Philippe Hubert Preudhomme de Borre Philippe Hubert , Chevalier de Preudhomme de Borre ( 17 September 1717 – 1790 / 1791 ) 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 undistingished . 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 . He was promoted to brigadier general in the French army in 1780 but he was no longer physically capable of active service . Early career . De Borre was born on 17 September 1717 at Liège . On 1 May 1740 he joined the Regiment of " Champagne " as a volunteer . He was commissioned as a sous lieutenant on 26 July 1741 and a lieutenant on 20 April 1742 . He became a captain in the " Duc de Bretagne " Dragoon Regiment on 6 August 1744 . After having fought in Bavaria , Bohemia , and Flanders , de Borre was badly wounded during the passage of the Rhine River in 1745 . He suffered four sword strokes to his head and one to his wrist . The latter injury crippled one of his hands for life . While a lieutenant colonel in 1757 , de Borre raised a unit from the Prince - Bishopric of Liège , the " Liègeois d ' Orion " Regiment . Though the bishopric was not part of France the Prince - Bishop had an agreement with the King of France provide a regiment for the royal army . On 20 June 1757 King Louis XV made him a Chevalier of the Order of Saint Louis . There is no record of him being in action during the Seven Years ' War which was then raging . When his regiment was reorganized on 1 January 1762 , he was sent to garrison Metz . Until 1767 his task was to prevent desertion in the area of Liège . On 14 December 1776 , then a temporary artillery brigadier general , he set out with Philippe Charles Tronson de Coudray and a large group of French officers who were given the government ' s blessing to assist the American Revolution . However , the French vessel " Amphitrite " turned back . De Borre and a fellow officer Thomas - Antoine de Mauduit du Plessis set sail from Saint - Nazaire in the " Mercure " on 5 February 1777 . The ship also carried a secret cargo of gunpowder , small arms , and material for uniforms , all bound for the American army . American Revolutionary War . 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 Regiment s . 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 Regiment defended Wister ' s and Buffington ' s Fords , which were even more distant . American reconnaissance that day was woefully deficient . Howe divided his 18 , 000 British and Hessian troops into two wings . He sent the right wing under Wilhelm von Knyphausen to advance directly on Chadds Ford . Meanwhile , the more powerful left wing under Howe and Lord Charles Cornwallis marched north . About noon , Howe ' s wing crossed the Brandywine at undefended Jefferis ' s Ford , which was north of Buffington ' s . Howe ' s column veered to the southeast past Strode ' s Mill toward Osborne ' s Hill where the footsore troops were permitted to rest . At this location they were finally spotted by American cavalrymen and Theodorick Bland quickly notified both Washington and Sullivan of the danger . Washington immediately instructed Stirling and Stephen to march north toward Birmingham Meeting House , a place of Quaker worship . These two divisions had time to deploy on a ridge to the southeast of Birmingham . At 2 : 30 PM Sullivan received orders to rendezvous with the other two divisions and take command of the right wing . Not only did he need to navigate through difficult terrain , but he had to link up with the Delaware Regiment and Hazen ' s men . During the maneuver , de Borre asked Sullivan if Hazen ' s regiment could rejoin his brigade , but the request was denied . De Borre was miffed because this left his brigade with only 350 men . After Sullivan got his men onto a hill west of Birmingham he realized that his division was separated from and several hundred yards in front of the other two divisions . Sullivan rode over to confer with Stirling and Stephen . Because Smallwood was on detached duty with the Maryland militia , de Borre was left in charge of the two Maryland brigades . The Frenchman , whose command of English was rudimentary , was not popular with the officers or the rank and file . Sullivan issued orders for the Maryland division to move to the right in order to come in line with the other two divisions . To make room , Stephen and Stirling also had to shift rightward . Stephen and Stirling moved their divisions without incident , even though their troops were coming under fire from the enemy ' s light troops . De Borre somehow mismanaged the shift of Sullivan ' s division . Instead of simply moving to the right , the Frenchman ordered the division to file off to the left and circle back to the northeast . At the end of the bizarre maneuever , the 1st Brigade was in almost the same position it started . Instead of being alongside the 1st Brigade , the 2nd Brigade was behind it . At this moment , the crack Brigade of Guards supported by two 12 - pound cannons attacked . When the sound of gunfire erupted , the confused soldiers of the 2nd Brigade volleyed into the backs of the 1st Brigade . The 1st Maryland Regiment put up some resistance , suffering 26 casualties , but the entire division soon crumbled . The soldiers headed to the rear pursued by the British Guards . De Borre later stated to Samuel Smith of the 4th Maryland that a wound on his cheek was caused by the English firing fish hooks . Smith suspected that de Borre misrepresented his injury and that it was caused by riding through some briars . Since it led the column of march , Hazen ' s regiment apparently did not take part in de Borre ' s maneuver and instead joined Stirling ' s left flank . Under the direction of Sullivan , the divisions of Stirling and Stephen resisted the British attack stoutly for an hour . Stirling ' s command was forced to retreat first , though Conway acquitted himself well . Finally , Stephen ' s division was overwhelmed and compelled to withdraw . Washington averted a disaster when he brought up George Weedon ' s brigade of Greene ' s division at 6 : 00 PM to slow the British pursuit . De Borre reported to Congress that his division ran away without having suffered any casualties . He urged Washington to pull the entire army back into Philadelphia and call up 50 , 000 militia to annoy the British , but this suggestion was ignored . Charged with mismanagement and told that a court of inquiry would be convened , de Borre sent in his resignation on 14 September and Congress accepted it . The next day he explained that he had resigned because he led " nothing but bad troops " and he refused to be dishonored . Historian Mark M . Boatner III remarked that the war record of the 2nd Maryland Brigade showed that it was made up of excellent regiments . Sullivan , who was often at the center of controversy , was also blamed for the defeat . A story arose at the time that he insisted on his division being assigned to hold the post of honor on the right flank , but historian Thomas J . McGuire disproved this myth . Congress demanded that Sullivan be recalled , but Washington declined to remove him because it would have left the Maryland division leaderless . Later career . Leaving Charleston , South Carolina on 20 January 1779 , de Borre took dispatches to Charles Hector , comte d ' Estaing whose French fleet was then at Cap - François in Haiti . From there , he had an eventful voyage home to France on the " Andromaque " . En route , the warship sank the British privateer " Tartar " on 15 May and arrived at Brest , France on 5 July . He was promoted to brigadier general in the French royal army as of 1 March 1780 , but a little over one month later the retirement process was begun due to his physical disability . The date of his death was not given . His unpublished manuscript , " Journal des campagnes de 1777 et 1778 au service des colonies unies de l ' Amérique " , is in the French " Archives historiques de la Guerre " .