Events

The weeks of bloody maneuvering and fighting along the Delaware River at Fort Mercer, Fort Mifflin, and Gloucester receive but scant attention in the literature of the American Revolution. The same is true for the five-day Whitemarsh operation and other important events in December 1777. This period of the war began when Gen. Sir William Howe’s army of 16,500 British and Hessian soldiers set out aboard a 265-ship armada from New York to capture Philadelphia in late July 1777. Six difficult weeks later, Howe landed near Elkton, Maryland, moved north into Pennsylvania, and defeated Washington’s army in the Battle of Brandywine on September 11. On September 26, Philadelphia fell to the British. On October 4, Washington launched a successful surprise attack obscured by darkness and a heavy morning fog against the British garrison at the Battle of Germantown. The recapture of the colonial capital seemed within Washington’s grasp until poor battlefield decisions brought about a reversal of fortune and a clear British victory. Like Brandywine, however, the bloody Germantown scrap proved Continental soldiers could stand toe-to-toe with British Regulars. What followed was a protected quasi-siege of the British garrison in Germantown prior to the travails soon to come that winter at Valley Forge.

Drawing from his new book, historian Michael Harris focuses our attention on the 1777 Philadelphia Campaign after the Battle of Germantown, by highlighting the strategic, political, and tactical history of the complex operations sandwiched between Germantown and the arrival of the Continental Army at Valley Forge that include the war on the Delaware River and the attacks on Forts Mifflin and Mercer.

Registration is requested. To attend the author’s talk in-person at Anderson House, or to watch virtually, please use the appropriate link below.

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About the Speaker

Michael C. Harris is a graduate of the University of Mary Washington and the American Military University. He has worked for the National Park Service in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Fort Mott State Park, New Jersey, and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission at Brandywine Battlefield Park. He has authored several books, including Brandywine A Military History of the Battle that Lost Philadelphia but Saved America, September 11, 1777 (Savas Beatie, 2014), Germantown: A Military History of the Battle for Philadelphia, October 4, 1777 (Savas Beaties, 2020), and The Philadelphia Campaign, 1777 (2023, Casemate Publishing). Mr. Harris has conducted tours and staff rides of many east coast battlefields and currently teaches in the Philadelphia region as a secondary educator.