American Revolutionary War

Revolutionary War redirects here. For revolutions ingeneral, see Revolution.This article is about military actions only. For politicaland social developments, including the origins andaftermath of the war, see American Revolution.

The American Revolutionary War (17751783), theAmerican War of Independence,[N 1] or simply theRevolutionary War in the United States, was the armedconict between the Kingdom of Great Britain andthirteen of its former North American colonies, whichhad declared themselves the independent United Statesof America.[N 2][19] Early ghting took place primarily onthe North American continent. In 1778 France, eager forrevenge after its defeat in the Seven Years War, signedan alliance with the new nation. The conict then esca-lated into a world war with Britain combating France,Spain, and the Netherlands. Contemporaneous ghtingalso broke out in India between the British East IndiaCompany and the French allied Kingdom of Mysore.The war had its origins in the resistance of many Amer-icans to taxes imposed by the British parliament, whichthey claimed were unconstitutional. Patriot protests es-calated into boycotts and the destruction of a shipmentof tea at the Boston Tea Party. The British governmentpunishedMassachusetts by closing the port of Boston andtaking away self-government. The Patriots respondedby setting up a shadow government that took control ofthe province outside of Boston. Twelve other coloniessupportedMassachusetts, formed a Continental Congressto coordinate their resistance, and set up committeesand conventions which eectively seized power from theroyal governments. In April 1775 ghting broke out be-tween Massachusetts militia units and British regulars atLexington and Concord. The Continental Congress ap-pointed General George Washington to take charge ofmilitia units besieging British forces in Boston, forcingthem to evacuate the city inMarch 1776. Congress super-vised the war, giving Washington command of the newContinental Army; he also coordinated state militia units.In July 1776, the Continental Congress formally declaredindependence.[20] The British were meanwhile musteringforces to suppress the revolt. Sir William Howe outma-neuvered and defeated Washington, capturing New YorkCity and New Jersey. Washington was able to capture aHessian detachment at Trenton and drive the British outof most of New Jersey. In 1777 Howes army launcheda campaign against the national capital at Philadelphia,failing to aid Burgoynes separate invasion force from

Canada. Burgoynes army was trapped and surrenderedafter the Battles of Saratoga in October 1777. ThisAmerican victory encouraged France to enter the war in1778, followed by its ally Spain in 1779.In 1778, having failed in the northern states, the Britishshifted strategy toward the southern colonies, where theyplanned to enlist many Loyalist regiments. British forceshad initial success in bringing Georgia and South Car-olina under control in 1779 and 1780, but the Loyal-ist surge was far weaker than expected. In 1781 Britishforces moved through Virginia, but their escape wasblocked by a French naval victory. Washington took con-trol of a Franco-American siege at Yorktown and cap-tured the entire British force of over 7,000 men. Thedefeat at Yorktown nally turned the British Parliamentagainst the war. The war at sea continued, and the Britishnavy scored key victories, especially the Battle of theSaintes in 1782. In 1783, the Treaty of Paris ended thewar and recognized the sovereignty of the United Statesover the territory bounded roughly by what is nowCanadato the north, Florida to the south, and the MississippiRiver to the west. France gained its revenge and littleelse except a heavy national debt, while Spain acquiredBritains Florida colonies.[21][22]

1 CausesMain article: American Revolution

1.1 Taxes

The close of the Seven Years War in 1763 (the Frenchand Indian War in North America) saw Britain tri-umphant in driving the French from North America,but also heavily in debt. Taxes in Britain were alreadyvery high and it was thought that the American coloniesshould pay for the soldiers to be stationed there. Par-liament passed the Stamp Act in March 1765, whichimposed direct taxes on the colonies for the rst timestarting November 1. This met with strong condem-nation among American spokesmen, who argued thattheir Rights as Englishmen meant that taxes could notbe imposed on them because they lacked representa-tion in Parliament.[23] At the same time the colonists re-jected the solution of being provided with the represen-tation, claiming that their local circumstances made it

1

2 1 CAUSES

Notice of Stamp Act of 1765 in Newspaper

impossible.[24][25]

