It is part of the site of the Battle of Brandywine, which was fought on September 11, 1777, during the American Revolution, and was a decisive victory for the British and cleared a path directly to the rebel capital of Philadelphia.

[4][5] On August 14, 2009, the state closed the battlefield and three other PHMC museums indefinitely due to a lack of funding as part of an ongoing budget crisis.

A portion of the army, about 5,000 men under the command of Wilhelm von Knyphausen, were to advance to meet Washington's troops at Chadds Ford, while the remainder, under the command of Lord Charles Cornwallis, were to march north to Jefferis' Ford, several miles to the north, which Washington had overlooked, and then march south to flank the American forces.

Washington received contradictory reports about the British troop movements and continued to believe that the main force was moving to attack at Chadds Ford.

Sullivan then attacked a group of Hessian troops trying to outflank the Americans near Meeting House Hill and bought some time for most of the men to withdraw.

Knyphausen, on the east bank of Brandywine Creek, launched an attack against the weakened American center across Chadds Ford, breaking through and Wayne's division and forcing him to retreat and leave behind most of his cannon.

Further north, Greene sent Colonel Weedon's troops to cover the road just outside the town of Dilworth to hold off the British long enough for the rest of the Continental Army to retreat.

Washington had committed a serious error in leaving his right flank wide open and nearly brought on destruction if it had not been for Sullivan, Sterling, and Stephen's divisions that fought for time.

Military supplies were moved out of the city to the Van Leer Furnace in Reading, Pennsylvania during Washington's retreat, where they also came for musket repairs.

Quaker farmers were getting ready to harvest their crops, plant winter wheat, slaughter beef cattle, hogs, shear their sheep and sell their yearling colts and fillies.

The Gideon Gilpin House, once the home of a prosperous Quaker farmer and his family, served as quarters for the Marquis de Lafayette before the battle[10][11] and he was brought back to it when he was wounded in combat.

The park is protected by its status as a National Historic Landmark District, designated as such by the United States Congress in 1997, 220 years after the Battle of Brandywine.

[11] The Benjamin Ring House used by General George Washington, was used on and off until the 1930s,[10] when young local residents accidentally set off a bomb (fire) that destroyed the home.