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Howe walks into Philadelphia; Congress is already gone

Washington, outmaneuvered after Brandywine and Paoli, cannot stop the British from taking the rebel capital.

Washington had spent three weeks trying to block the road to Philadelphia. On September 26, 1777, General William Howe's British troops marched into the city unopposed, seizing the seat of the Second Continental Congress. The lawmakers had already fled west to Lancaster, and the Liberty Bell had been pulled down and hidden. Howe held the city, but the war did not end…

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More from September 26

A Soviet screen shows five U.S. missiles inbound; the duty officer calls it a glitch

Stanislav Petrov had no proof the alarm was false, only a hunch that a real attack would look different.

2,711 guns open fire before dawn as America's biggest offensive begins

The barrage alone cost about a million dollars a minute, before a single soldier crossed the wire.

Washington names Jefferson to head a department that does not yet exist in practice

The Virginia planter fresh off five years in Paris becomes the nation's first Secretary of State.

Sixty-six million Americans watch from Chicago, and Nixon's camera does him no favors.

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Read the full September 26 edition →Everything that happened on September 26 →

More from Revolution & Founding

Washington needs a spy in New York; only one officer steps forward

Nathan Hale, a 21-year-old Connecticut schoolteacher turned Continental officer, takes the mission no one else will.

Perry rows through cannon fire and comes back with the whole British squadron

Six British ships strike their colors off Put-in-Bay; not one escapes.

Hamilton confirmed as Treasury Secretary within hours of his nomination

The Senate acts the same day Washington sends the name, and the government's finances have their first architect.

Congress schedules the first presidential vote, and picks New York as the temporary capital

Electors chosen January 7, votes cast February 4, new government seated March 4.

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