Great Britain United States The Battle of Germantown was a major engagement in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War.

Howe left a garrison of some 3,000 troops in Philadelphia, while moving the bulk of his force to Germantown, then an outlying community to the city.

The two flanking columns were composed of 3,000 militia, while the center-left, under Nathanael Greene, the center-right under John Sullivan, and the reserve under Lord Stirling were made up of regular troops.

When the American reserve moved forward, Washington made the decision to launch repeated assaults on the position, all of which failed with heavy casualties.

Penetrating several hundred yards beyond the mansion, Sullivan's wing became dispirited, running low on ammunition and hearing cannon fire behind them.

Howe did not vigorously pursue the defeated Americans, instead turning his attention to clearing the Delaware River of obstacles at Red Bank and Fort Mifflin.

After inflicting a stinging defeat on Anthony Wayne's division at Paoli on September 20,[8] the British army marched north to Valley Forge then west to the French Creek bridge.

His plan called for a complex, ambitious assault; four columns of troops were to assail the British garrison from different directions, at night, with the goal of creating a double-envelopment.

[14] Extending southwest from Market Square was Schoolhouse Lane, running 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the point where Wissahickon Creek emptied from a steep gorge, into the Schuylkill River.

The western wing of the camp, under the command of Hessian general Wilhelm von Knyphausen, had a picket of two Jäger battalions, positioned on the high ground above the mouth of the Wissahickon to the far left.

East of the Square, two British brigades under the command of General James Grant had encamped, with two squadrons of dragoons, and the 1st battalion of Light Infantry.

To differentiate friend from foe in the darkness, the troops were instructed to put a piece of white paper in their hats to mark them out.

The Pennsylvania Militia, led by Brigadier General John Armstrong Sr., advanced down the Manatawny Road (Ridge Avenue) to the confluence of the Wissahickon Creek and Schuylkill River.

There on the cliffs opposite General Knyphausen's Hessian encampment, the militia set up their artillery and began a desultory fire until withdrawing back up the Manatawny road.

[17] Cut off from the main force, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Musgrave, of the British 40th Regiment of Foot, ordered his six companies of troops, around 120 men, to barricade and fortify the stone house of Pennsylvania Chief Justice Benjamin Chew, called Cliveden.

The American troops launched a determined assault against Cliveden; however, the outnumbered defenders repulsed their attempts, inflicting heavy casualties.

However, Washington's artillery commander, Brigadier General Henry Knox, advised it was unwise to allow a fortified garrison to remain under enemy control in the rear of a forward advance.

General William Maxwell's brigade, which had been held in reserve, was brought forward to storm Cliveden, partially led by a volunteer aide from General Washington's own staff, Lieutenant Colonel John Laurens, who had been shot through his right and therefore dominant shoulder earlier in the battle; he had continued to fight with his aide riband wrapped around his arm and his sword in his left and non-dominant hand.

Among this assault was Lieutenant John Marshall of the Virginia Line, the future Chief Justice of the United States, who was wounded during the attack.

Before completely disregarding the notion of taking Cliveden, Laurens was offered the idea of burning or smoking the British out of the house.

Once enough had gathered, Laurens and Marshall began to command the attack of charging to the front steps, dropping the firewood, and in groups, rushing to set fire to the wood.

Both men were forced from the door and the Chevalier de Mauduit convinced Laurens to cease his fighting before he later was moved to have a surgeon see to his wounds.

As the Americans launched their attack on Cliveden, Wayne's brigade heard the disquieting racket from Knox's artillery pieces to their rear.

Since the British units pursuing them were redirected to fight Greene's column, Sullivan's men fell back in good order.

The fog that clung to the field was compounded by palls of smoke from the cannon and musket fire, throwing Greene's column into disarray and confusion.

The withdrawal of Wayne's New Jersey Brigade, having suffered heavy losses attacking Cliveden, left Conway's right flank exposed.

To the north, an American column led by McDougall came under attack by the Loyalist troops of the Queen's Rangers, and the Guards of the British reserve.

The 9th Virginia Regiment of Greene's column launched a determined attack on the British lines as planned, managing to break through and capturing a number of prisoners.

[23][24] Brigadier General Francis Nash, whose North Carolina brigade covered the American retreat, had his left leg taken off by a cannonball, and died on October 8 at the home of Adam Gotwals.

Eminent generals, and statesmen of sagacity, in every European Court were profoundly impressed by learning that a new army, raised within the year, and undaunted by a series of recent disasters, had assailed a victorious enemy in his own quarters, and had only been repulsed after a sharp and dubious conflict.John Fiske, in The American Revolution (1891), wrote:[31] ...The genius and audacity shown by Washington, in thus planning and so nearly accomplishing the ruin of the British army only three weeks after the defeat at the Brandywine, produced a profound impression upon military critics in Europe.