On October 4, 1777, 11,000 Patriots under General George Washington attempt an early morning attack on British General William Howe’s 9,000 British troops at Germantown, Pennsylvania, five miles north of the British-occupied capital city of Philadelphia.
Washington’s Continental forces were poorly trained, poorly fed and poorly clothed. Nonetheless, Washington thought them ready to fight and had planned to send four columns into battle with bits of white paper tucked into their hats to help them identify each other in the darkness of early morning. Washington’s elaborate plan was thrown into disarray, however, when two columns got lost in heavy morning fog. By 10 a.m., the battle was over. Although the Americans were forced into a retreat, both sides suffered heavy losses—152 dead, 521 wounded and 400 captured for the Patriots and 71 dead, 450 wounded and 14 missing for the British—and the battle demonstrated Washington’s strategic abilities.
