At the Battle of Brandywine on 11 September 1777, British forces under William Howe defeated George Washington's army near Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, in the largest single-day battle of the Revolution2. Howe pinned the American front while marching a large column around the undefended upper fords to strike Washington's flank, repeating his Long Island manoeuvre3. The defeat opened the road to Philadelphia, which the British occupied soon after.
A year after outflanking Washington at Long Island, William Howe did it again at Brandywine. While the Americans watched the fords in front of them, the British marched around their flank, and the rebel capital was lost.
Part of The greatest battles of the American Revolution · Before: The Battle of Princeton · Next: Battle of Germantown · Key figures: The Marquis de Lafayette
Howe moves on Philadelphia
In 1777 the British commander William Howe sailed his army to the head of Chesapeake Bay and marched on Philadelphia, seat of the Continental Congress. Washington placed his army behind Brandywine Creek to block the road1, guarding the obvious crossing at Chadds Ford3.
The line on the Brandywine
Washington expected a frontal attack at the ford and massed his strength there. British and Hessian troops demonstrated against that front, holding the Americans' attention while the main blow gathered elsewhere.
The flank march
Howe sent a large column on a long march to cross the creek at unguarded fords upstream3, then wheeled down onto the exposed American right, exactly the move that had won Long Island. Confused and contradictory reports left Washington slow to grasp the danger.3
The American stand
When the flanking blow fell, the Americans scrambled to form a new line and fought hard to hold it, including the young French volunteer Lafayette, who was wounded. The stand kept the defeat from becoming a rout1, and the army withdrew in the dark toward Philadelphia4.
Why Brandywine mattered
Brandywine was a clear British victory, and within weeks Howe entered Philadelphia2. Yet Washington's army survived, fought on at Germantown, and endured the winter at Valley Forge, while far to the north the British disaster at Saratoga was about to change the war.