The Battle of the Brandywine: It was a loss but really a win

SFC Jim Mergott — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 14:09:06 -0500

September 11, 1777: The Battle of the Brandywine, the largest battle of the Revolutionary War. The Americans lost because Gen. Washington was outmaneuvered, and, quite honestly, outsmarted by Gen. Howe in basic tactics. This battle is not talked about much because the Americans lost and it was not a major turning point of the war. However, I believe that the Americans came out on top despite having lost the battle and their foothold along the Brandywine River blocking Philadelphia.

Capt. Patrick Ferguson of the British army, was a very innovative officer for his time - maybe too much of a maverick to be acceptable for some of his superiors. His military thoughts were way outside the box. Ferguson invented a rifle that was not loaded from the end of the barrel as all muskets were at that time. His rifle was loaded with a screw mechanism above the trigger assembly. A soldier could fire off six shots in a minute compared to two shots from the commonly used style of weapon at the time. Most surprisingly, the rifle could be fired and reloaded from the prone position - unheard of for the rifles of the times.

To the British army’s credit, they recognized he was on to something advantageous and gave him command of a company of troops hand-picked for their shooting abilities and armed them with the new Ferguson rifles. His immediate commander (Gen. Knyphausen) recognized Ferguson’s talent and surprisingly gave him freewill on the battlefield.

Mistake? Perhaps. But hindsight being 20/20, Ferguson and his rifles were simply too far ahead of their times for the style of warfare at the time and the unbending discipline of the 18th century armies to be correctly utilized.

Capt. Ferguson latched onto a British unit called the Queen’s Rangers and began fighting the Americans in the first engagements of combat during the battle. Early on in the battle, Ferguson was severely wounded which prevented him from personally leading his troops in combat for the rest of the fight. Gen. Howe took this opportunity to disband Ferguson’s company and send the members back to their respective line units. Howe was not a fan of Ferguson or his innovative and cutting-edge ideas. Politics in the military were, in some ways, worse in the 18th century than they are presently.

In my opinion, had Ferguson not been wounded and had been able to command his special company during the battle, it would have come to the attention of the British to expand on this rifle and possibly even use them in regular British line units of the time. This would have proven fatal to the American fight for independence. In this case, the Brit’s win was not a loss, but a win for America as well.

Response by LTC John Shaw made Feb 11 at 2016 2:16 PM

LTC John Shaw — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 14:16:13 -0500

I love it! The fun part of history is the countless what ifs that can be debated.
The rifle improvement, the repeaters, could have had the same effect if first developed by the South in the civil war.

Response by SPC David S. made Feb 11 at 2016 2:29 PM

SPC David S. — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 14:29:09 -0500

From von Steuben to Hitler's heavy water, the Turing Machine and Operation Unthinkable. So many what if's that could have reshaped history.

Response by SSgt Robert Marx made Feb 11 at 2016 3:17 PM

SSgt Robert Marx — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 15:17:17 -0500

Excellent post & research! I understand that the American muskets of the time of the Revolution were so troublesome and prone to misfires that some advocated a change of weaponry. A British use of a superior weapon would then have been a great game changer and would definitely have resulted in higher casualties for the Colonialists.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Feb 11 at 2016 3:36 PM

MAJ Ken Landgren — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 15:36:13 -0500

Win for America?

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Feb 11 at 2016 7:35 PM

MAJ Ken Landgren — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 19:35:02 -0500

The British were fighting a war of attrition against a country of conventional, hostile settlers, unconventional forces, and rugged terrain at times. The militia were not designed nor were they prepared to be linear fighters, they were asymmetric fighters. Their muskets had twice the range of the British muskets, and often would act as snipers to kill the British Leadership. The militia used the terrain to their advantage and were hard to track down as they dispersed into the countryside. Some of them were asked to fire two volleys and conduct a passage of lines. It did not help that the British sometimes made the common mistake of the Romans in Germania where they marched their army column in dense forests to be picked off. An event that led to the complete destruction of 15,000 men or 3 Roman Legions, and three Roman Eagle Staffs.

Response by SSgt Mark Lines made Feb 12 at 2016 12:37 AM

SSgt Mark Lines — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 00:37:12 -0500

Interesting and well researched article. Thank you for sharing!

Response by SP5 Mark Kuzinski made Feb 12 at 2016 10:42 AM

SP5 Mark Kuzinski — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 10:42:37 -0500

Great post - thank you.

Response by MSgt Darren VanDerwilt made Feb 12 at 2016 11:07 AM

MSgt Darren VanDerwilt — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 11:07:33 -0500

Great example of a missed opportunity. Where victory brings complacency, defeat breeds innovation. Seems to be a common trend throughout military history, why fix what isn't broken, or improve what already works. Think of the impact this rifle would have had in the hands of irregular forces such as Rogers' Queens Rangers and Simcoe's Rangers harassing and disrupting Colonial supply lines.

Response by CPT Gary Wilkins made Feb 20 at 2016 5:57 PM

CPT Gary Wilkins — Sat, 20 Feb 2016 17:57:00 -0500

Ferguson was eventually killed in battle at Kings Mountain on 7 OCT 1780 in western North Carolina while fighting patriot forces--"over-mountain irregulars" (many were Scotch-Irish hunters/indian fighters) who had crossed into NC from what is now Tennessee--and rebel militia forces from North and South Carolina. The "back water" men from the western side of the Blue Ridge Mountains were armed with long rifles--which were very accurate--and used unconventional 'frontier' tactics. Along with the back water men, on the patriot side were militia forces with Colonel Isaac Shelby, Colonel John Sevier, Colonel Benjamin Cleveland and Colonel Charles McDowell (all from North Carolina), Colonel William Campbell (Virginia), and Colonel James Williams (South Carolina). During the battle on Kings Mountain, Ferguson was hit by a rebel bullet (he was on horseback) and died leaning against a tree. On the patriot side, Colonel Williams was also killed. After Ferguson died his men surrendered to patriot forces. Oddly enough, he was the only British soldier killed in the battle, since all his men were Tories, and thus, like the rebels, also Americans.