%142. The Capture of Philadelphia.%--Late in May, 1777, Washington entered New York state. But Howe paid little attention to this movement, for he had fully determined to attack and capture Philadelphia, and on July 23 set sail from New York. As the fleet moved southward, its progress was marked by signal fires along the Jersey coast, and the news of its position was carried inland by messengers. At the end of a week the fleet was off the entrance of Delaware Bay. But Lord Howe fearing to sail up the river, the fleet went to sea and was lost to sight. Washington, who had hurried southward to Philadelphia, was now at a loss what to do, and was just about to go back to New York when he heard that the British were coming up Chesapeake Bay, and at once marched to Wilmington, Del. [Illustration] It was the 25th of August that Howe landed his men and began moving toward Washington, who, lest the British should push by him, fell back from Wilmington, to a place called Chadds Ford on the Brandywine, where, on September 11, 1777, a battle was fought.[1] The Americans were defeated and retreated in good order to Chester, and the next day Washington entered Philadelphia. But public opinion demanded that another battle should be fought before the city was given up, and after a few days he recrossed the Schuylkill, and again faced the enemy. A violent storm ruined the ammunition of both armies and prevented a battle, and the Americans retreated across the Schuylkill at a point farther up the stream. [Footnote: 1 Among the wounded in this battle was a brilliant young Frenchman, the Marquis de Lafayette, who, early in 1777, came to America and offered his services to Congress as a volunteer without pay.] Congress, which had returned to Philadelphia from Baltimore, now fled to Lancaster and later to York, Pa., and (September 26, 1777) Howe entered Philadelphia in triumph. October 4, Washington attacked him at Germantown, but was repulsed, and went into winter quarters at Valley Forge. [Illustration]