Description: On September 11, 1777 General George Washington with his young assistant The Marquis de Lafayette met in battle with British Generals Howe and Cornwallis in the small town of Chadds Ford Pa. The fate of Philadelphia hung in the balance.
What ensued was the largest and bloodiest battle of the war. The State of PA owns the Battle site and frankly I am a little disappointed with what they have done with it. Yes, there is a visitor center and yes they do have a small museum, a 20 minute video, a small store and a guided tour of the Gideon House which was where they think Lafayette had his headquarters. At this time, Washington’s headquarters is closed while they deal with the problem of mold. All this is good, what is bad is that there are no signs on the battlefield, nada, nothing. There is no tour to show you where this or that happened. It is pathetic and very disappointing. Come on, if they can put up signs for battles that took place 600 years ago in England surely we can do the same here? Also no pictures are allowed in the museum since 9/11; right there are a lot of terrorists looking for information on 18th century weapons and battle strategy? Come on, I know we need security but isn’t this a little crazy?
The video is very interesting and gives a good overview of the war up to date. Coming into this battle the Americans had made no attempt to fight the British in open combat with conventional European tactics. Even though they were defeated it was a positive experience because they were not routed. They remained organized and retreated to Chester where they could take care of their wounded. In all 1200 Americans were killed or wounded and 300 were taken prisoner out of a total of 15,000 men. First reports by the British gave their losses as 600 but later reports suggest closer to 2000 out of 5,000 Hessians and 13000 British troops.
Philadelphia fell to the British without resistance within the month but while the British were concentrating in the Brandywine Valley the Americans won a strategic Battle at Saratoga that so impressed the French that they decided that there was hope for the American cause.
I learned many things during the tour of Lafayette’s headquarters including the fact that he was very wealthy and only 19 years old. He was also wounded at the battle of Brandywine in the leg. When he returned to the area 50 years later he was limping and walking with a cane. When asked if it was the result of his battle wound, he replied no, it was a skating accident in Paris.
The museum has several cases of items. One case has artifacts found on the battle field and includes buckles, bullets, a fife and a British half-penny. The fact that I had a British ancestor in the American Revolution made this of particular interest.
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