British victory at the Battle of Brandywine cleared the way for British forces to march into Philadelphia unopposed in the fall of 1777. The British occupied the city all winter, one of the factors that led George Washington to pick Valley Forge as the Continental Army’s winter encampment. Twenty miles away, Valley Forge was near enough to the city to exert military pressure on General Howe and his men, but far enough away to make a surprise attack unlikely. The British abandoned the city late in the spring of 1778.