11 September 1777, evening
Brandywine: Chadds Ford and Dilworth
Hearing Cornwallis’s attack, Knyphausen crosses at Chadds Ford against the weakened American centre, breaks through Wayne’s and Maxwell’s troops and takes most of their guns. Armstrong’s militia, never engaged, leave their position at Pyle’s Ford.
At about 6 pm Washington and Greene arrive near Dilworth with reinforcements. Henry Knox places guns to slow the British, and Greene’s division, with the remains of the three beaten divisions, forms south of Dilworth and stops the pursuit for nearly an hour, with George Weedon’s brigade covering the road outside the village. At dark the army retreats to Chester, most of it arriving at midnight.
The Nation Makers, Continental soldiers at Brandywine, painting by Howard Pyle, 1903, Brandywine River MuseumWikimedia Commons, Howard Pyle, Public domain (PyleNationmakersPre1911.jpg)
The British report 93 killed, 488 wounded and 6 missing. No American casualty return survives. Howe reports about 300 Americans killed, 600 wounded and nearly 400 captured, Greene estimates the loss at 1,200 to 1,300, and the British take 11 of the 14 American guns.
Sources
- Michael C. Harris, Brandywine (2014).
- Thomas J. McGuire, The Philadelphia Campaign, volume 1 (2006).
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