Civil resistance prevented the Act from being enforced,and organized boycotts of British goods were instituted.This resistance was by and large unexpected and pro-duced a violent and very natural irritation amongst theBritish.A change of government in Britain led to the repeal ofthe Stamp Act as inexpedient, but also the passage ofthe Declaratory Act, which stated, the said colonies andplantations in America have been, are, and of right oughtto be, subordinate unto, and dependent upon the imperialcrown and parliament of Great Britain.[26]

In their declarations Americans had deemed internaltaxes like the Stamp Act as unlawful, but not externaltaxes like the long-standing custom duties. So in 1767Parliament passed the Townshend Act, which imposedduties on various British goods exported to the colonies.The Americans quickly denounced this as illegal as well,since the intent of the act was to raise revenue and not

regulate trade.In 1768 violence broke out in Boston and 4000 Britishtroops were sent to occupy the city. Parliament threat-ened to try Massachusetts residents for treason in Eng-land. Far from being intimidated, the colonists formednew associations to boycott British goods, albeit with lesseectiveness than previously since the Townshend im-ports were so widely used. In March 1770 ve colonistsin Boston were killed in the "Boston Massacre", sparkingoutrage.[27]

In 1773, in an eort to rescue the East India Companyfrom nancial diculties, the British attempted to in-crease its tea sales by exempting the Company from thetea tax and appointing certain merchants in America toreceive and sell the untaxed tea. The landing of this teawas resisted in all the colonies and, when the royal gover-nor of Massachusetts refused to send back the tea shipsin Boston, Patriots destroyed the tea chests.[28]

1.2 Crisis

This iconic 1846 lithograph by Nathaniel Currier was entitledThe Destruction of Tea at Boston Harbor"; the phrase BostonTea Party had not yet become standard. Contrary to Curriersdepiction, few of the men dumping the tea were actually disguisedas Indians.[29]

Nobody was punished for the "Boston Tea Party" andin 1774 Parliament ordered Boston harbor closed un-til the destroyed tea was paid for. It then passed theMassachusetts Government Act to punish the rebelliouscolony. The upper house of the Massachusetts legislaturewould be appointed by the Crown, as was already the casein other colonies such as New York and Virginia. Theroyal governor was able to appoint and remove at will alljudges, sheris, and other executive ocials, and restricttown meetings. Jurors would be selected by the sher-is and British soldiers would be tried outside the colonyfor alleged oenses. These were collectively dubbed the"Intolerable Acts" by the Patriots.Although these actions were not unprecedented (theMas-sachusetts charter had already been replaced once be-fore in 1691), the people of the colony were outraged.

3Town meetings resulted in the Suolk Resolves, a decla-ration not to cooperate with the royal authorities. In Octo-ber 1774 an illegal "provincial congress" was establishedwhich took over the governance of Massachusetts outsideof British-occupied Boston and began training militia forhostilities.Meanwhile, in September 1774 representatives of theother colonies convened the First Continental Congressin order to respond to the crisis. The Congress rejecteda "Plan of Union" to establish an American parliamentthat could approve or disapprove of the acts of the Britishparliament. Instead, they endorsed the Suolk Resolvesand demanded the repeal of all Parliamentary acts passedsince 1763, not merely the tax on tea and the IntolerableActs. They stated that Parliament had no authority overinternal matters in America, but that they would cheer-fully consent to trade regulations, including customs du-ties for the benet of the empire.[30] They also requiredBritain to acknowledge that unilaterally stationing troopsin the colonies in a time of peace was against the law.Although the Congress lacked any legal authority, it or-dered the creation of Patriot committees who would en-force a boycott of British goods starting on December 1,1774.This time, however, the British would not yield. EdmundBurke introduced a motion to repeal all the Acts of Par-liament the Americans objected to and waive any rightsof Britain to tax for revenue, but it was defeated 210-105.Parliament voted to restrict all colonial trade to Britain,prevent them from using the Newfoundland sheries, andto increase the size of the army and navy by 6,000. InFebruary 1775 Prime Minister Lord North proposed notto impose taxes if the colonies themselves made xedcontributions. This would safeguard the taxing rightsof the colonies from future infringement while enablingthem to contribute to maintenance of the empire. Thisproposal was nevertheless rejected by the Congress inJuly as an insidious maneuver, by which time hostili-ties had broken out.

