army streamed away in retreat, he brought up elements of Greene’s division which held off Howe’s column long enough for his army to escape to the northeast. General Casimir Pulaski defended Washington’s rear assisting in his escape. Greene’s estimate of the total American loss was between 1,160 and 1,260 killed, wounded or deserted. The British also captured 11 out of 14 of the American artillery pieces. Among the American wounded was the Marquis de Lafayette.

Meanwhile, in the north, the Saratoga campaign began on September 19, 1777, with the first encounter between the British forces of General John Burgoyne and the American forces under General Horatio Gates. This would result in a great American victory in October. But all that was on Washington’s mind at that time was that the defeat at Brandywine left Philadelphia vulnerable. So he needed additional forces to stop the British, and he needed them right away. On that day, September 19, Washington wrote Alexander McDougall in New York State, ordering him to join the main army, saying “The exigencies of our affairs make it necessary you should use all intelligence and dispatch in your power to join this army with the troops under your command.”

Three days later he again wrote McDougall. Letter signed, two pages, camp near Philadelphia on the Reading Road, September 22, 1777, to McDougall, stressing the urgency of the situation, giving a report on the enemy’s location and intentions, and asking for his personal fidelity – his “unremitted diligence.” “I wrote you on Friday last, requesting your earliest arrival with the Troops under your Command, to join this Army. This I must repeat, and have sent an officer on purpose to deliver my letter, to whom I refer you for the particulars of our situation & that of the Enemy at this time. I shall only observe respecting them, that the main body of their Army lay last night near French Creek Bridge about four miles from Schuylkill on the West side. Their unvaried object has been & it seems still to be pursued to get above us & to turn on our right flank.

“We are on the East side of the River and advance as they do, on the Common Road from Philadelphia to Reading, twenty eight miles from the former. From the present complexion of affairs, you should proceed on the most direct route leading to Pots Grove about 9 miles above this place; but I wish you, as soon as you approach the Delaware, to advise me by Express, still continuing the route I have mentioned, till you hear from me in answer to your Letter, when you will be directed to proceed as circumstances require. I shall not add more, than to urge your unremitted diligence to join me, as early as possible assuring you, that your aid is extremely wanted and cannot arrive too soon. You will write me a line by the return of the officer.” Washington adds a P.S. – “Your Letter of the 17th just now came to Hand / Ensign McDonald is the Officer”. The body of the letter is written in the hand of Washington’s military chief of staff, Robert Hanson Harrison. The Ensign was probably Ensign Barney Donald of Virginia.

McDougall would finally reach Washington, but not until after the British captured Philadelphia on September 26, 1777. They would hold the American capital until June of 1778.

A week after the capture of Philadelphia, on October 3, at 7pm in the evening, Washington’s forces begin the march to Germantown, where Washington hoped to encircle Howe’s army, capture its men, and force the British out of Philadelphia. Washington’s generals commanding 8,000 Continentals and 3,000 militia were Adam Stephen, Nathanael Greene, Alexander McDougall, John Sullivan, Anthony Wayne, and Thomas Conway. But Washington’s forces were defeated at Germantown, as one wing marched down the wrong road, and Conway’s brigade inadvertently alerted the British to the impending attack. In the course of battle, Wayne and Stephen’s men fired upon each other in confusion. Greene’s retreat was mistakenly taken by the rest of the troops as a signal for a general retreat.

Thus the Americans were twice defeated – Brandywine and Germantown. Howe’s forces settled into comfortable winter quarters in Philadelphia, while the remnants of the Continental Army went into winter quarters at Valley Forge. There, the army faced deprivation in the extreme, but emerged as a fighting force to contend with.