When I was a young man, few things meant fall for me as a visit to Cliveden with my Dad. The annual re-enactment of the Revolutionary War Battle of Germantown in 1777  —  which has taken place for over four decades  —  was a wonder to my youthful eyes.

This fall is about more than just the re-enactment. This November — the Transcending Thresholds initiative provided tours of the old Cliveden kitchen and explaining the restoration project around its old wood well pump and well restoration project. It’s a piece of Philadelphia history that we must preserve, however we can.

Named from the valley between the cliffs on Benjamin Chew’s property , Cliveden’s participation in the Battle of Germantown wasn’t a resounding victory for General Washington’s Continental Army. It wasn’t an example of the American forces taking the field from the British in combat. In fact, it was quite the reverse.

The British under Lord Sir William Howe had quietly sailed into the Chesapeake and marched into Philadelphia and captured the American capitol without hardly firing a shot in September of 1777. The Battle of Germantown was a significant step in challenging the British forces during the Philadelphia Campaign.

The house at Cliveden itself, constructed between 1763 and 1767 is a wonder of historic Georgian architecture. But that is not all that Cliveden has to offer. Built in what has since become Northwest Philadelphia in the Germantown section as a home in the country for attorney Benjamin Chew as many houses were to escape disease in the City.

But what makes Cliveden so special is its part in the October 1777 battle. After advancing American troops pushed back British pickets, they barricaded themselves in Cliveden mansion. Despite a pounding of musket fire and cannon, the stone walls held and the Americans were turned back.

The American strategic military maneuvers at the Battle of Germantown weren’t just noticed by the British. The tactics so impressed the French  that it would be part of a series of events that eventually would lead to France joining the war on the side of the Americans  —  aided by Dr. Benjamin Franklin’s diplomatic efforts in Paris.

George Washington’s military tactics on the Germantown soil that day  —  which would not become a part of Philadelphia until it was annexed in 1854  —  were utilized in other engagements in the Revolutionary War. The element of surprise, as well as dividing his forces to perfection in the early morning Pennsylvania mist — would be utilized by Washington again in battles such as Trenton in December of 1776.

The Battle around Cliveden taught the Americans that they could match British firepower in the field after Brandywine and Paoli. The confidence that Washington’s Continental Army gained that day outside of the house’s gorgeous Georgian architecture would eventually contribute to a turning of the tide of the war, the British abandoning Philadelphia, and Lord Sir William Howe finally returning to England.

Just like in my adolescence, you can still see an impressive reenactment of the Battle of Germantown each fall  —  plums of smoke annually engulfing the loyalist lion statues at the front door indicating loyalty to the British Crown. You can even tour the Cliveden House and to this day see where Revolutionary War ordinance pierced its magnificently designed walls. It doesn’t sit in Germantown as a remembrance of a British victory, but rather one of growing American confidence in matching British military prowess and retaking an integral part of an independent America.

Michael Thomas Leibrandt lives and works in Abington Township, Pennsylvania.