1.3 Internal British politicsDuring this time the British did not present a united fronttoward the American Patriots. The Parliament of GreatBritain at this time was informally divided between con-servative (Tory) and liberal (Whig) factions. The Whigsgenerally favored lenient treatment of the colonists shortof independence while the Tories staunchly upheld therights of Parliament. The Whigs felt that the Tory poli-cies were pushing Americans to rebel, while the Toriesthought Whig leniency (such as repealing the Stamp Act)was doing the same. ManyWhigs freely associated them-selves with the American Patriot cause, which Toriesthought were encouraging the Americans in their resis-tance. The result was that, although Lord North's Torygovernment usually had a Parliamentary majority, a largeWhig minority opposed it and constantly criticized its

policies.[31] Meanwhile, Whig commanders in Americasuch as Sir William Howe and his brother Admiral Howecame under the suspicion of Tories and Loyalists for notvigorously prosecuting the war eort.[32]

2 First phase, 17751778

2.1 Outbreak of the War 177576

2.1.1 Massachusetts

Main article: Boston campaign

In February 1775 Parliament declared Massachusetts tobe in a state of rebellion. Lieutenant General ThomasGage, the British North American commander-in chief,commanded four regiments of British regulars (about4,000 men) from his headquarters in Boston, but thecountryside was in the hands of the Revolutionaries. OnApril 14, he received orders to disarm the rebels and ar-rest their leaders.

The British marching to Concord in April 1775

On the night of April 18, 1775, General Gage sent 700men to seize munitions stored by the colonial militiaat Concord, Massachusetts. Riders including Paul Re-vere alerted the countryside, and when British troops en-tered Lexington on the morning of April 19, they found77 Minutemen formed up on the village green. Shotswere exchanged, killing several Minutemen. The Britishmoved on to Concord, where a detachment of three com-panies was engaged and routed at the North Bridge by aforce of 500 minutemen. As the British retreated back toBoston, thousands of militiamen attacked them along theroads, inicting many casualties before timely British re-inforcements prevented a total disaster. With the Battlesof Lexington and Concord, the war had begun.[33]

The militia converged on Boston, bottling up the Britishin the city. About 4,500 more British soldiers arrivedby sea, and on June 17, 1775, British forces under Gen-eral William Howe seized the Charlestown peninsula atthe Battle of Bunker Hill. Instead of landing behind the

4 2 FIRST PHASE, 17751778

Americans, a move that would not only have easily wonthe battle but also expose the rest of the rebel army to de-struction, the British mounted a costly frontal attack.[34]The Americans fell back, but British losses totaled over1,000 men. The siege was not broken, and Gage was soonreplaced by Howe as the British commander-in-chief.[35]General Gage wrote to the Secretary at War in London:

These people show a spirit and conductagainst us they never showed against theFrench.They are now spirited up by a rageand enthusiasm as great as ever people werepossessed of and you must proceed in earnestor give the business up. A small body actingin one spot will not avail, you must have largearmies making diversions on dierent sides, todivide their force. The loss we have sustainedis greater than we can bear. Small armies can-not aord such losses, especially when the ad-vantage gained tends to do little more than thegaining of a post.[36]

In July 1775, newly appointed General Washington ar-rived outside Boston to take charge of the colonial forcesand to organize the Continental Army. Realizing hisarmys desperate shortage of gunpowder, Washingtonasked for new sources. Arsenals were raided and somemanufacturing was attempted; 90% of the supply (2 mil-lion pounds) was imported by the end of 1776, mostlyfrom France.[37] Patriots in New Hampshire had seizedpowder, muskets and cannons from Fort William andMary in Portsmouth Harbor in late 1774.[38] Some of themunitions were used in the Boston campaign.The stando continued throughout the fall and winter.During this timeWashington was astounded by the failureof Howe to attack his shrinking, poorly armed force.[39]In early March 1776, heavy cannons that the patriots hadcaptured at Fort Ticonderoga were brought to Boston byColonel Henry Knox, and placed on Dorchester Heights.Since the artillery now overlooked the British positions,Howes situation was untenable, and the British ed onMarch 17, 1776, sailing to their naval base at Halifax,Nova Scotia, an event now celebrated in Massachusettsas Evacuation Day. Washington then moved most of theContinental Army to fortify New York City.[40]

