SKETCH OF THE SURPRISE OF GERMAN TOWN. BY THE AMERICAN FORCES COMMANDED BY GENERAL WASHINGTON. OCTOBER 4th 1777.

$17,500 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

SKETCH OF THE SURPRISE OF GERMAN TOWN. BY THE AMERICAN FORCES COMMANDED BY GENERAL WASHINGTON. OCTOBER 4th 1777. Plan of the Battle of Germantown, the only printed map of one of Washington's most daring attacks, executed at a critical moment in the Revolutionary War. The map was published in London by William Faden after a manuscript by John Hills on March 12, 1784. On August 25, 1777, British forces under Sir William Howe landed at the head of the Chesapeake Bay. After sharp battles with Washington's army at Brandywine and Paoli, both British victories, Howe seized Philadelphia on September 26. While Washington's forces retreated to the north, Howe made his main encampment of nine thousand British troops and Hessian mercenaries at Germantown, a hamlet five miles north of Philadelphia. He left a further three thousand under Cornwallis to garrison the city. Washington felt that his force of eleven thousand troops could overwhelm Howe if they were able to mount a stealth attack. As depicted on this map, Germantown was spread for about two miles down a main road below which the Wissahickon Creek descended from a steep gorge to flow into the Schuylkill River. Howe made his headquarters on a small rise to the south of the town, while his troops were spread out across the main road (today's Germantown Avenue).On the morning of October 4, Washington divided his force into four columns, marked by points B, C, D, and E on the map. He placed his more experienced Continental troops in t

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