Germantown, a straggling suburban village, about seven miles
northwest of the city. Washington's army lay at the foot of some
hills a dozen miles farther away. Howe had need to be wary, for
Washington was the same "old fox" who had played so cunning a
game at Trenton. The efforts of the British army were now
centered on clearing the river Delaware so that supplies might be
brought up rapidly by water instead of being carried fifty miles
overland from Chesapeake Bay. Howe detached some thousands of men
for this work and there was sharp fighting before the troops and
the fleet combined had cleared the river. At Germantown Howe kept
about nine thousand men. Though he knew that Washington was
likely to attack him he did not entrench his army as he desired
the attack to be made. It might well have succeeded. Washington
with eleven thousand men aimed at a surprise. On the evening of
the 3d of October he set out from his camp. Four roads led into
Germantown and all these the Americans used. At sunrise on the
fourth, just as the attack began, a fog arose to embarrass both
sides. Lying a little north of the village was the solid stone
house of Chief Justice Chew, and it remains famous as the central
point in the bitter fight of that day. What brought final failure
to the American attack was an accident of maneuvering. Sullivan's
brigade was in front attacking the British when Greene's came up
for the same purpose. His line overlapped Sullivan's and he
mistook in the fog Sullivan's men for the enemy and fired on them
from the rear. A panic naturally resulted among the men who were
attacked also at the same time by the British on their front. The
disorder spread. British reinforcements arrived, and Washington
drew off his army in surprising order considering the panic. He
had six hundred and seventy-three casualties and lost besides
four hundred prisoners. The British loss was five hundred and