I have been here a few times but have never taken pictures. I’ve driven by it many others and have not stopped. I keep telling myself when I got to Philly I am going to stop but I don’t. I finally did in 2018.
17,000 British soldiers under William Howe landed at Head of Elk (modern Elkton), Maryland in August 1777. George Washington and his 20,000 man army was watching from near Newark, Delaware. As Howe moved forward Washington moved back into Pennsylvania and took up a defensive position near Chadd’s Ford along the Brandywine Creek. His men covered several fords in the area and Washington hoped to bring on the battle there. Howe had no intention of doing so and began a flanking maneuver with about 7,000 men under Wilhelm von Knyphausen. His remaining 9,000 men under Charles Cornwallis marched north and found a ford that Washington had not guarded.
A heavy fog allowed the British army to cross and maneuver unobserved. Washington received poor and contradictory intelligence and still believed that the main attack would come at Chadd’s Ford. The first shots came at about 5:30 AM four miles west at Welch’s Ford. Fighting continued around the Old Kennett Meetinghouse, where the Quakers refused to allow the battle to stop their religious services. Knyphausen pushed the Colonials back about 4 miles.
Cornwallis completed his 17 mile march at around 2 PM and allowed his men to rest on Osbourn’s Hill where Howe established his HQ. Washington was alerted to this and detached Sullivan’s Division to counter it at Birmingham Hill. Cornwallis attacked at 4 PM as Sullivan’s men were deploying. Two other divisions arrived as Sullivan was being flanked but held firm. Eventually they too were flanked and forced back to another hill near the Birmingham Friends Meeting House where Washington along with Henry Knox’s artillery and Nathanael Greene’s Division arrived. Fighting was intense but Greene held until darkness when the infantry retreated. Knox was forced to leave much of his artillery behind as most of the horses were killed.
With Cornwallis’ attack underway Knyphausen attacked at Chadd’s Ford and broke through the defenses there. The Colonists were now in full retreat leaving most of their artillery behind. Darkness ended the fighting and the Marquis de Lafayette, although wounded near the Birmingham Friends house, organized the retreat. The army stopped its retreat in Chester.
The battle was a disaster for Washington. He lost about 1,300 men and much of his artillery. The British lost about 600 men. Only Howe’s lack of cavalry saved Washington and Howe entered Philadelphia on September 26. The Continental Congress had abandoned the city moving to Lancaster and then seeking refuge across the Susquehanna River in York.
Some of the battlefield is preserved as a part of the Brandywine Battlefield Park. Several small markers and plaques dot the landscape and the locations of the heaviest fighting are preserved as small parks.