Map of the Country from the Raritan River in East Jersey to Elk Head in Maryland, showing the various operations of the American and British Armies in 1776 and 1777.

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On September 22-23, contrary to Washington's expectations, Howe crossed the Schuylkill at Fatland and Gordon's Ford.† The main body of the army was placed in camp at Germantown, about seven miles from Philadelphia, and on the 26th a detachment of British troops took possession of Philadelphia, where shortly afterward Howe himself was received by the Quakers with great manifestations of joy. Upon receiving information of the success of his brother at the battle of Brandywine, Lord Howe left the Chesapeake and sailed for the Delaware where he arrived on October 8.

Immediately upon securing possession of Philadelphia, Sir William Howe instituted measures to clear the river of obstructions, fortifications, etc., in order to open up the river for a clear passage by the fleet. As before stated, the Americans made every effort to obstruct the navigation of the Delaware, having sunk three rows of chevaux-de-frise a little below the confluence of the Schuylkill and the Delaware. These obstructions consisted of large beams of timber bolted together with strong projecting iron spikes. The upper and lower rows were commanded by fortifica

Trevelyan, American Revolution, vol. iv., pp.

235-236.

Drake, Life of Knox, p. 50; Ford's ed. of Washington's Writings, vol. vi., pp. 82-84.

Trevelyan, American Revolution, vol. iv., pp.

236-237.

the river and by floating batteries.

Washington was now encamped at Skippack Creek on the north side of the Schuylkill, and when he received information that the British had detached small bodies of troops to clear the river, he perceived that, as the British main army was thus considerably weakened, it was an opportune time to make an attack upon the forces at Germantown.* This place consisted of one street about two miles long; the line of the British encampment bisected the village almost at right angles with its left covered by the Schuylkill. "It was arranged that the divisions of Sullivan and Wayne, flanked by [Thomas] Conway's brigade were to enter the town. by the way of Chestnut Hill, while General [John] Armstrong,† with the Pennsylvania militia, should fall down the Manatawny road by Van Deering's mill and get upon the enemy's left and rear. The divisions. of Greene and Stephen, flanked by [Alexander] McDougall's brigade, were to enter by making a circuit by way of the Limekiln road, at the market house, and to attack the enemy's right wing; and the Maryland and Jersey militia under Generals [William] Smallwood and Forman, were

See the "Plan" in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History, vol. xxvi., p. 387. See also Stillé, Wayne and the Pennsylvania Line, p. 93 et seq.

The hero of several expeditions during the French and Indian Wars and father of Major John Armstrong, author of the "Newburg Addresses."

to march by the old York road and fall upon the rear of their right. Lord Stirling, with the brigades of [Francis] Nash and Maxwell, were to form a reserve corps. "On the evening of October 3, having been reinforced by 1,500 troops from Peekskill and 1,000 Virginia militia, Washington marched from Skippack Creek and at dawn of the next morning attacked the British army. After a short skirmish the advance guard of the British was driven in, and with his army in five columns Washington began the onslaught. Lieutenant-Colonel Musgrave of the 40th regiment, however, who had been driven in but had been able to keep five companies of the regiment intact, now threw his forces into the large stone dwelling house of Benjamin Chew, chief justice of Pennsylvania, which stood in front of the main column of the Americans. Instead of leaving a small detachment to coop up the British in the Chew house, almost half of Washington's army was detained in an attempt to kill or capture this force.t Instead of advancing with the main body and masking body and masking Chew's house with a sufficient force, Knox ordered the house to be attacked. The British obstinately defended themselves, so that, according to Brooks, an unfortunate delay occurred. The critical moment of the

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entire action was thereby lost in a fruitless attempt to take the house, for while the Americans were wasting time with this little detachment the whole British army was preparing for battle.

Meanwhile Greene attacked the right wing, routed the battalion of light infantry and the Queen's Rangers, then turned to the right and fell upon the left flank of the enemy's right wing in an attempt to enter the village, thinking that the Pennsylvania militia under Armstrong and the Maryland and New Jersey militia under Smallwood and Forman, would aid him as ordered by attacking the British posts opposed to them. But Armstrong's detachment failed to attack and the troops under Smallwood and Forman arrived too late to be of service. The British general, Grey, finding his left flank secure, now threw the whole of the left wing under Knyphausen to the assistance of the centre, then hard pressed in the village where the Americans were gaining ground. Colonel Thomas Matthews, with a detachment of Greene's column consisting of a part of Muhlenberg's and Charles Scott's brigades from the left wing, advanced to the eastward of Chew's house, took 110 British prisoners and drove the remainder into the town. A thick fog now completely enveloped everything, and neither of the contending parties was able to discern the movements of

however, Reed, Life of John Reed, vol. i., p. 322; Lee's Memoirs, vol. i., p. 29.