40 Fun Facts About Battle of Germantown

Two days after the Battle of Germantown, what did Washington return to the British commander during a brief ceasefire?

His pet dog, a terrier found wandering the battlefield, wore a collar naming its owner. Washington had the animal fed and brushed before handing it over.

What did Washington order his soldiers to wear in their hats on the dark night march to Germantown?

A piece of white paper in each hat was meant to mark friend from foe in the dark. The columns still lost touch with one another on the 16-mile march.

Which Tennessee city is named for a North Carolina general mortally wounded by a cannonball at Germantown?

Nashville honors Francis Nash, whose brigade was covering the American retreat when a cannonball struck him down. He died of the wound within days.

What weather on the morning of the Battle of Germantown blinded Washington's columns and wrecked their timing?

Thick fog hung over the ground all day, and gun smoke made it worse. Officers could not see the units beside them, so the planned attack from several sides fell apart.

Which future Chief Justice of the United States fought as a young lieutenant in the attack on Cliveden at Germantown?

John Marshall, then 22, was wounded in the failed assault on the mansion. He went on to lead the Supreme Court for 34 years.

Germantown, site of the 1777 battle, produced America's first formal petition against what practice back in 1688?

Slavery was attacked by Germantown Quakers in a petition built on the Golden Rule, written nearly ninety years before two armies fought in their village.

After losing at Germantown in 1777, where did Washington's army spend the winter drilling and rebuilding?

Valley Forge took in the army eleven weeks after Germantown. A Prussian drillmaster spent that winter turning the survivors into a disciplined force.

What went wrong when two American divisions met in the murk behind the British line at Germantown?

They shot at each other, each side taking the other for redcoats, and both fell back. The mix-up tore a hole in an attack that had been going well.

Which European power did Washington's bold attack at Germantown help persuade to ally with the Americans?

France signed its alliance four months later. Its court reasoned that an army able to strike so soon after losing its capital was worth backing.

Which British commander-in-chief had his army camped at Germantown when Washington struck at dawn?

William Howe had taken Philadelphia a week earlier and split his army, keeping the larger part at Germantown. That division was the opening Washington saw.

Washington modeled his Germantown plan on his surprise defeat of a German garrison at which New Jersey town?

Trenton had fallen to a dawn attack the morning after Christmas 1776. Washington hoped a larger version of that surprise would destroy the army at Germantown.

German soldiers hired out to Britain, some of them camped at Germantown in 1777, were known to Americans by what name?

Hessians got the name because most came from the states of Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Hanau. Their own rulers rented them out, so in law they were auxiliaries, not mercenaries.

Three weeks before Germantown, Washington lost which battle on a Pennsylvania creek while trying to shield Philadelphia?

Brandywine was fought on September 11, 1777, and the loss opened the road to Philadelphia. The city fell fifteen days later.

Which American victory over Burgoyne, two weeks after Germantown, joined with it to change how Europe saw the war?

Saratoga ended with an entire British army laying down its arms on October 17, 1777. Paired with the near miss at Germantown, it showed Europe the rebels could fight.

Which hero of the Revolution returned in 1825 to tour the Germantown battlefield and was honored at Wyck?

Lafayette came back nearly fifty years after the fighting, and Germantown turned out to greet him. Wyck had been remodeled by architect William Strickland the year before.

Which British general seized Philadelphia in September 1777 and rushed reinforcements from the city to Germantown?

Charles Cornwallis cut off a regiment that had broken into the British camp and forced it to give up. Four years later he was the one surrendering, in the siege that decided the war.

Which Pennsylvania general's troops charged at Germantown shouting a battle cry recalling the bayonet attack at Paoli?

Anthony Wayne had seen his camp overrun in a night attack at Paoli two weeks earlier. His men swore revenge and used the same cry again at Stony Point.

Which Polish nobleman, later called the father of American cavalry, rode with Washington's army at Germantown?

Casimir Pulaski had been made a general only weeks before the battle. He died two years later leading a charge at Savannah.

Which artillery chief urged Washington not to leave British-held Cliveden in the army's rear at Germantown?

Henry Knox argued that no army should leave a garrisoned strongpoint behind it, and Washington agreed. His small cannon then failed to dent the mansion's stone walls.

Which South Carolina aide to Washington tried to set Cliveden's door ablaze during the Battle of Germantown?

