Sam Abate 🇺🇸🥥 🇺🇦

On the morning of 11 September 1777, George Washington prepared his defenses against William Howe and the British Army along Brandywine Creek, Pennsylvania. He formed his army into three wings. Downstream, the left was guarded by 1,500 militiamen posted at the one usable ford. Nathanael Greene with his 2,500-man Virginia division, was posted near the Great Post Road to guard a ferry crossing and be within supporting distance of Chadd’s Ford. On his right, Anthony Wayne’s 2,000 Pennsylvanians were to defend Chadd’s Ford where General von Knyphausen was in command of 8,000 troops across the creek. Thomas Proctor’s Pennsylvania artillery unlimbered northeast of Chadd’s Ford. John Sullivan’s 1,800 men positioned a mile and a half north of Wayne’s right flank and anchored the American right to guard Brinton’s Ford. Lord Alexander Stirling’s and Adam Stephen’s division formed a second line behind Sullivan’s men. The Continental Army lost the Battle of Brandywine after Washington received confusing reports and William Howe and Charles Cornwallis crossed at Jefferies Ford (a crossing unknown to GW). Late in the afternoon, Cornwallis turned Washington's right flank on Birmingham Hill. Nathanael Greene's division formed a line that surprised and stopped Cornwallis' advancing troops, but the setting sun put a halt to the battle. The Americans were forced to fall back to Chester, Pennsylvania. Two weeks later, the British took Philadelphia. Image credit: Battle of the Brandywine by F.C. Yohn, 1898