2.1.2 Quebec

Main article: Invasion of Canada (1775)Three weeks after the siege of Boston began, the GreenMountain Boys, a group ofmilitia volunteers led by EthanAllen and Benedict Arnold captured Fort Ticonderoga,a strategically important point on Lake Champlain be-tween New York and the Province of Quebec. After thataction they also raided Fort St. Johns, not far fromMon-treal, which alarmed the population and the authoritiesthere. In response, Quebecs governor Guy Carleton be-

British soldiers and Provincial militiamen repulse the Americanassault at Sault-au-Matelot, Canada, December 1775

gan fortifying St. Johns, and opened negotiations withthe Iroquois and other Native American tribes for theirsupport. These actions, combined with lobbying by bothAllen and Arnold and the fear of a British attack from thenorth, eventually persuaded the Congress to authorize aninvasion of Quebec, with the goal of driving the Britishmilitary from that province. (Quebec was then frequentlyreferred to as Canada, as most of its territory included theformer French Province of Canada.)[41]

Two Quebec-bound expeditions were undertaken. OnSeptember 28, 1775, Brigadier General Richard Mont-gomery marched north from Fort Ticonderoga with about1,700 militiamen, besieging and capturing Fort St. Jeanon November 2 and then Montreal on November 13.General Carleton escaped to Quebec City and beganpreparing that city for an attack. The second expedition,led by Colonel Arnold, went through the wilderness ofwhat is now northern Maine. Logistics were dicult,with 300 men turning back, and another 200 perishingdue to the harsh conditions. By the time Arnold reachedQuebec City in early November, he had but 600 of hisoriginal 1,100men. Montgomerys force joined Arnolds,and they attacked Quebec City on December 31, but weredefeated by Carleton in a battle that ended with Mont-gomery dead, Arnold wounded, and over 400 Americanstaken prisoner.[42] The remaining Americans held on out-side Quebec City until the spring of 1776, suering frompoor camp conditions and smallpox, and then withdrewwhen a squadron of British ships under Captain CharlesDouglas arrived to relieve the siege.[43]

Another attempt was made by the Americans to pushback towards Quebec, but they failed at Trois-Rivireson June 8, 1776. Carleton then launched his own inva-sion and defeated Arnold at the Battle of Valcour Island inOctober. Arnold fell back to Fort Ticonderoga, where theinvasion had begun. While the invasion ended as a dis-aster for the Americans, Arnolds eorts in 1776 delayedany full-scale British counteroensive until the Saratogacampaign of 1777.The invasion cost the Americans their base of support in

2.2 Campaign of 177677 5

British public opinion, So that the violent measures to-wards America are freely adopted and countenanced by amajority of individuals of all ranks, professions, or occu-pations, in this country.[44] It gained them at best limitedsupport in the population of Quebec, which, while some-what supportive early in the invasion, became less so laterduring the occupation, when American policies againstsuspected Loyalists became harsher, and the armys hardcurrency ran out. Two small regiments of Canadiens wererecruited during the operation, and they were with thearmy on its retreat back to Ticonderoga.[45] Even aftertheir retreat, the Patriots continued to view Quebec as apart of their cause and made specic provisions for it tojoin the U.S. under the 1777 Articles of Confederation.

2.1.3 Expelling the royal ocials

At the onset of war, the British had a signicant forceonly in Boston, though this force would evacuate by thesigning of the declaration. Patriots in all 13 colonies werequick to establish new revolutionary governments basedaround various committees and conventions that they hadcreated in 1774 and early 1775. Royal governors and o-cials found themselves powerless to stop the rebellion andin many places were forced to ee. In many places thePatriots were energetic and were backed by angry mobswhile the Loyalists were too intimidated or poorly orga-nized to be eective without the British army. The term"lynching" originated when Virginia Patriots held infor-mal courts and arrested Loyalists (the term did not suggestexecution).

2.1.4 Loyalist Writings

Loyalist writings throughout the conict persistentlyclaimed that they were the majority, and inuenced Lon-don ocials to believe that it would be possible to raisemany Loyalist regiments.[46] As late as 1780 the Loyal-ists were deceiving themselves and top London ocialsabout their supposedly strong base of support.[47]

Patriots overwhelmed Loyalists in the Snow Campaign inSouth Carolina in late 1775. Virginias governor LordDunmore attempted to rally a loyalist force but was de-cisively beaten in December 1775 at the Battle of GreatBridge. In February 1776 British General Clinton took2,000 men and a naval squadron to assist Loyalists mus-tering in North Carolina, only to call it o when helearned they had been crushed at the Battle of MooresCreek Bridge. In June he tried to seize Charleston, SouthCarolina, the leading port in the South, but the attackfailed as the naval force was repulsed by the Patriot forts.Apart from thirteen, no other British North Americancolony joined the rebellion.

