The Philadelphia campaign (1777–1778) was a British military campaign during the American Revolutionary War designed to gain control of Philadelphia, the Revolutionary-era capital where the Second Continental Congress convened and formed the Continental Army and appointed George Washington as its commander in 1775, and authored and unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence the following year, on July 4, 1776, which formalized and escalated the war.

William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe,, was a British Army officer who rose to become Commander-in-Chief of British land forces in the Colonies during the American War of Independence. Howe was one of three brothers who had distinguished military careers. In historiography of the American war he is usually referred to as Sir William Howe to distinguish him from his brother Richard, who was 4th Viscount Howe at that time.