Fighting for Philadelphia: Forts Mercer and Mifflin, the Battle of Whitemarsh, and the Road to Valley Forge, October 5-December 19, 1777

Ebook coming soon!

Click HERE to read all the Front Matter and part of Chapter 1!

About the book

The weeks of bloody maneuvering and fighting along the Delaware River at Fort Mercer, Fort Mifflin, and Gloucester receive but scant attention in the literature of the American Revolution. The same is true for the five-day Whitemarsh operation and other important events in December 1777. Award-winning author Michael C. Harris’s impressive Fighting for Philadelphia: Forts Mercer and Mifflin, the Battle of Whitemarsh, and the Road to Valley Forge, October 5-December 19, 1777 rescues these important actions from obscurity, puts them in context with the Saratoga Campaign, and closes his magnificent trilogy that began with Brandywine and left off with Germantown.

This period of the war began when General Sir William Howe’s army of 16,500 British and Hessian soldiers set out aboard a 265-ship armada from New York to capture Philadelphia in late July 1777. Six difficult weeks later, Howe landed near Elkton, Maryland, moved north into Pennsylvania, and defeated Washington’s army in the large battle at Brandywine on September 11. Philadelphia fell to the British.

On October 4, Washington launched a successful surprise attack obscured by darkness and a heavy morning fog against the British garrison at Germantown. The recapture of the colonial capital seemed within Washington’s grasp until poor battlefield decisions brought about a reversal of fortune and a clear British victory. Like Brandywine, however, the bloody Germantown scrap proved Continental soldiers could stand toe-to-toe with British Regulars. What followed was a protected quasi-siege of the British garrison in Germantown prior to the travails soon to come that winter at Valley Forge.

Harris’s Fighting for Philadelphia is the first complete study to merge the strategic, political, and tactical history of the complex operations sandwiched between Germantown and the arrival of the Continental Army at Valley Forge. Harris’s sweeping prose relies almost exclusively on original archival research and a deep personal knowledge of the terrain, highlighted by eighteen original maps, illustrations, and modern photos. Told largely through the words of those who fought there, Fighting for Philadelphia is sure to please the most discriminating reader and assume its place as one of the finest military studies of its kind.

Advance Praise

“‘We left our flag flying!’ In Fighting for Philadelphia, the stirring concluding volume of his Philadelphia Campaign trilogy, Michael C. Harris leads us further on the journey to Valley Forge, detailing the critical actions at Forts Mercer and Mifflin, at Whitemarsh, and along the Delaware River. Utilizing firsthand accounts and engaging storytelling, Harris weaves a comprehensive tale of soldier, sailors, civilians, and battles. This excellent account deserves a space on your Revolutionary War shelf next to his previous volumes.” — Bill Welsch, President of the American Revolution Round Table of Richmond and Co-Founder of the Congress of American Revolution Round Tables

“Michael C. Harris’s third installment of his Philadelphia Campaign trilogy, Fighting for Philadelphia, is a special book. It not only presents the Delaware River war of October and November, and the huge Whitemarsh operation in the fine detail that we all have come to expect from the author (based on his two previous outstanding volumes), it does so in a revealing chronology that carries the reader through the eleven weeks that bridge the battle of Germantown to the Continental Army’s straggling entry into Valley Forge. The research is extraordinary, and the narrative created from it is crisp and engaging. A bonus for aficionados is Harris’s footnote text that provides extensive character backgrounds and explains source controversies that would otherwise interrupt the narrative flow of his chapters. This truly is a ‘must-read.’” — Gary Ecelbarger, author of George Washington’s Momentous Year: Twelve Months that Transformed the Revolution, Volume 1: The Philadelphia Campaign, July to December 1777

“Another winner from Michael C. Harris! Harris masterfully completes his Philadelphia Campaign trilogy with this comprehensive telling of the events following the battle of Germantown. While most accounts focus solely on the major events of the war, Harris provides the full context of the times, sharing the complexities, challenges, and opportunities from the tactical through strategic levels of lesser-known yet equally important events that shaped the path to an American victory. This is a compelling and enjoyable must-read for all American Revolution enthusiasts and those who seek to better understand our great nation’s history.” — Jason Q. Bohm (Maj. Gen., USMC, Ret.), author of Washington’s Marines: The Origins of the Corps and the American Revolution, 1775–1777