The American loss was about one thousand, killed, wounded, and prisoners; that of the British, five hundred and seventy-nine. That the conduct of the Americans inspired their opponents with respect is shown by the language of Sir William Howe in summarizing the opposition he had met with up to this time. "They fought the king's army", he wrote, "on Long Island; they sustained the attack at Fort Washington; they stood the battle at Brandywine: and our loss upon those occasions, though by no means equal to theirs, was not inconsiderable." The day after the battle Washington marched from Chester to Philadelphia. He rested his army two days at Germantown, and then recrossed the Schuylkill; public opinion demanding that another battle should be risked before the city should be given up. On the 16th the two armies met on the high ground south of Chester Valley and prepared for action. The skirmishing had actually begun, when a violent storm stopped the engagement by ruining the ammunition of both armies. Washington withdrew to the hills north of the valley, and finding it impossible to repair the damage done by the storm, retreated again over the Schuylkill, leaving Wayne behind him to watch the enemy and attack their rear should they attempt to follow. Wayne was to have been reinforced by detachments under Smallwood and Gist, which did not reach him. When the British moved nearer to the Lancaster road, Wayne took position in their rear. He supposed that they were ignorant of his presence, and wrote to Washington to that effect. But on the night of the 20th he was attacked by a strong detachment under Major-General Grey, and although he had taken measures to guard against a surprise, the onslaught was so sudden that his men, who were sleeping on their arms, were unable to make an effective resistance, and about one hundred and fifty were either killed or wounded by the bayonet. [Illustration: GENERAL GREY. From Doyle's _Official Baronage_, ii. 76. There is a print in the _European Mag._, Oct., 1797, and in Murray's _Impartial Hist._, vol. ii. p. 433.] Howe on the 21st resumed his march towards Philadelphia. Finding that the Americans had thrown up intrenchments at Swedes Ford, he turned up the river as if to cross above. Washington feared that it was his intention to strike at Reading, where his stores were deposited, and to protect them marched in the same direction on the opposite side of the river. When he reached Potts Grove, now Pottstown, he discovered that Howe, by a retrograde movement on the night of the 22d, had crossed at Fatland and Gordon's fords, and was in full march for Philadelphia.