Battle of the Brandywine

On September 11, 2001, the United States suffered a great tragedy. Four months later in his first State of the Union speech, President Bush said, "America has never been stronger". More than two hundred years earlier on September 11, 1777, the Americans fought in one of the largest land battles of the Revolutionary War, the Battle of the Brandywine. Badly defeated, the army left the field in good order and with a determined spirit. At that moment General Washington realized with such an army his soldiers could ultimately win the war. The compositional designs in this painting form a series of diagonals and interlocking pyramids based on the "baroque wheel' used by many artists, including Caravaggio, Rubens and Rembrandt, in the 17th century. This was a way of organizing a large number of people in turbulent action and investing them with grandeur. The painting depicts the moment when Washington ordered the retreat. The men in the foreground leave the battle with their weapons and colors. In the distance, General Washington is giving orders to a First City Trooper. In the extreme foreground we are looking at the battle over the shoulder of a defiant Continental loading for one last shot. This battle was fought over hundreds of acres of mostly Quaker farmland. Birmingham Meeting (still an active meeting today) was used as a hospital and both Washington's and Lafayette's headquarters were the homes of Quaker farmers. For the Continental Army the battle was a chastening experience but it only hardened their resolve. For the Quakers living in the area, the battle was an unmitigated disaster. Considered traitors by both sides, they were plundered by both sides and what were previously some of the richest farms in Chester County became a wasteland for years. After the battle, the Quakers, true to their beliefs as Christians and pacifists did what they could to nurse the wounded of both sides that had despoiled their property and land.