Brandywine, 11 September 1777

The battle, stage by stage

1. 11 September 1777, about 5 AM

   Two columns leave Kennett Square

   In heavy morning fog, Sir William Howe divides his army at Kennett Square. Lieutenant General Wilhelm von Knyphausen, with roughly 5,000–6,800 British and Hessian troops (accounts differ), takes the Great Road east toward Chads's Ford, where Washington expects the attack. Lord Cornwallis, with Howe riding along, leads the larger part of the army — variously given as 8,000 to 12,000 men — north on back roads to cross both branches of the Brandywine above the American right. Washington's roughly 11,000–15,000 men (Continentals and militia; sources differ) hold the east bank from Pyle's Ford in the south, where Armstrong's militia stand, to Buffington's Ford near the forks. Wayne's Pennsylvanians and Proctor's guns face the main crossing; Greene, Stephen and Nash are in reserve behind; Sullivan holds Brinton's Ford with Stirling behind him, and small detachments watch the upper fords. Maxwell's light infantry are across the creek on the Great Road. Upper-ford and militia positions here are approximate.

2. About 6–11 AM

   Maxwell's delaying fight; the flank march

   Around 6 AM Maxwell's light infantry open fire on Knyphausen's vanguard — the Queen's Rangers and Captain Patrick Ferguson's riflemen — near Welch's Tavern, then make a stand behind the wall of the Old Kennett Meetinghouse burying ground and along the wooded road past today's Pennsbury markers, before falling back east across the Brandywine. Meanwhile Cornwallis's column, unseen by most American scouts, marches about 17 miles. Chester County's battlefield study times the crossing of the West Branch at Trimble's Ford at roughly 9–11 AM. Through the morning Washington receives conflicting reports about the column, and none reaches him in time to change his dispositions.

3. About 2–3:30 PM

   Howe on Osborne's Hill

   Knyphausen's guns duel with Proctor's across the creek at Chads's Ford, holding Washington's attention. The flanking column crosses the East Branch at Jefferis Ford (the study times it at about 11:15 AM–2 PM; a 1915-era plaque says 'between 1 and 2 o'clock'), passes Sconnelltown and Strode's Mill, and rests on and behind Osborne's Hill, where by tradition the troops drink tea. Howe directs the attack from this ridge. Washington, now convinced, sends Sullivan, Stirling and Stephen north to meet it; they reach the high ground around the Birmingham Friends Meetinghouse, with Sullivan, who takes overall command, still marching up from Brinton's Ford.

4. About 4–4:30 PM

   The attack on Birmingham Hill

   Cornwallis's line comes down from Osborne's Hill, across Street Road, through folds of farmland and woods: the Guards on the right, the British grenadiers in the center, the light infantry and the Hessian and Anspach jägers on the left, Hessian grenadiers in support and the 3rd and 4th Brigades in reserve. The Americans face them on the ridge south-east of the meetinghouse: Sullivan's division (de Borre's brigade on the far left), Stirling in the center, and Stephen's Virginians on the right, with a battery on a knoll between Stirling and Stephen. Colonel Thomas Marshall's 3rd Virginia fights forward from an orchard and the walls of the Quaker burying ground. The British right catches Sullivan's division still shifting into line; the Guards and grenadiers drive de Borre's brigade off almost at once. Unit frontages are schematic.

5. About 5:30–6 PM

   Sandy Hollow and Chads's Ford

   On the hill the fight swings back and forth; tradition says the crest changed hands several times. Stirling's men give way into Sandy Hollow, the narrow defile where the Birmingham Road runs south-east, exposing Stephen's flank; Scott's brigade is driven back, and Woodford's holds until about 6 PM, when jägers work round its right and its guns must be left. Lafayette, newly arrived, is wounded in the leg while rallying troops. The Guards and part of the grenadiers lose their way in thick woods to the south-west. At Chads's Ford, Knyphausen sends his column across at about 5:30 PM; the Queen's Rangers rush Proctor's guns, and Wayne's division, its flank now open to the north, begins to give ground. Greene marches his Virginians about four miles toward the sound of the guns, reportedly in under an hour.

6. About 6:30–7:30 PM

   Greene's stand south of Dilworthtown

   The retreat streams past Dilworthtown. Greene's division — Weedon's and Muhlenberg's Virginians with Nash's North Carolinians — forms in woods and hedges south and south-east of the village, around the Painter-Craig farm by Delaware County's 2015 study (older tradition puts Weedon's stand in Sandy Hollow itself). Pulaski, with about thirty horsemen of Washington's escort, strikes the leading British troops. Agnew's 4th Brigade and the 2nd Grenadiers, with jägers and guns, attack in the failing light and are checked; Greene holds until dark, then withdraws. Wayne's men fall back east along the Great Road, covered by a brigade and four guns at Painter's Crossroads. Knyphausen halts on the heights east of the ford at dusk.

7. Night of 11–12 September

   Retreat to Chester

   Darkness ends the battle. The British, after marching some 17 miles and fighting into the evening, halt near Dilworthtown and the Brinton house, stacking captured arms, while Knyphausen holds Chads's Ford. Washington's army retreats, much of it in disorder, to Chester, where it re-forms. Howe's official return gives 93 killed, 488 wounded and 6 missing; American losses, never formally returned, are usually estimated at about 1,100–1,300 killed, wounded and captured, with 11 guns lost. The road to Philadelphia is open: Howe occupies the city on 26 September, but the Continental Army survives to fight at Germantown.