Post by Otto von Bismarck on Apr 10, 2010 5:12:56 GMT -5
KNYPHAUSEN BATTLE AT BRANDYWINE 11TH SEPTEMBER 1777
BIT OF HISTORY
As dawn broke on the morning of September 11th, Sir William Howe was in the process of dividing his army. At six o'clock, Knyphausen marched with 6,800 men along the Nottingham Road directly toward Chad's Ford. His mission was to engage Washington's attention while Howe marched at five o'clock with 8,200 men northeast from Kennett Square up the Great Valley Road, turned east across the Brandywine at Trimble's and Jeffries' fords, and then proceeded south around the American right flank. A dense fog cover initially shielded Howe's march, and locals kept him well informed of his route.
Knyphausen's Tory vanguard of the Queen's Rangers and Major Patrick Ferguson's Riflemen advanced only three miles before running into Maxwell's outposts near Welch's Tavern. The Americans took advantage of the numerous defiles and woods along the road, as Sergeant Thomas Sullivan of the British 49th Foot wrote, to keep up "a running fire, mixed with regular volleys for 5 miles, and they still retreating to their main posts, until they got almost in gun shot of the Ford." At the hills before Chad's Ford, Maxwell's men unleashed an ambuscade from wooded and marshy ground on either side of the road, taking the Tories by surprise and leaving "nearly half of the two corps . . . either killed or wounded," according to a Hessian witness.
THE BATTLE POSITIONS.
ORDERS AND SPECIAL RULES.
AMERICAN ROSTER SHEETS.
BRITISH HESSIAN DIVISION ROSTER SHEETS
BIT OF HISTORY
As dawn broke on the morning of September 11th, Sir William Howe was in the process of dividing his army. At six o'clock, Knyphausen marched with 6,800 men along the Nottingham Road directly toward Chad's Ford. His mission was to engage Washington's attention while Howe marched at five o'clock with 8,200 men northeast from Kennett Square up the Great Valley Road, turned east across the Brandywine at Trimble's and Jeffries' fords, and then proceeded south around the American right flank. A dense fog cover initially shielded Howe's march, and locals kept him well informed of his route.
Knyphausen's Tory vanguard of the Queen's Rangers and Major Patrick Ferguson's Riflemen advanced only three miles before running into Maxwell's outposts near Welch's Tavern. The Americans took advantage of the numerous defiles and woods along the road, as Sergeant Thomas Sullivan of the British 49th Foot wrote, to keep up "a running fire, mixed with regular volleys for 5 miles, and they still retreating to their main posts, until they got almost in gun shot of the Ford." At the hills before Chad's Ford, Maxwell's men unleashed an ambuscade from wooded and marshy ground on either side of the road, taking the Tories by surprise and leaving "nearly half of the two corps . . . either killed or wounded," according to a Hessian witness.
THE BATTLE POSITIONS.
ORDERS AND SPECIAL RULES.
AMERICAN ROSTER SHEETS.
BRITISH HESSIAN DIVISION ROSTER SHEETS
