By the 26th the whole army was in and about Wilmington, then only a
modest town, the larger part gathered on one side along the Christiana,
and the other clustered about the great mills upon the Brandywine, whose
corn-meal gave the place its chief repute. Washington fixed his
head-quarters in the mansion of one of the mill-owners (presumably
Joseph Tatnall's spacious house), and the troops occupied the hills
around, on which some traces of their lines of defence may still be
discovered. The Delaware militia, urgently called upon by Congress, had
been aroused, as far as possible, by the ever-faithful Rodney, the
Signer of the Declaration--that tall, thin, odd-looking man, with a
green patch covering the cancer that consumed his face--and they had
taken the field under the command of General Thomas Collins of Belmont
Hall in Kent, recently sheriff of that county, and afterward governor of
the State. Part of their duty had been an attempt to save from the
enemy's hands the stores, including a large quantity of that precious
article, salt, which had been gathered at the "Head of Elk."

The British had arrived. Their enormous fleet, proceeding slowly, had
kept well together, and now lay anchored in Elk River, the greatest
company by far that these quiet estuaries, the home of the wildfowl,
fish and crab, had ever seen; and on the 25th the debarkation of the
troops began, Cornwallis's command landing first, and Knyphausen's,
local chronicles say, not coming ashore until the 31st of the month. The
long voyage had been especially trying to the horses: those that
survived were almost starved, and in no condition either to carry
dragoons or drag cannon. General Howe issued a proclamation to the
people declaring that he came only to punish the rebellious, and making
all due assurances to those disposed to maintain the royal authority.
They were informed they would be paid in gold and silver for all the
horses, cattle and produce they would bring in, and the Tories, we are
told, thereupon drove in some of the stock of their Whig neighbors.
Knyphausen's men destroyed the county buildings of Cecil at Court-house
Point, and the public records were carried away, most of them being
subsequently recovered in New York. Several thousand bushels of oats and
corn were amongst the stores captured.

Heavy rains fell on the 26th, the day after the debarkation began, and
no forward movement of importance was made until the 27th, when
Cornwa