As a quick overview, the British under General Howe were forced from Boston by the cannons and siege by General Washington from April 1775 to March 1776. Those 9,000 troops and Loyalists went to Halifax and in June 1776 Howe came to New York City with a huge number, 30,000 troops, that included Hessians while his brother Admiral Richard Howe spread across the waters with a massive fleet of 400 ships.
Howe sought to capture Philadelphia, the seat of the Continental Congress. Instead of marching overland through New Jersey, where Washington’s “Jersey Blues” had been harrassing him, Howe transported his army by sea to the Chesapeake Bay and marched north toward the Philadelphia. Washington positioned his army at Chadds Ford along the Brandywine Creek to block the path.
The Battle of Brandywine, fought on Sept. 11, 1777, was a pivotal clash in the Philadelphia Campaign. It was a massive engagement involving nearly 30,000 soldiers, making it the second largest battle of the war after Long Island.
This battle saw the Sussex militia marching far from home to defend the colonial capital against a sophisticated British flanking maneuver. Howe utilized a tactic almost identical to the one he used at the Battle of Long Island. As a diversion, Howe sent a smaller force under Hessian General Knyphausen to engage Washington directly at Chadds Ford.
While Washington was focused on the center, Howe and Lord Cornwallis led the bulk of the British army on a grueling 17-mile march around the American right flank, crossing the creek at unguarded fords further north.
When Washington realized he had been outflanked, he scrambled to shift his lines. The heaviest fighting occurred on the high ground near the Birmingham Quaker Meeting House. The Americans, including the New Jersey units, fought tenaciously to hold the line. The combat was often hand-to-hand and chaotic as the sun began to set. Despite the fierce resistance, the superior numbers and discipline of the British regulars eventually broke the American line.
As the American line collapsed, General Nathanael Greene’s division (supported by the Marquis de Lafayette in his first battle) fought a brilliant rearguard action. This allowed the rest of Washington’s army, including the Sussex militia units, to retreat in relatively good order toward Chester, Pa. Lafayette was wounded in the leg during this stage of the battle, cementing his status as a hero of the American cause.
The 2nd Sussex Regiment’s presence at Brandywine is a testament to the “mobile” nature of the New Jersey militia. Casualties and Survival: While the Americans lost the field, the army remained intact. For the men of Sussex, surviving Brandywine meant they had faced the “best of the best” of the British Grenadiers and Hessians and lived to fight again at Germantown and Monmouth. This battle further hardened the men from Sussex County. The lessons learned in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania were applied back in the “Neutral Ground” of New Jersey, where they became experts at ambushing British foraging parties.
Following this defeat, the Continental Congress was forced to flee Philadelphia, and the British occupied the city on September 26, 1777. However, Washington’s ability to keep his army together after such a blow remains one of his greatest achievements of the war.
Bill Truran, Sussex County’s historian, may be contacted at billt1425@gmail.com He is the author of “Franklin High School: Two Basketball Dynasties (with Mike Ferrara).”