2.1.5 British reaction

King George III issued a Proclamation of Rebellion inAugust 1775, and addressed Parliament on October 26,1775. He denounced the authors and promoters of thisdesperate conspiracy who had labored to iname mypeople in America ... and to infuse into their minds asystem of opinions repugnant to the true constitution ofthe Colonies, and to their subordinate relation to GreatBritain ... He detailed measures taken to suppress therevolt, including "friendly oers of foreign assistance".The Kings speech was endorsed by both Houses of Par-liament, a motion in the House of Commons to opposecoercive measures was defeated 278-108. The British re-ceived an Olive Branch Petition written by the SecondContinental Congress dated July 8, 1775, imploring theKing to reverse the policies of his ministers. The Par-liament debated on whether to accept the petition, butafter a lengthy debate rejected it by 53 votes, viewing itas insincere. Parliament then voted to impose a block-ade against the Thirteen Colonies. The popularity ofwar in Britain reached a peak in 1777.[48] The king him-self took full control as he micromanaged the war ef-fort, despite the opposition of top ocials including theprime minister North and the civilian heads of the armyand the navy. The king vehemently rejected indepen-dence and demanded the use of Indians to distress theAmericans.[49]

Separately, the Irish Parliament pledged its loyalty andagreed to the withdrawal of troops from Ireland to sup-press the rebellion in America.[50] Most Irish Protestantswere against the war and favoured the Americans, but theCatholic establishment supported the king.[51] TheAmer-ican Revolution was the rst war in which Irish Catholicswere allowed to enlist in the army.[52]

Militarily, the weak British response to the rebellion in1775 and early 1776 around Boston was a losing cause;the British lost control of every colony.[53] The peacetimeBritish army had been deliberately kept small since theGlorious Revolution to prevent an abuse of power by theKing. To muster a force the British had to launch re-cruiting campaigns in Britain and Ireland and hire mer-cenaries from the small German states, both immenselytime-consuming. The king wanted to save money, andthe administration of the army was inecient. Russia re-fused to rent out soldiers. After a year the British wereable to ship Sir William Howe an army of 32,000 ocersand men to open a campaign in summer 1776. It was thelargest force the British had ever sent outside of Europeat that time.[54]

2.2 Campaign of 1776772.2.1 New York

Main article: New York and New Jersey campaignHaving withdrawn his army from Boston, General Howe

6 2 FIRST PHASE, 17751778

American soldiers in the Battle of Long Island, 1776

now focused on capturingNewYorkCity, which then waslimited to the southern tip of Manhattan Island. Howesforce arrived o of Staten Island across the harbor fromManhattan on June 30, 1776, and his army captured itwithout resistance. To defend the city, General Wash-ington spread his forces along the shores of New Yorksharbor, concentrated on Long Island and Manhattan.[55]While British and recently hired Hessian troops were as-sembling, Washington had the newly issued Declarationof American Independence read to his men and the citi-zens of the city.[56]

Washingtons position was extremely dangerous becausehe had divided his forces between Manhattan and LongIsland, neither of which could match the full strength ofthe opposing force. The British landed 22,000 men onLong Island in late August and badly defeated the Conti-nental army in the wars largest battle, taking over 1,000prisoners and driving them back to Brooklyn Heights.Howe then laid siege to the heights, claiming he wanted tospare his mens lives from an immediate assault, althoughby his own admission such an assault would have suc-ceeded. He had to actively restrain his subordinates fromlanding the nishing blow.[57] Washington initially rein-forced his exposed position, but then personally directedthe withdrawal of his entire remaining army and all theirsupplies across the East River on the night of August 2930 without loss of men or materiel.[58] Howe had failedto conduct adequate scouting to detect the retreat.[59]

