September 11, 1777: Washington's Defeat at Brandywine Dooms Philadelphia [Hardcover]

Bruce Mowday (Author), Bruce E. Mowday (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2002

During the early morning hours of September 11, 1777, British General William Howe split his army in a daring maneuver. American General George Washington’s troops united behind the Brandywine River preparing for the army of King George III. In a dense fog, Howe and General Charles Cornwallis led a portion of the British army on a 17-mile march, crossing the Brandywine at two fords, and surprising the American army near the Birmingham Meeting House. The second portion of the British army under Hessian General Wilhelm Knyphausen pushed the American new light infantry under General William Maxwell back to the Brandywine and then held Washington’s forces in check until Howe completed his flanking march. An American patriot, Squire Thomas Cheyney, heroically alerted Washington to the danger of Howe’s flanking movement. The Battle of Brandywine was the largest land battle of the American Revolution and the major conflict of the Philadelphia campaign that ended with Washington’s army spending a hard winter at Valley Forge. Brandywine was also the first battle for a young French volunteer, the Marquis de Lafayette. Lafayette suffered a leg wound during the conflict. British Captain Patrick Ferguson’s new invention, a breech-loading rifle, was also used for the first time at Brandywine. Ferguson had a chance to alter history that day as he had Washington in the sights of his weapon but declined to fire upon the brave Washington.

Howe’s victory allowed him to capture Philadelphia, but he failed to destroy Washington’s army and failed to rally the residents, including a large Quaker community, to the British cause.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

The Battle of Brandywine was the largest land battle of the American Revolution and the major conflict of the Philadelphia campaign.

The defeat of George Washington’s troops on September 11, 1777, doomed Philadelphia and led to his army enduring a hard winter at Valley Forge.

Betsy Ross's American flag in combat for first time

About the Author

During his 25-year journalism career Mowday has been a reporter, columnist, city editor, and managing editor, winning numerous awards for writing and reporting. Mowday is president of his media relations company, The Mowday Group, Inc., and hosts his own radio show. A member of a number of historical organizations, he served for two years as president of the nonprofit Brandywine Battlefield Park Associates. This is his third book.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 212 pages
• Publisher: White Mane Pub; 1ST edition (December 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572493283
• ISBN-13: 978-1572493285
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,688,206 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bruce Mowday is an award-winning journalist who was given the Local Author Hero Award by the West Chester, Pennsylvania, library during its 2008 Literacy Heroes event at Longwood Gardens.
Bruce has authored books on history, true crime, sports and business.
"Richie Ashburn: Why The Hall Not? An Amazing Journey to Cooperstown" is about a member of the famed Whiz Kids and the Hall of Fame.
"Jailing The Johnston Gang: Bringing Serial Murderers To Justice" deals with a sensational murder case covered by Bruce when he was a reporter.
His non-fiction historical books on the American Revolution, "September 11, 1777: Washington's Defeat at Brandywine Dooms Philadelphia," and on the Civil War, "Unlikely Allies: Fort Delaware's Prison Community in the Civil War" required extensive research.
He has also authored books for Arcadia and Schiffer publishing companies.
A marketing book for authors, "The Selling of an Author" was published by White Mane Publishing.
Mowday gives talks on his books and also offers help to other authors on publishing issues. For more information, see www.mowday.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Well intended., January 28, 2004

By 

Dennis Phillips "The Book Friar" (Bulls Gap, Tennessee USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: September 11, 1777: Washington's Defeat at Brandywine Dooms Philadelphia (Hardcover)

Bruce Mowday might well ought to be listed as editor of this book rather than its author because much of the time all one finds here is one long quoted passage after another. Worse yet the passages are often repetitive and sometimes drag on for more than a page of text. On several occasions, one long passage ends just in time for a one-sentence introduction to the next long quoted passage. Many of the passages the author quotes are from official military reports, which have all of the flair, and literary style of a dead fish and the book often drags along accordingly.

Mowday not only includes repetitive quotes but also often repeats himself. As an example, every time Captain John Marshall is mentioned, Mowday reminds the reader that Marshall would some day sit on the Supreme Court. An important point but the author's first notation of this point was sufficient. Between his own repetitions and the extremely long quoted passages, one gets the idea the author is simply trying to make the book long enough to be worth printing.

The sad thing is that when Mowday actually takes the time to write for himself the text is fairly smooth and enjoyable. Just as one is beginning to enjoy the book however, along comes another long quoted passage. Quite frankly, the author is correct in saying this battle does not get the attention it deserves but unfortunately he does the subject no justice. The troop movements, which are the key to understanding the battle, are hard to follow and what maps there are leave much to be desired. It is just simply hard to figure out what is going on. Add to these problems a severe lack of depth as the author never more than scratches the surface. For example, General Howe's decision to abandon Johnny Burgoyne and head for Philadelphia is barely covered. Probably the most important aspect of the Philadelphia campaign is that Burgoyne, left on his own, was forced to surrender his army which probably helped bring France into the war. Mowday never mentions Howe's intense dislike for Burgoyne and his probable desire to see Gentleman Johnny fail. Howe would have had to completely destroy Washington at Brandywine to make up for what happened to Burgoyne, but Mowday never mentions this scenario.

Mowday obviously knows his subject and has done a considerable amount of research. His writing is excellent when he actually writes something and I kept thinking the book would get better. Unfortunately it didn't. I realize that for the author, this was a labor of love and I would really like to recommend this book, but I can't.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good but. . ., October 6, 2003

By 

Northern Wanderer "Northern Wanderer" (HI United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: September 11, 1777: Washington's Defeat at Brandywine Dooms Philadelphia (Hardcover)

September 11 is just not a good day for the United States, but it was somehow comforting to read Mowday's book and realize that bad as things can get, they get better. Americans on September 12, 1777, with Washington defeated and Phildelphia our capitol about to fall to the British, must have felt as alarmed as we did on a later September 12th.

This is a good book to read if you are local or you want to follow the course of the battle. It walks you through Howe's end run around Washington, exactly the same trick he used in the Battle of Long Island.

This book is frustrating in that it could have been a lot better with some editing, too often information or even whole sections get repeated, sometimes right after one another.

Also the book sort of comes to an end leaving us wondering what went wrong with Washington? Howe had used the same trick at Long Island, yet Washington neglected to survey the battle field before hand and failed to have adequate scouts out to prevent it. The genius of the First and Second Battles of Trenton aand the evacuation of Long Island sleptwalked his way through the battle of Brandywine.

Fortunately his troops didn't, for despite their defeat, the author suggests that it was at Brandywine that Americans learned "they could hold their own with the British".

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Long-Awaited Book!, January 15, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: September 11, 1777: Washington's Defeat at Brandywine Dooms Philadelphia (Hardcover)

This is a wonderful book and an important resource for anyone interested in the Revolutionary War. Until now there has been little information available about this critical phase of the war. Mr. Mowday has done us all a service by researching the details of the Battle of Brandywine and then writing about it in such an entertaining manner.