page_title: Philippe Hubert Preudhomme de Borre
section_title: American Revolutionary War
hierarchical_section_title: Philippe Hubert Preudhomme de Borre / American Revolutionary War
caption_attribution_description: English: View looking SE from the top of Osborne's Hill along Birmingham Road toward the American positions.
context_page_description: Philippe Hubert, Chevalier de Preudhomme de Borre joined the French Army in 1740 and served in the War of the Austrian Succession. During the American Revolutionary War he traveled to America where he was presented as a military expert. Promoted to general officer, his career as a Continental Army officer was brief and undistinguished. He resigned under a cloud and returned to France in 1779. His career ended in obscurity.
  De Borre began his military career in the French royal army as a volunteer. He served as a cavalry officer in several campaigns during the War of the Austrian Succession. In 1745 he was seriously wounded. In 1757 he raised a unit from his home town of Liège in what is now Belgium but evidently saw no action in the Seven Years' War. When he arrived in America in 1776, the Second Continental Congress commissioned him a brigadier general. George Washington assigned de Borre to command the 2nd Maryland Brigade in John Sullivan's division. He led his troops at Staten Island and Brandywine. At the latter battle he proved incapable of handling his troops in action. Threatened with a court martial, he resigned and left America in 1779.
context_section_description: De Borre disembarked from the Mercure at Portsmouth, New Hampshire on 17 March 1777. He made his way to Morristown, New Jersey where on 17 May George Washington presented him with a brigadier general's commission back-dated to 1 December 1776. That week, Washington was in the process of forming the main army into ten permanent brigades. There were four from Virginia, three from Pennsylvania, two from Maryland, and one from New Jersey. William Smallwood was appointed to lead the 1st Maryland Brigade while de Borre was given command of the 2nd Maryland Brigade. At the same time, a Frenchman of Irish heritage, Thomas Conway received command of another brigade. De Borre's brigade consisted of the 2nd Canadian Regiment, and the 2nd, 4th, and 6th Maryland Regiments.
  In May 1777, de Coudray and his entourage of 18 officers and 10 sergeants reached America. At this time Americans were becoming aware of the problem of accepting foreign adventurers into their ranks. Some foreign officers proved valuable to the American cause, while others were not useful. For example, Matthias Alexis Roche de Fermoy and Frederick William, Baron de Woedtke proved to be failures as combat generals. Because du Coudray had been promised the rank of major general, Henry Knox, Nathanael Greene, and John Sullivan vowed to resign if the Frenchman was promoted over their heads. Anxious not to offend France, Congress invented the title Inspector General of Ordnance and Military Manufactories for de Coudray but made sure that he had no authority over the combat generals. The freshly-minted Inspector General promptly began quarreling with other French officers such as the capable engineer Louis Lebègue Duportail and involved himself in intrigues. One Frenchman noted that de Coudray's arrogance offended the Congress and damaged relations between the American colonies and France. De Coudray even managed to anger Gilbert Motier, marquis de La Fayette. Finally, on 16 September 1777 de Coudray stupidly rode his horse onto a Schuylkill River ferryboat and the skittish animal leaped overboard, drowning its rider.
  On 22 August, Sullivan mounted an unsuccessful raid on British positions near New York City in the Battle of Staten Island. The Americans captured most of one loyalist battalion but admitted losing 20 wounded and 150 prisoners. The British claimed to have captured 260 Americans while the New Jersey loyalists lost about 140 captured. Meanwhile, the 2nd Canadian and the 2nd Maryland Regiments apparently suffered the heaviest losses on the American side. One of Sullivan's officers subsequently preferred charges against him for botching the operation. Sullivan asked de Borre, whose brigade had participated, to keep quiet until his court martial could take place. Ultimately, Sullivan was exonerated.
  On 11 September, the British-Hessian army of Sir William Howe squared off against Washington's 12,000 continentals and 3,000 militiamen at the Battle of Brandywine. The American left flank at Pyle's Ford was held by John Armstrong Sr. and 2,000 Pennsylvania militia. Nathanael Greene's division of 2,500 men in two Virginia brigades and Francis Nash's 1,500-strong North Carolina brigade held the left center. Anthony Wayne's 2,000 troops in two Pennsylvania brigades defended Chadds Ford in the center. In reserve were 2,500 troops in the divisions of Adam Stephen and William Alexander, Lord Stirling. Stephen led two Virginia brigades while Stirling had a New Jersey and a Pennsylvania brigade. While the rest of the army waited on the east bank of Brandywine Creek, William Maxwell's 1,000 light infantry and some militia fought a delaying action on the west bank. See the Brandywine order of battle for details of both armies.
  Sullivan's division held the right flank with the two Maryland brigades. He deployed 1,100 troops and two artillery pieces from both de Borre's and Smallwood's brigades at Brinton's Ford. The 250-man Delaware Regiment from the 1st Brigade was detached to hold Jones's Ford, the next crossing place to the north. Moses Hazen's 400-strong 2nd Canadian Regim
caption: This view from the British position on Osborne's Hill looks southeast. From (photo) left to right, the American divisions of Stephen, Stirling, and Sullivan opposed Howe's troops.
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