Battle of Brandywine
Chadds Ford Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
The battle ended just southwest of here at nightfall. With Howe and his troops holding the field, Washington's force withdrew to Chester. Although he was wounded, Lafayette helped to reorganize the retreating troops, and Pulaski's cavalry protected them from attack.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
As darkness fell on September 11, 1777, the Battle of Brandywine wound to its close with the British holding the ground and Washington's defeated army pulling back toward Chester. Amid the confusion of the retreat, the young French volunteer Marquis de Lafayette — wounded in the leg — worked to rally the withdrawing Continentals, while Casimir Pulaski's cavalry screened them from pursuit. Both foreign officers were early proof that the American cause had drawn allies from across Europe.
Why it matters
Brandywine marked the combat debut of Lafayette and Pulaski, two European volunteers whose service became enduring symbols of the international support that helped win American independence.
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Related people
- · Marquis de Lafayette
- · Casimir Pulaski
- · George Washington
- · William Howe
Related events
- · Battle of Brandywine
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Dilworthtown - PLAQUE
Birmingham Township, PA · est. 1915
Near the village of Dilworthtown, the Battle of Brandywine drew to its close on the evening of September 11, 1777. After Washington's line was flanked and driven back through the surrounding hills, the last fighting flared here as darkness ended the day. The marker fixes the point where one of the Revolution's largest engagements finally spent itself.
Brandywine Battlefield - Commonwealth Treasure
Birmingham Township, PA · est. 2001
On September 11, 1777, the rolling farmland around Birmingham Township became the stage for the largest single-day battle of the Revolutionary War. Washington's Continentals tried to hold the fords of the Brandywine against Sir William Howe's advancing British and Hessian troops, but a wide flanking march turned the American position and opened the road to Philadelphia. The Commonwealth Treasure designation recognizes this preserved ground as hallowed to the founding struggle.
Birmingham Friends' Meeting House - PLAQUE
Birmingham Township, PA · est. 1915
This Quaker meeting house, raised in 1783, sits amid the ground fought over at the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777. In the aftermath of that Revolutionary clash — the largest single-day land battle of the war — the building served as a hospital for the wounded. Its plain stone walls tie the peace testimony of the Society of Friends to the violence that swept across Chester County.
Casimir Pulaski
Chadds Ford Township, PA · est. 1975
Casimir Pulaski, a Polish nobleman exiled for resisting foreign rule, threw himself into the American cause and helped cover Washington's retreat from the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777. Made a brigadier general, he became the first overall commander of the Continental Army's cavalry, earning fame as the "Father of the American Cavalry." He was mortally wounded leading a charge at the Siege of Savannah in 1779.