The American Revolution

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The American Revolution

• Reading Chapter 7

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Introduction

• The War Great Britain expected to win.
• Americans had several advantages
• Space.
• Distance.
• Important International Allies.
• Holland, France, and Spain.
• Expected to profit from Britains troubles.
• France would help change the path of history
  (Yorktown).
• All Americans had to make a choice.

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The First Two Years Battle For Boston

• British General Thomas Gage
• Located in Boston.
• Royal Governor of Massachusetts.
• Boston was surrounded by American encampments.
• Grew following Concord and Lexington.
• Did not have the equipment to drive the British
  from Boston.
• Not even a single canon.
• May 1775
• Benedict Arnold
• Green Mountain Boys and Ethan Allen
• Capture canons and artillery from Fort
  Ticonderoga (NY).

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The First Two Years Battle For Boston

• June 1775
• General Gage issued proclamation
• Amnesty to rebels who surrendered.
• Armed rebels are traitors.
• Colonists expanded their fortifications outside
  Boston.
• June 17, 1775
• British ships pounded Breeds Hill with canon
  fire.
• William Howe led 2,400 troops to take the hill.
• Ordered frontal attack.
• Near massacre of British soldiers.

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The First Two Years Battle For Boston

• June 17, 1775, cont
• Americans ran out of ammunition.
• Fled.
• British charged up the hill.
• Bayoneted the few remaining rebels.
• British suffered more casualties than in any
  other battle of the American Revolution.
• Battle of Bunker Hill.

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Washington Takes Charge

• June 3, 1775
• George Washington arrived at Cambridge (Mass) to
  take command of his army.
• Disgusted
• No discipline.
• Men fired muskets at random.
• Used muskets to start fires.
• Used muskets to shoot at geese.
• Dirty and smelly.
• Open latrines.
• But not surprised.
• These men were not soldiers.
• Chaos created by fear, boredom, excitement,
  homesickness.

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Washington Takes Charge

• George Washington sets things straight
• Reorganized militia units.
• Replaced incompetent officers.
• Strict moral codes
• No profanity.
• Worship attendance required.

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1776 The British Strategy

• Reorganizing and making plans.
• Learned of Arnolds victory at Ticonderoga.
• Laid plans to evacuate Boston.
• March 1776
• Thomas Gage leaves for Nova Scotia.
• General William Howe takes command.
• Governor of Canada assures him that Canada is
  loyal to the crown.
• Set out to locate loyalist hotbeds in America.
• New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Carolinas.
• Overestimated number of loyalists.
• Tried to win over Americans who were undecided or
  wavering.
• Abuses on American citizens by British and
  Hessian troops made this difficult.
• Moved War south in 1776.

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1776 The British Strategy

• Southern campaign goes badly for the British.
• Coordinating troops and supply lines was
  difficult.
• Early 1776
• North Carolina.
• Not enough British troops could be brought in to
  support Loyalists.
• Defeated at Battle of Moores Creek (Feb. 1776).
• British moved to South Carolina.
• Abandoning North Carolina loyalists.

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1776 The British Strategy

• June 1776
• Generals
• Henry Clinton
• Charles Cornwallis
• Ready to attack South Carolina.
• Port of Charleston.
• Fleet of 50 ships and 3,000 men.
• High tide stranded troops on islands.
• British cannon fire could not penetrate colonial
  defenses.
• British end southern campaignfor now.
• Loyalists denounced, mobbed, imprisoned, tortured.

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Escape from New York

• General William Howe
• Preparing massive invasion of New York.
• July 1776
• British sailed into New York Harbor.
• Largest expeditionary force of the 18th century.
• 30,000 troops (1/3 were Hessians).
• Outnumbered population of New York.
• Howe did not want to attack Americanspaused.

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Escape from New York

• General George Washington
• Rushed army from Massachusetts to defend New
  York.
• August 22, 1776
• British advance began.
• Moved toward Brooklyn neck of Long Island.
• Continental Army broke and disintegrated.
• Retreated to Manhattan Island.
• Attacked on September 15.
• Retreated towards north and followed by British.
• Harlem Heights
• Continental Army has a victory.
• Still in retreat.
• British stopped advancing.

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Battle of Trenton

• General Howe (British)
• Established winter quarters in New York.
• General Washington
• Too nervous to establish winter quarters.
• Troop enlistments about to end.
• Needed to turn things around Needed a target.
• Trenton, New Jersey.
• 3,000 Hessians at garrison.
• December 24, 1776
• Washington and his troops crossed the icy
  Delaware River.

