The Battle of Brandywine

The Battle of Brandywine:

Part 1 of 10

The British...

Many of the 15,000 British troops spent the night in Kennett Square

-- population 2,000 -- unwinding and carousing, while a battle

loomed.

General Howe's flanking strategy was devised two days earlier:

While General Knyphausen attacked at Chadd's Ford, as

Washington expected, Cornwallis would stealthily move north, cross

the Brandywine, and flank Washington's right. [Map and a fuller

explanation]

The Americans...

By the night of September

10th, the American troops were

extended along a six-mile line

covering the east side of the

Brandywine Creek. Washington

knew that the British army

would have to ford the

Brandywine if they were to get

to their target -- Philadelphia.

He discounted the possibility of

being flanked, assuming that

Howe would rely upon his his

greater troop strength and

superior artillery to press a direct attack.

Washington believed that the British would have to ford the