retreat in small boats from Brooklyn to the Manhattan shore. The wind held north and the British warships could not come up the East River. Thus British General William Howe lost a chance to deal the American cause a crushing blow, perhaps to end the war.
Washington, though constantly driven back, was able to keep his forces fairly intact until the end of the year. Important victories at Trenton and Princeton revived colonial hopes, then once more calamity struck. In September 1777, Howe captured Philadelphia, drove the Congress into flight, and left Washington to winter with his men at Valley Forge.
Nevertheless, 1777 also saw the greatest American victory of the war, the military turning point of the Revolution. British General John Burgoyne moved down from Canada with a force designed to gain control of the Lake Champlain-Hudson River line and thus isolate