Benjamin Ring House
Benjamin Ring House is a historic building on the Brandywine Battlefield in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. It served as headquarters for General George Washington prior to and during the September 11, 1777 Battle of Brandywine. History The house was built in 1731 by Thomas G. Clark. Benjamin Ring (died 1804), a farmer and mill operator, was its owner in 1777. As a Quaker, he did not participate in the war. Located along the main road from Philadelphia to Baltimore, the house was about a mile east of the ford at Brandywine Creek. At the end of August, some 17,000 British troops landed at Elkton, Maryland, and were marching toward Philadelphia. Washington had about 14,600 troops waiting to attack. Washington held a Council of War at the house on September 9, and anticipated that the British Army would cross at the ford. Instead, on September 11, the bulk of British forces crossed upstream and attacked from the north, surprising and overwhelming the Continental soldiers. The 19-year-old Marquis de Lafayette was wounded in the battle, and carried to the nearby Gideon Gilpin House. Ring later operated the house as a tavern, and his son operated it as a hotel. Washington had asked Benjamin