EXTRA: Brandywine Animated

This is the anniversary of the Battle of Brandywine in 1777, one of the largest and most consequential battles of the Revolutionary War—though, since the Continentals didn’t win the battle or the campaign, not a field preserved at the federal level.

Here is an animated map of the battle, which does a good job of showing how British general Sir William Howe flanked Gen. George Washington’s position by crossing the Brandywine River at little-known fords to the north.

Unfortunately, that map requires a web browser with the Flash plug-in, so not everyone will be able to see it easily.

If you can see the site, zoom in on the lower right corner where the blue symbols are clustered around Chadd’s Ford. Then run the animation. The sudden appearance of red symbols on the east side of the river is a nice approximation of Washington’s experience.