Battle of Brandywine The Battle of Brandywine , also known as the Battle of Brandywine Creek , was fought between the American army of Major General George Washington and the British army of General Sir William Howe on September 11 , 1777 . The British defeated the Americans and forced them to withdraw toward the American capital of Philadelphia . The engagement occurred near Chadds Ford , Pennsylvania during Howe ' s campaign to take Philadelphia , part of the American Revolutionary War . Howe ' s army sailed from New York City and landed near Elkton , Maryland in northern Chesapeake Bay . Marching north , the British army brushed aside American light forces in a few skirmishes . Washington offered battle with his army posted behind Brandywine Creek . While part of his army demonstrated in front of Chadds Ford , Howe took the bulk of his troops on a long march that crossed the Brandywine beyond Washington ' s right flank . Due to poor scouting , the Americans did not detect Howe ' s column until it reached a position in rear of their right flank . Belatedly , three divisions were shifted to block the British flanking force near a Quaker meeting house . After a stiff fight , Howe ' s wing broke through the newly formed American right wing which was deployed on several hills . At this point Lieutenant General Wilhelm von Knyphausen attacked Chadds Ford and crumpled the American left wing . As Washington ' s army streamed away in retreat , he brought up elements of Nathanael Greene ' s division which held off Howe ' s column long enough for his army to escape to the northeast . The defeat and subsequent maneuvers left Philadelphia vulnerable . The British captured the city on September 26 , beginning an occupation that would last until June 1778 . Background . In late August 1777 , after a distressing 34 - day journey from Sandy Hook on the coast of New Jersey , a Royal Navy fleet of more than 260 ships carrying some 17 , 000 British troops under the command of British General Sir William Howe landed at the head of the Elk River , on the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay near present - day Elkton , Maryland ( then known as Head of Elk ) , approximately 40 – 50 miles ( 60 – 80 km ) southwest of Philadelphia . Unloading the ships proved to be a logistical problem because the narrow river neck was shallow and muddy . General George Washington had situated the American forces , about 20 , 300 strong , between Head of Elk and Philadelphia . His forces were able to reconnoiter the British landing from Iron Hill near Newark , Delaware , about nine miles ( 14 km ) to the northeast . Because of the delay disembarking from the ships , Howe did not set up a typical camp but quickly moved forward with the troops . As a result , Washington was not able to accurately gauge the strength of the opposing forces . After a skirmish at Cooch ' s Bridge south of Newark , the British troops moved north and Washington abandoned a defensive encampment along the Red Clay Creek near Newport , Delaware to deploy against the British at Chadds Ford . This site was important as it was the most direct passage across the Brandywine River on the road from Baltimore to Philadelphia . On September 9 , Washington positioned detachments to guard other fords above and below Chadds Ford , hoping to force the battle there . Washington employed General John Armstrong , commanding about 1 , 000 Pennsylvania militia , to cover Pyle ' s Ford , a few hundred yards south of Chadds Ford , which was covered by Major Generals Anthony Wayne ' s and Nathanael Greene ' s divisions . Major General John Sullivan ' s division extended northward along the Brandywine ' s east banks , covering the high ground north of Chadds Ford along with Major General Adam Stephen ' s division and Major General Lord Stirling ' s divisions . Further upstream was a brigade under Colonel Moses Hazen covering Buffington ' s Ford and Wistar ' s Ford . Washington was confident that the area was secure . The British grouped forces at nearby Kennett Square . Howe , who had better information about the area than Washington , had no intention of mounting a full - scale frontal attack against the prepared American defenses . He instead employed a flanking maneuver , similar to that used in the Battle of Long Island . About 5 , 000 men under the command of Wilhelm von Knyphausen advanced to meet Washington ' s troops at Chadds Ford . The remainder of Howe ' s troops , under the command of Charles , Lord Cornwallis , marched north to Trimble ' s Ford across the West Branch of the Brandywine Creek , then east to Jefferies Ford across the East Branch ( two fords that Washington had overlooked ) , and then south to flank the American forces . Battle . British advance . September 11 began with a heavy fog , which provided cover for the British troops . Washington received contradictory reports about the British troop movements and continued to believe that the main force was moving to attack at Chadds Ford . At 5 : 30 am the British and Hessian troops began marching east along the " Great Road " ( now Route 1 ) from Kennett Square , advancing on the American troops positioned where the road crossed Brandywine Creek . The first shots of the battle took place at a tavern where the British were repulsed . The British called for reinforcements and ran down the road to take cover behind the stone walls on the Old Kennett Meetinghouse grounds . The battle was fought at mid - morning around the meeting house while the pacifist Quakers continued to hold their midweek service . One of the Quakers later wrote , " While there was much noise and confusion without , all was quiet and peaceful within . " From the Meetinghouse grounds , the battle continued for three miles to what is now Battlefield Park . Eventually the British pushed the Americans back but not before suffering heavy losses . The British appeared on the Americans ' right flank at around 2 p . m . With Hazen ' s brigades outflanked , Sullivan , Stephen , and Stirling tried to reposition their troops to meet the unexpected British threat to their right flank . Howe was slow to attack , which bought time for the Americans to position some of their men on high ground at Birmingham Meetinghouse , about a mile ( 1 . 