Having allowed his army one day for repose and refreshment, General
Washington recrossed the Schuylkill, and proceeded on the Lancaster
road, with the intention of risking another engagement.

Sir William Howe passed the night of the 11th on the field of battle.
On the succeeding day, he detached Major General Grant with two
brigades to Concord meeting-house; and on the 13th, Lord Cornwallis
joined General Grant, and marched towards Chester. Another detachment
took possession of Wilmington; to which place the sick and wounded
were conveyed.

To prevent a sudden movement to Philadelphia by the lower road, the
bridge over the Schuylkill was loosened from its moorings, and General
Armstrong was directed, with the Pennsylvania militia to guard the
passes over that river.

On the 15th, the American army, intending to gain the left of the
British, reached the Warren tavern, on the Lancaster road,
twenty-three miles from Philadelphia. Intelligence was received, early
next morning, that Howe was approaching in two columns. It being too
late to reach the ground he had intended to occupy, Washington
resolved to meet and engage him in front.

{September 16.}

Both armies prepared, with great alacrity, for battle. The advanced
parties had met, and were beginning to skirmish, when they were
separated by a heavy rain, which, becoming more and more violent,
rendered the retreat of the Americans a measure of absolute necessity.
The inferiority of their arms never brought them into such imminent