A peace conference took place on September 11 to ex-plore the possibility of a negotiated solution. The Britishadvanced Lord Norths xed contribution formula ofthe preceding year and indicated that other laws could berevised or repealed so long as the authority of Britain wasacknowledged. The American negotiators could not ac-cept a withdrawal of the Declaration of Independence.Howe then resumed the attack. On September 15, Howelanded about 12,000 men on lower Manhattan, quicklytaking control of New York City. The Americans with-drew north up the island to Harlem Heights, where theybattled the next day repulsing a British advance. OnSeptember 21 a devastating re broke out in the citywhich the Patriots were widely blamed for, although no

proof ever existed. On October 12 the British made anattempt to encircle the Americans, which failed becauseof Howes decision to land on an island that was eas-ily cut o from the mainland.[60] The Americans evac-uated Manhattan, and on October 28 fought the Battleof White Plains against the pursuing British. During thebattle Howe declined to attack Washingtons highly vul-nerable main force, instead attacking a hill that was of nostrategic signicance.[61][62]

Washington retreated, and Howe returned to Manhattanand captured Fort Washington in mid November, takingabout 3,000 prisoners. Thus began the infamous prisonships system the British maintained in New York for therest of the war, in which more American soldiers andsailors died of neglect and disease than died in every bat-tle of the entire war, combined.[63]

Howe then detached General Clinton with 6,000 mento seize Newport, Rhode Island for the British eet,which was accomplished without encountering any ma-jor resistance.[64] Clinton objected to this move, believ-ing the force would have been better employed up theDelaware River, where they might have inicted irrepara-ble damage on the retreating Americans.[65]

2.2.2 New Jersey

General Lord Cornwallis continued to chase Washing-tons army through New Jersey, but Howe ordered himto halt[66] and Washington escaped across the DelawareRiver into Pennsylvania on December 7.[67] Howe refusedto order a pursuit across the river, even though the out-look of the Continental Army was bleak. These are thetimes that try mens souls, wrote Thomas Paine, who waswith the army on the retreat.[68] The army had dwindledto fewer than 5,000 men t for duty, and would be re-duced to 1,400 after enlistments expired at the end of theyear. Congress moved inland and abandoned Philadel-phia in despair, although popular resistance to British oc-cupation was growing in the countryside.[69]

Emanuel Leutze's stylized depiction of Washington Crossing theDelaware

Howe proceeded to divide his forces in New Jersey intosmall detachments that were vulnerable to defeat in detail,

2.3 Campaigns of 177778 7

with the weakest forces stationed the closest to Washing-tons army.[70] Washington decided to take the oensive,stealthily crossing the Delaware on the night of Decem-ber 2526, and capturing nearly 1,000 surprised and un-fortied Hessians at the Battle of Trenton.[71] Cornwal-lis marched to retake Trenton but was rst repulsed andthen outmaneuvered byWashington, who successfully at-tacked the British rearguard at Princeton on January 3,1777, taking around 200 prisoners.[72] Howe then con-ceded most of New Jersey to Washington, in spite ofHowes massive numerical superiority over him. Wash-ington entered winter quarters at Morristown, New Jer-sey, having given a morale boost to the American cause.Throughout the winter New Jersey militia continued toharass British and Hessian forces near their three remain-ing posts along the Raritan River.[73] In April 1777Wash-ington was amazed that Howemade no eort to attack hisweak army.[74]

2.3 Campaigns of 177778

Mohawk leader Joseph Brant led both Native Americans andwhite Loyalists in battle.

When the British began to plan operations for 1777, theyhad two main armies in North America: an army in Que-bec (later under the command of John Burgoyne), andHowes army in NewYork. In London, Lord George Ger-

"The surrender at Saratoga" shows General Daniel Morgan infront of a French de Vallire 4-pounder.