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Battle of Trenton

• Battle of Trenton
• Hessians not expecting trouble.
• Drunk.
• Early morning of December 25, 1776
• Washington attacks!
• Dazed, hung over, and confused, the Hessians
  surrendered.
• Washington did not lose one soldier.
• Much needed victory.
• Washington followed victory with plea to troops.
• Half re-enlisted.
• The Continental Army would live to fight another
  day.

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Battle of Princeton

• January 1777
• Washington crossed into New Jersey.
• Confronted the British.
• Bravery of Washington.
• British retreated.
• Washington charged after them.
• Trenton and Princeton victories
• Raised the morale of the Continental Army.
• Winter quarters (77) at Morristown, NJ.

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Battle of Princeton

• Washington knew
• The war was still an up hill battle.
• Spring the British would go for Philadelphia.
• Washingtons requests for supplies
• Met with delay.
• July 1777
• William Howe sails up Chesapeake Bay.
• To Philadelphia.
• Congress fled as news of Howes plans spread.

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Philadelphia!!

• South of Philadelphia
• Brandywine Creek.
• Americans attempt to stop British advance.
• Fail.
• Philadelphia
• British experience no major resistance when
  occupying the city.
• British occupy the American capital.

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Gentleman Johnny in New York

• British General John Burgoyne (Gentleman Johnny).
• Plan to sever New England from other colonies.
• Burgoyne to go south from Montreal.
• Anther group from east with Iroquois warriors.
• Howe would come in from New York.
• The three would meet at Albany, NY.
• Thus isolating New England.
• Giving British chance to crush rebellion.

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Gentleman Johnny in New York

• Problems with Burgoynes plans
• No understanding of terrain.
• Overestimated Iroquois support.
• Howe never informed of plans.
• Still in Philadelphia (not New York).
• Plan in action
• Burgoyne left Montreal July 1777.
• Retook Fort Ticonderoga.
• Terrain slowed advance to snails pace.
• Food and supplies ran low.
• Attacked by Ethan Allen and Green Mountain Boys.
• Reach Albanyalone and stranded.
• September1777 Planned retreat north.
• Forced to surrender on October 17, 1777.
• To American force led by Horatio Gates.

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Winter of 1777 Valley Forge

• News of Burgoynes surrender
• Gave a powerful boost to American confidence.
• Gave a major blow to British confidence.
• General George Washington
• Knew the victory was not the end of the war.
• Winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
• Sent urge requests for money to support Army.
• Congress ignored the Generals pleas. Why?
• Confident in a short war.
• Broke.

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Spring at Last

• Spring 1778 brought several changes
• Washingtons army better trained.
• Baron von Steuben.
• General William Howe called back to England.
• Replaced by Henry Clinton.
• Immediately laid plans to abandon Philadelphia.
• The French formally recognized the independence
  of the United States of America.
• Did not immediately alter the situation.

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Stalemate!!

• Following the defeat of John Burgoyne at
  Saratoga.
• The British used a more cautious approach.
• Due to the absence of French naval ships.
• The Americans held back a bit.
• Stalemate!!!

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Stalemate!!

• Henry Clinton
• Aware of the dangers of French support for
  colonies.
• Main supply line to British in Philadelphia was
  the Delaware River.
• This would be an attractive target for French
  ships.
• Spring 1778
• British were on the march out of Philadelphia.
• East through New Jersey to New York.

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Stalemate!!

• George Washington
• Determined to take advantage of British retreat
  from Philadelphia.
• Sent Charles Lee to fight the British.
• At Monmouth in New Jersey.
• Lees leadership was a disaster.
• Washington took over.
• Americans drove the British back.
• The Battle of Monmouth (June 28, 1778)
• Not a decisive victory for Washington.
• A good recovery from certain defeat.

Molly Pitcher
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Stalemate!!

• Following Monmouth
• Charles Lee was discharged from the Army.
• The Continental Army was inactive.
• The Continental Army suffered from discipline
  problems.
• Mutinies.
• Desertions.
• Washington to von Steuben
• The prospect, my dear Baron, is gloomy

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Stalemate!!

• War moved West and South.
• The West
• Fall/Winter of 1778
• Deadly Indian attacks.
• Western Kentucky and Virginia.
• Promoted by the British.
• Indian allies to the British would remain a
  serious problem in the backcountry.