John Laurens went at the door with a torch under heavy fire, but the wood did not catch. Two days later he was formally named one of Washington's aides.

What sent President Washington to live in a Germantown house in 1793, sixteen years after fighting there?

A yellow fever epidemic had put Philadelphia under quarantine. The house he rented had been occupied by the British commander after the 1777 battle.

Which general took over British forces in America in 1778 after the victor of Germantown resigned?

Henry Clinton held the top command from 1778 to 1782. His predecessor's wins around Philadelphia had failed to destroy Washington's army or end the rebellion.

After Germantown, the British turned to clearing American forts and obstacles from which river below Philadelphia?

The Delaware River was the route for supplying occupied Philadelphia by sea, and American forts and sunken obstacles closed it. Opening it took the British until late November.

The riflemen called Jäger, who picketed the left of the British camp at Germantown, bear a German name meaning what?

Hunter is the meaning, because such units were first raised from gamekeepers and foresters. Their woodcraft made them ideal sentries and skirmishers.

Which Rhode Island general, raised a Quaker, led the late-arriving left wing of Washington's attack at Germantown?

Nathanael Greene drove back the British right before learning that the rest of the attack had collapsed. Left alone against the whole enemy army, he pulled his column out.

What was an American officer carrying toward Cliveden when its defenders shot him during the Battle of Germantown?

A flag of truce was meant to protect the officer sent to ask the garrison to give up. The defenders fired anyway, and he later died of the wound.

With Philadelphia lost, which Pennsylvania town hosted the Continental Congress during the Battle of Germantown?

York became the seat of Congress on September 30, 1777, four days before the battle. The delegates stayed for nine months.

Why was Benjamin Chew away from his mansion Cliveden when British troops fortified it at Germantown?

He was being detained in New Jersey as a suspected Loyalist by Pennsylvania's new government. He sold the battle-scarred house soon afterward, then bought it back in 1797.

Which Irish-born brigade commander at Germantown soon gave his name to an alleged cabal against Washington?

Thomas Conway won praise for leading the first brigade into action on the American right. Within months the intrigue named after him had ended his American career.

Which state's 9th Regiment broke deep into the British camp at Germantown, only to be surrounded and captured whole?

Virginia lost the entire regiment, colonel included, after it took prisoners of its own and pushed on without support. Fresh British brigades closed in behind it.

Cliveden, the mansion at the heart of the Battle of Germantown, is a prized example of which architectural style?

Georgian symmetry in solid masonry made the house both handsome and hard to storm. It was finished in 1767, ten years before the battle.

Which New Hampshire general led the column that opened the Battle of Germantown by routing the British pickets?

John Sullivan pushed several hundred yards past Cliveden before his wing lost heart and fell back. He later served as governor of his home state.

Which American general was dismissed from the army after a court-martial found him drunk at Germantown?

Adam Stephen had soldiered beside Washington since the 1750s, which did not save him. He went home and laid out the town of Martinsburg.

The first shots of the Battle of Germantown hit British pickets on which hill, now a Philadelphia neighborhood?

Mount Airy is where the pickets fired their cannon as an alarm just after sunrise. It marked the northern end of the village of Germantown.

Which German general with four decades of service commanded the left wing of the British camp at Germantown?

Wilhelm von Knyphausen was 60 at the time, old for a fighting commander. He had come to America in 1776 as second-in-command of 12,000 German troops.

Which British lieutenant colonel turned Cliveden into a fortress with about 120 men of the 40th Foot at Germantown?

Thomas Musgrave had been cut off from the main army when he chose to barricade the house. He held it until relieved and ended his career a full general.

Which Loyalist unit, raised among American colonists, covered the right flank of the British camp at Germantown?

Queen's Rangers took their name from Queen Charlotte and were raised in 1776. At Germantown they helped throw back a Continental brigade after a brutal contest.

Which mansion, once James Logan's country home, was the British commander's base before the Battle of Germantown?

Stenton was used as a headquarters by Washington as well, so both commanders worked under its roof during the war. It survives as a house museum.

What did British forces turn the Germantown house Wyck into after the battle on its doorstep in 1777?

A field hospital was set up at Wyck, with a room given over to amputations. The house went on to shelter nine generations of one family.

Which British general, shot at Germantown, died at Grumblethorpe, where stains said to be his blood mark the floor?

James Agnew was leading his brigade forward when a hidden marksman hit him. He had already been wounded in another battle three weeks earlier.