On the morning of the eleventh, Maxwell crossed at Chadd’s Ford; advanced to Kennett Meeting House, and skirmished with Knyphausen, until compelled by a superior force to fall back to high ground near the river. Porterfield and Waggoner crossed at his left and attacked Ferguson’s Rifles. Knyphausen brought up two brigades, with guns; and this force, with the Queen’s Rangers, on Knyphausen’s extreme right, compelled both American detachments to recross the river. The American casualties were sixty, and those of the Hessian and British troops about one hundred and thirty. A fog along the river had facilitated Maxwell’s operations; but it prevented the American scouts from gaining accurate data as to the movements of the British. While Knyphausen was demonstrating as if to force a crossing at Chadd’s Ford, Cornwallis was reported to be moving with five thousand men and artillery toward a ford near the forks of the Brandywine. Bland had crossed at Jones’ Ford, between nine and ten in the morning, and reported this movement of Cornwallis. Washington ordered Sullivan to cross and attack Cornwallis, while he intended to cross at Chadd’s Ford, in person, and attack Knyphausen, assigning to General Greene an intermediate crossing, to strike the left of the Hessian general. When the fog disappeared, there was no evidence of the whereabouts of the British column. It seemed hardly possible that it had gone further up the river; while, if it had joined Knyphausen, the force was too strong to be attacked. Washington therefore revoked his orders, and withdrew the skirmish party that had already made the crossing. As a matter of fact, the movement of Cornwallis was but a flanking support to the advance of the entire British army; while Knyphausen’s advance towards Chadd’s Ford, although prepared to cross, if opportunity favored, was a _ruse_ to draw attention from General Howe’s splendid manœuvre. That officer left Kennett Square at daylight, marched seventeen miles, and by two o’clock had crossed the upper fork of the Brandywine, and was moving down upon the right of the entire American army.