Fog hides Howe's column; Washington's right flank collapses at Brandywine

By September 1777, the British had spent weeks marching north from Elkton, Maryland, toward Philadelphia, and Washington had positioned his army behind Brandywine Creek to stop them at Chadds Ford. On September 11, fighting opened in heavy fog near Welch's Tavern, four miles west, and rolled east for three miles to the creek itself. General Howe sent Cornwallis on a long flanking march the Americans failed to detect until it was already in position. Knyphausen struck the center at the same time. Eleven hours later the Continental Army was retreating toward Chester, and within two weeks Philadelphia lay open to British occupation…