Mapping the Battle of Brandywine

The Battle of Brandywine was a single-day engagement on September 11, 1777, in which British forces under General William Howe defeated General George Washington’s Continental Army at Brandywine Creek near Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. The confrontation was a part of the Philadelphia Campaign, in which the British hoped to finally end the American Revolution after having successfully taken the city of New York. As the British army marched toward Philadelphia, Washington moved his men to Brandywine Creek, the last natural barrier between the British and Philadelphia.

Washington fortified near Brandywine Creek because he believed the environment could aid his defense.¹ British Captain John Montrésor’s manuscript map Battle of Brandywine, 11 Sept. 1777 depicts the mountainous and woody terrain the British would have to navigate and the creek that they would be forced to cross. Although Washington selected the location of the battle, General Howe and the British gained a better understanding of the land from communications with local Loyalists and ultimately made better use of the terrain.

Washington and the Continental Army had about a day to prepare for battle. Washington believed Chadds Ford was the most likely place for Howe to launch an attack, so he stationed General Nathanael Greene and his troops to secure it. Two brigades of Pennsylvania militia were stationed on the left flank, and Brigadier General William Maxwell was stationed across on the west side of the creek to attack the British as they approached. Finally, as Washington assumed there was a lack of adequate crossing points north of Buffington’s Ford, he chose to post his last three divisions at the ford under General John Sullivan. Washington did not realize was that there was another crossing point two miles north of Buffington’s Ford at Jeffries Ford. Howe was not only aware of this crossing point, but he knew it was undefended. He planned to send 8,500 men to Jeffries Ford under General Charles Cornwallis while sending General Wilhelm von Knyphausen and 6,800 troops to divert the attention of the Americans at Chadds Ford.²

At dawn on September 11, Howe’s army began marching in two columns toward Brandywine Creek to enact their plan to distract and then flank the Continental Army. The widely circulated map of the battle by William Faden, Battle of Brandywine in which the rebels were defeated (1777), illustrates the two sites where each column of the British army eventually met the American colonists: “Chadsford” on the southwest, or lower left part, of the map; and the hill next to the “Birmingham meeting house” on the northwest, or upper left part, of the map. At 10:00 a.m., General Knyphausen and his troops arrived at Chadds Ford, where they spent the day using cannon fire to pressure the Americans, keeping them occupied while secretly waiting for General Cornwallis’s attack.³

At 2:00 p.m., Cornwallis and his troops had finally crossed Brandywine Creek at Jeffries Point, and after having stopped to let his men rest, Cornwallis was within a two-mile march from General Sullivan’s right flank.⁴ At 4:00 p.m., Cornwallis engaged with the Continental Army and bloody fighting broke out at Osborne Hill and Birmingham Hill. Faden’s map indicates that light infantry and chasseurs led the first wave of attacks with the Brigade of Guards and the Hessian Grenadiers following to push the Americans back. The British initially struggled to hold the Americans, with the Continental Army regaining control of Birmingham Hill four times. Finally, after about ninety minutes of fighting, the Americans fully retreated. As they fled, Washington ordered Greene to march back toward the right flank to join with them. When Knyphausen saw Greene’s troops moving, he understood that Cornwallis’s attack had started and finally crossed the creek to launch his assault.

With Knyphausen finally across, the British continued to pursue the fleeing American troops, and at 6:00 p.m. they met the final American resistance at Dilworthtown. The British and Americans fought for about an hour, taking heavy casualties, until the setting sun allowed for Washington and his army to finally retreat. The British victory in the Battle of Brandywine resulted in the Americans losing twice as many men, but the Continental Army endured.⁵ British Major John André participated in the Battle of Brandywine and, as a skilled mapmaker, drew a map of the battle after its conclusion. In the map, he highlighted locations where “the Rebels” put up the most spirited fight against the British and documented how Howe and Cornwallis attacked their enemies from all sides.

The Battle of Brandywine allowed to British to continue their advance on Philadelphia, and following another victory at Paoli Tavern, the British took Philadelphia unopposed. However, the British failed in their goal to end the revolution as George Washington and his army still survived. The Battle of Brandywine also signaled forthcoming trouble for the British in the form of the emerging Franco-American alliance. After the Americans left the field, Major André discovered that five of the Americans’ brass guns had been made in France. The battle also saw the Marquis de Lafayette enter combat under the Americans for the first time.⁶

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Lee, Wayne E. Barbarians and Brothers : Anglo-American Warfare, 1500-1865. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.

McGready, Blake. “Contested Grounds: An Environmental History of the 1777 Philadelphia Campaign.” Pennsylvania History 85, no. 1 (2018): 32–57.

Montrésor, John, and G. D. Scull. “Journal of Captain John Montrésor, July 1, 1777, to July 1, 1778, Chief Engineer of the British Army.” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 5, no. 4 (1881): 393–417.

Sanborn, Paul J. “The Battle of Brandywine: An Intelligence Evaluation of General George Washington’s Tactical Operations During The Battle Along The Brandywine, 11 September 1777.” American Intelligence Journal 16, no. 2/3 (1995): 69–80.

Smith, Samuel Stelle. The Battle of Brandywine. Monmouth Beach, NJ: Philip Freneau Press, 1976.