Once again refusing an assault on a strong position—a decision later praised by Charles Lord Cornwallis—Howe then evacuated the Jerseys and resumed his plan to attack Philadelphia.His primary target was still Washington's army, not the city, and its movements determined his strategy. He took up a military career, and in the last of the French and Indian Wars served with distinction at the capture of Louisburg and in the fight for Quebec (1759). While the capture of Philadelphia did not really shake the Revolutionary cause, the defeat at Saratoga truly injured the British. The matter is still open to debate. He spent the winter taking Lizzie Loring to parties, and only occasionally made war on the American-held forts along the Delaware River that blocked the British fleet from supplying Philadelphia. They say that Howe could plot a single battle but could not develop a strategy (long-term plan) for winning the war.While the Howes' reputation may have suffered, the setback was temporary and both men's careers soon were back on track. William Howe was born in England, the third and youngest son of Emanuel Howe, 2nd Viscount Howe and Charlotte, the daughter of Sophia von Kielmansegg, Countess of Leinster and Darlington, an acknowledged illegitimate daughter of King George I. It also made possible the Franco-American alliance of 1778.Washington's army survived, however, and Burgoyne's surrender at Saratoga negated all of Howe's achievements in Pennsylvania. Howe, William Howe, 5th Viscount, 1729–1814, English general in the American Revolution; younger brother of Admiral Richard Howe. William was their third son, and they had at least one daughter, Caroline, who was a famous letter writer.Critics for more than two hundred years have charged that William Howe's lack of aggression cost Britain its richest possession, the American colonies. Check our encyclopedia for a gloss on thousands of topics from biographies to the table of elements. It is true that Howe was publicly in love with an American woman, Elizabeth Loring. All this was conventional military wisdom in 1776: the idea of attacking and annihilating the enemy's army regardless of cost is Napoleonic in origin and by definition was not available to Howe.Geography also played a part.
William's father was the second viscount Howe. Howe was also named a privy councillor, one of a group of personal advisers to the king.
Whatever the reason, beginning in 1782, William Howe was promoted several times and in 1793 he became a full general, in charge of England's northern defense in 1795 when war broke out with France. The draw-back was that because so many troops had been sent from Britain to Burgoyne rather than to New York, Howe would have to evacuate the Jerseys in order to find enough men for Pennsylvania.Howe returned briefly to England, to help in the war effort there. He also seemed to think that a negotiated settlement was still possible and that he might be the man to reach it. William Howe, in full William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe, (born August 10, 1729—died July 12, 1814, Plymouth, Devonshire, England), commander in chief of the British army in North America (1776–78) who, despite several military successes, failed to destroy the Continental Army and stem the American Revolution. When the expedition reached the mouth of the Delaware on 30 July, Howe discovered that his opponent had not marched north against New York or Burgoyne, a move which would have ended the whole British expedition.