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The War Goes South

• Fall of 1778
• British start moving troops from New York to the
  South.
• December 1778
• British launch an attack on Savannah, Georgia.
• Savannah surrendered.
• Resistance in Georgia collapsed.
• Late 1779
• Henry Clinton sailed for Charleston, SC.
• Charleston fell to British control in May of
  1780.
• The Americans lost the major city of the South.
• Expensive victory for the British.

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The War Goes South

• After the victory at Charleston
• Henry Clinton returned to New York.
• Left Charles Cornwallis in charge.
• 8,000 regulars.
• To conquer South Carolina.
• Charles Cornwallis
• Joined by loyalists.
• Many had been fighting since the British
  abandoned the South in 1776.
• Victory at Charleston increased number of
  loyalist guerrillas.
• A bloody civil war started.
• Ambushes, arson, and brutality.

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The War Goes South

• Summer 1780
• Loyalists controlled the South.
• Americans also used guerrilla fighters in the
  South.
• Francis Marion (Swamp Fox)
• Recruited black and white men to join his band of
  raiders.
• Harassed Cornwalliss army.
• Cut British lines of communication between
  Charleston and inner South Carolina.

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The War Goes South

• When fighting broke out between the loyalists and
  patriot guerrillas
• Very few rules of war were honored.
• October 1780
• Battle of Kings Mountain.
• Patriot guerrillas surrounded loyalists.
• Killed them one by one.
• Civilians terrorized.
• Farms and homes plundered.

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The War Goes South

• Southern Continental Army
• General Horatio Gates.
• Very little success against Cornwallis.
• Gates humiliated at Camden (SC).
• Washington replaced Gates with Nathanael Greene.
• Greene takes command
• Unable to confront Cornwallis head on.
• Negotiated with several Tribes and got support of
  all but Creeks.
• Split his military
• Sent 600 troops to western South Carolina.
• Command Daniel Morgan.

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The War Goes South

• Daniel Morgan
• Cornered by British on open meadow The Cowpens.
• Had led the British on a chase across the
  roughest South Carolina countryside.
• British were tired and frustrated.
• Americans chose to fight.
• British fled.
• Returned to main army under the command of
  Greene.
• Important lesson learned.

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The War Goes South

• General Cornwallis tries to attack Greenes
  forces
• Green led the British on a long, exhausting
  chase.
• March 1781
• Guildford Courthouse (NC).
• Americans forced to withdraw.
• British loses were high.
• Cornwallis headed to Wilmington to recover.
• Cornwallis realized
• The southern patriots were too strong.
• Loyalist support fading.
• Heads to Virginia.

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The War Goes South
April 1781.Green Street in Fayetteville
Harmony Hall PlantationWhite Oak, NC.
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Treason and Triumph

• Washingtons army
• Strained by months of idleness.
• Disheartened by Benedict Arnolds treason
• Fall 1780.
• Plotted to hand West Point to the British.
• Harsh blow to Americans.

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Treason and Triumph

• May 1781
• Washington meets with French Naval Commander
  Rochambeau.
• Washington pushed to attack New York.
• Rochambeau
• Proposed moving against British in Virginia.
• Admiral de Grasse and his fleet already in route
  to Chesapeake Bay.
• Washington had no choice.
• July 6, 1781 March to Virginia begins.

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Treason and Triumph

• Charles Cornwallis
• Unaware of American/French force.
• Fought local Virginia militia units.
• When he learned of Washington/Rochambeaus
  approach
• Settled in port of Yorktown.
• Prepared for serious battle.

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Treason and Triumph

• New York
• General Henry Clinton.
• Learns of Cornwallis situation.
• Sends small number of ships to help.
• Too little, too late.

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Treason and Triumph

• September 1781
• French/American forces in Virginia.
• De Grasses navy arrives in Chesapeake Bay.

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Treason and Triumph

• French ships unloaded canon fire on British
  position at Yorktown.
• Washington directed a steady barrage of artillery
  fire against the British position at Yorktown.
• British troops dazed.
• October 17, 1781
• Cornwallis surrendered.

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Continental General Benjamin Lincoln
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Treason and Triumph

• Fighting continued for another year.
• Various locations.
• British occupations of New York, Charleston, and
  Savannah continued.
• Yorktown convinced the British that victory was
  out of reach.
• March 4, 1782
• Parliament votes to end the War.
• Independence was won.

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End of Lesson