Third in a series of articles recounting Philadelphia's days

in the Revolutionary War.

The rutted road from Dilworth to Chester is clotted with weary soldiers, trudging to safety in the darkness that has just fallen on a long and bloody day in late summer.

The Continental Army is in retreat - but an orderly retreat, by troops who have been defeated but not demoralized.

The date is Sept. 11, 1777. The Americans and British have just fought the biggest battle of the Revolutionary War thus far, with about 30,000 soldiers blasting away at one another along the Brandywine Creek - sometimes "almost muzzle to muzzle," in the words of one American commander.

Gen. Sir William Howe, commander in chief of the British army in the rebellious colonies, has finally drawn George Washington into the battle Howe sought unsuccessfully earlier in the summer.

Howe has come away with a victory, but not an impressive one. His veteran Redcoats and German mercenaries have outmaneuvered but not outfought the Continental troops.

Most important of all, Howe has failed to destroy the American army.

At midnight, Gen. Washington sits down in Chester to write a letter to John Hancock, president of Congress, informing him of the day's action.

"I am sorry to have to tell you that in this days engagement, we have been obliged to leave the enemy masters of the field," Washington writes.

But the news is not all bad, the commander in chief adds, putting the best face he can on the situation.

"Though we fought under many disadvantages, and were... obliged to retire; yet our loss of men is not, I am persuaded, very considerable; I believe much less than the enemys... Notwithstanding the misfortunes of the day, I am happy to find the troops in good spirits, and I hope another time we shall compensate for the losses now sustained."

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The British army, which lands near Head of Elk, Md., on Aug. 25 with a force that probably numbers at least 16,000 men, reaches Kennett Square in Chester County by Sept. 10.

Howe's objective is Philadelphia. He believes that if he captures the capital of the rebellion, loyalists will rally to King George III and the American insurrection will be fatally damaged.

But first he must get over the Brandywine Creek, which traverses the hinterland south of Philadelphia like a narrow but unbridged moat that can be crossed only at a few fords.

Washington, who has decided that he must risk a battle with Howe to save Philadelphia, has concentrated his force of probably 13,000 men along the east bank of the Brandywine at Chad's Ford (the 18th-century spelling). There the Nottingham Road, the main route to Philadelphia, crosses the creek.

On Sept. 5, as Washington prepares for battle, he issues a rousing call to the Continental Army for "one bold stroke" to drive the enemy from the land: "If we behave like men, this third Campaign will be our last. Ours is the main army; to us our Country looks for protection."

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Early on Sept. 11, the British army leaves Kennett Square in two columns. Howe knows that Washington is waiting for him at the Brandywine, and the British general splits his force in two to outflank the Americans.

One column, with about 7,000 men under the German Lt. Gen. Baron Wilhelm von Knyphausen, marches straight up the Nottingham Road (now known as Baltimore Pike) toward Chad's Ford.

The other, with about 9,000 men under Maj. Gen. Earl Charles Cornwallis, sets off to the north under a cover of thick fog to cross the Brandywine farther upstream, beyond the American right. Howe himself accompanies Cornwallis.

While Cornwallis hurries to the north on Sept. 11, Knyphausen moves forward as if he means to force a crossing at Chad's Ford.

Knyphausen's forces attack American troops that have crossed to the west side of the creek and in a series of sharp skirmishes push the Americans back across the creek by late morning.

Then, Knyphausen settles in, continuing to fire his artillery to keep the Americans fooled and waiting for Cornwallis to complete his march around the American right flank.

The British flanking movement is aided by local loyalists, who lead the British across the hills and fields of the unfamiliar countryside. Capt. Johann Ewald, a Hessian mercenary officer who is at the head of the column, writes in his journal: "Lord Cornwallis sent me a guide who was a real geographical chart and almost a general by nature... . His description was so good that I was often amazed at the knowledge this man possessed of the country."

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Just above the point where the Brandywine splits into its east and west branches six miles north of Chad's Ford, Cornwallis' column turns east, crossing the west branch at Trimble's Ford late in the morning and the east branch at Jeffries' Ford about 2 p.m.

Washington expects Howe to try to outflank him. It is a standard Howe tactic. What Washington does not know is how far up the Brandywine Howe and Cornwallis have gone.

Washington wants to push straight across the Brandywine and engage Knyphausen. But he can't do that without knowing for sure where the other British column is.

If Howe and Cornwallis have gone a good distance up the Brandywine, Washington could attack Knyphausen, defeat him and turn to face the other British contingent. But if Howe and Cornwallis have gone only a short distance upstream, they could fall on the American rear while the Americans are still fighting Knyphausen - something Washington cannot risk.

Washington receives only spotty and contradictory information at first about the British flanking movement - a failure that leaves him fuming.

Lacking reliable information, he hesitates, uncertain what to do next.

Finally, a local justice of the peace, Thomas Cheyney, brings word that British troops are across the Brandywine near the Birmingham Meeting House. Belated confirmation soon comes in from American dragoons scouting beyond the Continental Army's right flank.

Washington now must move troops quickly to counter Howe and Cornwallis, while still contending with Knyphausen, who launches an attack across the Brandywine once he knows Cornwallis and Howe have begun their assault.

American soldiers rush to take up positions on a hill near Birmingham Meeting House. For more than an hour and a half, the fight goes back and forth and the hill changes hands five times.

Finally, with dead and wounded from both sides covering the plowed ground, the British are masters of Birmingham Hill. The Americans who have been fighting for the hill withdraw to Dilworth, about a mile to the east. Meanwhile, troops who had been in reserve at Chad's Ford come up to cover the retreating Americans. The reserves make their stand in Sandy Hollow and fight the British to a standstill. The fighting ends when night falls.

Back at Chad's Ford, other American troops, mostly Pennsylvanians, try to hold off Knyphausen.

"We fought without giving way on either side until dark," Lt. James McMichael, of the 13th Pennsylvania Regiment, writes in his journal. "Our ammunition almost expended, firing ceased on both sides, when we received orders to proceed to Chester."

Edward Hector, a soldier in the Third Pennsylvania Artillery and one of about 5,000 African Americans to serve in the Continental Army during the war (Washington, a slave owner, initially refused to enlist black soldiers), insists on saving the team of horses pulling his ammunition wagon. "The enemy will not have my team," he declares. "I will save my horses, or perish myself." And calmly, Hector gathers up arms discarded on the battlefield, loads them into his wagon, and drives away.

The British are so exhausted that they camp on the battlefield and do not pursue the retreating Americans.

The number of casualties is not known for certain.

About 200 Continental soldiers are thought to have died, 500 were wounded (including the Marquis de Lafayette, who takes a musket ball in the leg but is not seriously injured), and about 400 captured.

The British report about 90 killed, nearly 500 wounded, and six missing.

The British version of the day's events is that, with a little luck, they would have destroyed the American army. Howe will write several weeks later that "the enemy's army escaped a total overthrow that must have been the consequence of an hour's more daylight."

Washington insists that the American loss at Brandywine was the result of "some unlucky incidents."

But neither Washington nor Howe has time to dwell on what might have been. The Philadelphia Campaign continues.

Next week: The Battle of Paoli.