While no one faulted Knyphausen's performance, that was not the case with Maxwell. The officer Lafayette had labeled 'the most inept brigadier general in the army' guided his riflemen in an hours-long harassment that slowed down a strong column of professional enemy soldiers.....Maxwell's force had arguably done well, especially for an organization in its infancy, but once all was said and done Heth strenuously argued otherwise in language that left no room for misunderstanding. 'We had opportunities,' he complained, 'and any body but an old-woman, would have availd {sic} themselves of them.' Maxwell had not seized such opportunities, continued Heth, because he was a 'Damnd {sic} bitch of a General.'
Brandywine: A Military History of the Battle that Lost Philadelphia but Saved America, September 11, 1777 by Michael C. Harris, pg. 237. Wilhelm von Knyphausen was a Hessian general officer who fought for the British army at Brandywine. Maxwell’s getting some heat from all sides here. This was a fight that didn’t turn out how either side hoped it would.
