The Philadelphia campaign

by David G. Martin

Brandywine, Germantown, Valley Forge, Monmouth. These are some of the most famous locales of the Revolution, yet not one was the scene of an American victory, except perhaps of the spirit. The Philadelphia campaign, which technically ran for well over a year from early 1777 to mid-summer of 1778, is recognized as the high point of the Revolution. It was a campaign during which the British won most every battle and gloriously seized their objective, the Colonial capital at Philadelphia, yet they were not able to win the war. Thanks to the fortitude and determination of leaders like Greene, Wayne, Morgan, Lafayette, Von Steuben, and especially George Washington, the brave American citizen soldiers refused to admit defeat and weathered the dark days of Valley Forge to emerge a more efficient fighting machine, determined to win the war no matter how long it took.^ Such was the patriotism of the Colonial troops who won their nation's independence from the professional soldiers and Hessian h