6 km ) north of Chadds Ford . By 4 p . m . , the British attacked , with Stephen ' s and Stirling ' s divisions receiving the brunt of the assault ; both American divisions lost ground fast . American counterattack and retreat . Sullivan attacked a group of Hessian troops trying to outflank Stirling ' s men near Meeting House Hill and bought some time for most of Stirling ' s men to withdraw , but returned British fire forced Sullivan ' s men to retreat . At this point , slightly after 4 pm , Washington and Greene arrived with reinforcements to try to hold off the British , who now occupied Meeting House Hill . These reinforcements , combined with the remnants of Sullivan ' s , Stephen ' s , and Stirling ' s divisions , stopped the pursuing British for nearly an hour but were eventually forced to retreat . The Americans were also forced to leave behind many of their cannons on Meeting House Hill because almost all of their artillery horses were killed . Knyphausen , on the east bank of the Brandywine , launched an attack against the weakened American center across Chadds Ford , breaking through the divisions commanded by Wayne and William Maxwell and forcing them to retreat and leave behind most of their cannon . Armstrong ' s militia , never engaged in the fighting , also decided to retreat from their positions . Further north , Greene sent Brigadier General George Weedon ' s troops to cover the road just outside the town of Dilworth to hold off the British long enough for the rest of the Continental Army to retreat . Darkness brought the British pursuit to a standstill , which then allowed Weedon ' s force to retreat . The defeated Americans retreated to Chester where most of them arrived at midnight , with stragglers arriving until morning . The American retreat was well - organized largely due to the efforts of Gilbert du Motier , marquis de Lafayette , who , although wounded , created a rally point that allowed for a more orderly retreat before being treated for his wound . Losses . The official British casualty list detailed 587 casualties : 93 killed ( eight officers , seven sergeants and 78 rank and file ) ; 488 wounded ( 49 officers , 40 sergeants , four drummers and 395 rank and file ) ; and six rank and file missing unaccounted for . Only 40 of the British Army ' s casualties were Hessians . Historian Thomas J . McGuire writes that , " American estimates of British losses run as high as 2 , 000 , based on distant observation and sketchy , unreliable reports " . No casualty return for the American army at Brandywine survives and no figures , official or otherwise , were ever released . Most accounts of the American loss were from the British side . One initial report by a British officer recorded American casualties at over 200 killed , around 750 wounded , and 400 prisoners taken , many of them wounded . A member of General Howe ' s staff claimed that 400 rebels were buried on the field by the victors . Another British officer wrote that , " The Enemy had 502 dead in the field " . General Howe ' s report to the British colonial secretary , Lord George Germain , said that the Americans , " had about 300 men killed , 600 wounded , and near 400 made prisoners " . The nearest thing to a hard figure from the American side was by Major General Nathanael Greene , who estimated that Washington ' s army had lost between 1 , 200 and 1 , 300 men . On September 14 , 350 wounded Americans were taken from the British camp at Dilworth to a newly established hospital at Wilmington , Delaware . This would suggest that of the " near 400 " prisoners reported by Howe , only about 50 had surrendered unwounded . If General Greene ' s estimate of the total American loss was accurate , then they had between 1 , 160 and 1 , 260 killed , wounded or deserted during the battle . The British also captured 11 out of 14 of the American artillery guns . Among the American wounded was the Marquis de Lafayette . In addition to losses in battle , 315 men were posted as deserters from Washington ' s camp during this stage of the campaign . Aftermath . Although Howe had defeated the American army , his lack of cavalry prevented its total destruction . Washington had committed a serious error in leaving his right flank wide open and nearly brought about his army ' s annihilation had it not been for Sullivan , Stirling and Stephen ' s divisions , which fought for time . Evening was approaching and , in spite of the early start Cornwallis had made in the flanking maneuver , most of the American army was able to escape . In his report to the Continental Congress detailing the battle , Washington stated : " despite the day ' s misfortune , I am pleased to announce that most of my men are in good spirits and still have the courage to fight the enemy another day " . British and American forces maneuvered around each other for the next several days with only a few encounters such as the Battle of Paoli on the night of September 20 – 21 . The Continental Congress abandoned Philadelphia , first to Lancaster , Pennsylvania for one day and then to York , Pennsylvania . Military supplies were moved out of the city to Reading , Pennsylvania . On September 26 , 1777 , British forces marched into Philadelphia unopposed . Eight Army National Guard units ( 103rd Eng Bn , A / 1 - 104th Cav , 109th FA , 111th Inf , 113th Inf , 116th Inf , 1 - 175th Inf and 198th Sig Bn ) and one active Regular Army Field Artillery battalion ( 1 – 5th FA ) are derived from American units that participated in the Battle of Brandywine . There are only thirty currently existing units in the U . S . Army with lineages that go back to the colonial era .