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Chapter III - Crossing the Delaware,
Battling in Philadelphia Crossing the Delaware, Battling in Philadelphia
Unfortunately for the revolutionaries, the military power of George Washington's army did not equal the rhetorical force of the Declaration of Independence. In July of 1776, Washington's ill-equipped seventeen thousand men faced the greatest military force Britain had ever sent - thirty-two thousand soldiers led by Sir William Howe. Washington also grappled the geographical dilemma of how to protect New York City against overwhelming British sea and land power. He unwisely decided to violate a basic rule of strategy: never divide your forces in the face of a superior enemy. Sending his troops to protect Long Island, Manhattan and the mainland resulted in almost complete disaster. Only the indecisiveness of British leaders during their attack on Washington's troops at Brooklyn Heights saved the Americans that August. By September the British had driven Washington off Manhattan, and by November his army, depleted by captures and desertions, was in full retreat across New Jersey.
After crossing the Delaware River into Pennsylvania on December 7, Washington decided to go on the offensive, in part because the enlistments of many of his weary men would expire in less than a month. On Christmas Eve of 1776, in a strong and cruelly freezing wind, he recrossed the Delaware and attacked an encampment of German mercenaries near Trenton, New Jersey. Losing only four men, he seized nine hundred prisoners. A few days later Washington's Continental Army, revitalized by their sweeping victory, defeated British troops at Princeton.
Britain's General Howe spent the rest of that winter pondering how best to challenge the American troops once spring arrived. He finally decided to capture the rebel capital of Philadelphia which, like New York City, contained a large population of dedicated loyalists. In July Howe took fifteen thousand troops by sea from New York to the Chesapeake Bay and from there marched north. Washington, fully aware of the British army's intentions, intercepted them at Brandywine Creek between Wilmington and Philadelphia. After a furious battle the Continental Army retreated north, and the British gleefully entered Philadelphia. A week later Washington attempted to retake the captured city, but in the foothills near Germantown, Pennsylvania, two American divisions, blinded by the thick early morning fog, fired on one another preventing a successful attack.
Howe's victories, however, were hollow. Though he had taken America's largest cities and repeatedly triumphed over its leaders, he had captured no armies and controlled only a small section of rebel territory. Also, unknown to Howe, a military disaster was brewing near Saratoga, New York.
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