page_title: Battle of Germantown
section_title: Battle
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Germantown / Battle
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo shows Cliveden, also known as the Chew House, at 6401 Germantown Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19144. View is toward the east.
context_page_description: The Battle of Germantown was a major engagement in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War. It was fought on October 4, 1777, at Germantown, Pennsylvania, between the British Army led by Sir William Howe, and the American Continental Army, with the 2nd Canadian Regiment, under George Washington.
  After defeating the Continental Army at the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, and the Battle of Paoli on September 20, Howe outmaneuvered Washington, seizing Philadelphia, the capital of the United States, on September 26. Howe left a garrison of some 3,000 troops in Philadelphia, while moving the bulk of his force to Germantown, then an outlying community to the city. Learning of the division, Washington determined to engage the British. His plan called for four separate columns to converge on the British position at Germantown. The two flanking columns were composed of 3,000 militia, while the center-left, under Nathanael Greene, the center-right under John Sullivan, and the reserve under Lord Stirling were made up of regular troops.
context_section_description: A thick fog clouded the battlefield throughout the day, greatly hampering coordination. The vanguard of Sullivan's column, upon Germantown Road, opened fire upon the British pickets on Mount Airy, just after sunrise at 05:00. The British pickets fired their cannon in alarm, and resisted the American advance. Howe rode forward, thinking they were being attacked by foraging or skirmishing parties, and ordered his men to hold their ground. It took a substantial part of Sullivan's division to finally overwhelm the British pickets, and drive them back into Germantown.
  Howe, still believing his men were facing only light opposition, called out; "For shame, Light Infantry! I never saw you retreat before! Form! Form! It is only a scouting party!" Just then, three American guns came into action, opening fire with grapeshot. Howe and his staff quickly withdrew out of range. Several British officers were shocked to see their own soldiers rapidly falling back before the enemy attack. One British officer later described the number of attacking Americans as "overwhelming".
  Cut off from the main force, Colonel Musgrave, of the British 40th Regiment of Foot, ordered his six companies of troops, around 120 men, to barricade and fortify the stone house of Chief Justice Chew, called Cliveden. The American troops launched a determined assault against Cliveden; however, the outnumbered defenders repulsed their attempts, inflicting heavy casualties. Washington called a council of war to decide how to deal with the fortification. Some of his subordinates favoured bypassing Clivden entirely, leaving a regiment behind to besiege it. However, Washington's artillery commander, Brigadier General Henry Knox, advised it was unwise to allow a fortified garrison to remain under enemy control in the rear of a forward advance. Washington concurred.
  General William Maxwell's brigade, which had been held in reserve, was brought forward to storm Cliveden, partially led by a volunteer aide from General Washington's own staff, Lieutenant Colonel John Laurens, who had been shot through his right and therefore dominant shoulder earlier in the battle; he had continued to fight with his aide riband wrapped around his arm and his sword in his left and non-dominant hand. Knox positioned four 3-pound cannon out of musket range to bombard the mansion. However, the thick walls of Cliveden withstood the bombardment from the light field guns. The Americans launched a second wave of infantry assaults, all of which were repulsed with heavy losses. The few Americans who managed to get inside the mansion were shot or bayoneted. It was becoming clear to the Americans that Cliveden was not going to be taken easily. Among this assault was Lieutenant John Marshall of the Virginia Line, the future Chief Justice of the United States, who was wounded during the attack. 
  Before completely disregarding the motion of taking Cliveden, Laurens was offered the idea of burning or smoking the British out of the house. He took the idea and, according Gregory Massey's biography, he sent men to gather firewood to pile at the door. Once enough had gathered, Laurens and Marshall began to command the attack of charging to the front steps, dropping the firewood, and in groups, rushing to set fire to the wood. Laurens himself was sent forward with a torch with his companion, Major John White. The fire did not catch. While on the front steps of Cliveden, however, Laurens was under a barrage of gunfire and supposedly wounded a second time by a bayonet in his left side. Major White was shot and later pronounced dead. Both men were forced from the door and the Chevalier de Mauduit convinced Laurens to cease his fighting before he later was moved to have a surgeon see to his wounds. 
  Prior to Maxwell's futile attack against Cliveden, Sullivan's division advanced beyond in the fog. Sullivan deployed Brigadier General Thomas Conway's brigade to the right, and Brigadier General Anthony Wayne's brigade to the left before advancing on the British center-left. The 1st and 2nd Maryland Brigades of Sullivan's
caption: Cliveden is a National Historic Landmark.
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