Battle of Germantown

Battle of Germantown, engagement of the American Revolution, fought on October 4, 1777, between Americans under the command of General George Washington and British and Hessian troops under Sir William Howe. The British had occupied Philadelphia after the defeat of the Americans at the Battle of the Brandywine (September 11, 1777), and their army was encamped at Germantown, Pennsylvania. Washington decided to launch a surprise attack against the encampment, and at dawn on October 4, in the midst of a heavy fog, the American troops advanced into Germantown by two roads, with General Nathanael Greene leading the detachment on the left and General John Sullivan that on the right. General Anthony Wayne and Washington accompanied Sullivan, who was successful at first, forcing the enemy back and capturing a battery. A British force took refuge in the Chew mansion, a large stone house on the line of the American advance, and an American force was detained in an attempt to dislodge them. Meanwhile, a detachment of the Americans under the command of Greene, whose advance had been less successful, had been drawn too far toward the right wing; in the resulting confusion, they mistook the firing in the vicinity of the Chew house for an enemy attack and opened fire on their own troops. This incident threw the American troops into a panic and forced a retreat. The British lost about 550 men in killed and wounded; the Americans, 673. Although the attack itself had failed, Washington's ability to take the offensive so soon after his defeat at Brandywine, coupled with the subsequent American victory over the British general John Burgoyne at Saratoga, New York, on October 17, encouraged the American people and led France to form an alliance with the Americans.