But there are two local battles that are rarely mentioned:
The Battle of the Clouds and The Battle of the Kegs.
Maybe you never heard of either because they weren’t bloody. You could bring your grandmother to these two “battles” and she’d be safe.
Brandywine was fought on September 11, 1777 (that 9-11 date seems to be unlucky for America). Casualties were high on both sides and Washington was forced to retreat.
But five days later, the two sides faced off again in Chester County. Washington was deciding whether to fight or retreat. British Gen. William was hoping to finish off the rebels.
Then suddenly the sky got dark. There was thunder, lightning and incredible torrential downpour. The ground was soaked, the soldiers soaked and most important the gunpowder was soaked and useless.
The British couldn’t even mount a bayonet charge. “The mud was up to our calves,” wrote one soldier.
So, Washington and his troops retreated to fight another day. God had intervened. There would be no killing in the “Battle of the Clouds.”
Fort Mifflin on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River and Fort Mercer on the New Jersey side were preventing British ships from reaching British-occupied Philadelphia. After a long heroic stand against constant shelling, the forts were abandoned.
Now British supply ships could dock in Philadelphia but the Yankees had a little trick, which became known as the “Battle of the Kegs”.
A clever New Englander, David Bushnell, developed an effective floating explosive mine. The devices were put in kegs and floated down the Delaware where many British ships were docked.
Two boys found one of the kegs, which exploded with deadly results.
Now the British were alarmed and told to shoot at anything floating in the Delaware. We can imagine the Red Coats lined up on the river banks blazing away.
No British ship were damaged. But Americans got a good laugh.
Patriot Francis Hopkinson wrote a humorous ditty entitled “The Battle of the Kegs” sung to the tune of Yankee Doodle.