Washington and Lafayette look over the troops at Valley Forge.

main approved a campaign for these armies to convergeon Albany, New York and divide the American coloniesin two, but did not give any express orders to Howe, whowas developing his own plans. In November 1776 Howerequested large reinforcements so he could launch attacksagainst Philadelphia, New England, and Albany. Thesereinforcements were not granted so Howe modied hisplan to launch an attack against Philadelphia only. Ger-main gave his approval to this, believing that Philadelphiacould be taken in time for Howe to coordinate with thenorthern army. Howe, on the other hand, opted to sendhis army to Philadelphia by sea via the Chesapeake Bayinstead of taking shorter routes either overland throughNew Jersey or through the Delaware Bay. This left himcompletely incapable of assisting Burgoyne.[75]

2.3.1 Upstate New York

Main article: Saratoga campaign

The rst of the 1777 campaigns was an expedition fromQuebec led by General John Burgoyne. The goal was toseize the Lake Champlain and Hudson River corridor,eectively isolating New England from the rest of the

8 2 FIRST PHASE, 17751778

American colonies. Burgoynes invasion had two compo-nents: he would lead about 8,000 men along Lake Cham-plain towards Albany, New York, while a second columnof about 2,000 men, led by Barry St. Leger, would movedown the Mohawk River Valley and link up with Bur-goyne in Albany.[76]

Burgoyne set o in June, and recaptured Fort Ticon-deroga in early July. Thereafter, his march was slowedby the Americans who knocked down trees in his path,and by his armys extensive baggage train. A detachmentsent out to seize supplies was decisively defeated in theBattle of Bennington by American militia in August, de-priving Burgoyne of nearly 1,000 men.Meanwhile, St. Legermore than half of his force Na-tive Americans led by Sayenqueraghtahad laid siegeto Fort Stanwix. American militiamen and their NativeAmerican allies marched to relieve the siege but were am-bushed and scattered at the Battle of Oriskany. Whena second relief expedition approached, this time led byBenedict Arnold, St. Legers Indian support abandonedhim, forcing him to break o the siege and return to Que-bec.Burgoynes army had been reduced to about 6,000 menby the loss at Bennington and the need to garrison Ticon-deroga, and he was running short on supplies.[77] Despitethese setbacks, he determined to push on towards Albany.An American army of 8,000 men, ocially commandedby General Horatio Gates (but eectively being led byhis subordinate Benedict Arnold), had entrenched about10 miles (16 km) south of Saratoga, New York. Bur-goyne tried to outank the Americans but was checkedat the rst battle of Saratoga in September. Burgoynessituation was desperate, but he now hoped that help fromHowes army in New York City might be on the way. Itwas not: Howe had instead sailed away on his expeditionto capture Philadelphia. American militiamen ocked toGates army, swelling his force to 11,000 by the begin-ning of October. After being badly beaten at the secondbattle of Saratoga, Burgoyne surrendered on October 17.British General Clinton in New York City attempted a di-version in favor of Burgoyne in early October, capturingtwo key forts but withdrawing after hearing of the surren-der.Saratoga was the turning point of the war. Revolu-tionary condence and determination, suering fromHowes successful occupation of Philadelphia, was re-newed. What is more important, the victory encouragedFrance to make an open alliance with the Americans, af-ter two years of semi-secret support. For the British, thewar had now become much more complicated.[78]

The Americans held the British prisoners taken atSaratoga until the end of the war, in direct violation ofthe agreed surrender terms, which specied they wouldbe repatriated immediately.

2.3.2 Pennsylvania

Main article: Philadelphia campaignHowe began his campaign in June by making a se-

Military uniforms of the American Revolution

ries of maneuvers in New Jersey, which failed to engageWashingtons greatly inferior force.[79] He then loadedhis troops onto transports and slowly sailed to the north-ern end of the Chesapeake Bay, landing 15,000 troopson August 25 at the head of the Elk River. Washingtonpositioned his 11,000 men in a strong position along theBrandywine River, between the British and Philadelphia,but Howe outanked and defeated him on September 11,1777. French observers noted that Howe failed to followup on his victory, which could have destroyed Washing-tons army.[80]

The Continental Congress again abandoned Philadel-phia, and on September 26, Howe nally outmaneu-vered Washington and marched into the city unopposed.A part of Howes army was then split o to reducerebel forts blocking his communications up the DelawareRiver. Hoping to bring about another Trenton-like vic-tory while the British were divided, on October 4 Wash-ington mounted a surprise assault against the British atGermantown. Howe had failed to alert his troops there,despite being aware of the impending attack the pre-vious day. The British were in danger of a rout, but

9faulty American decisions resulted in Washington beingrepulsed with heavy losses.[81]

The armies met at White Marsh in December, whereafter some skirmishing Howe decided to retire, ignor-ing the vulnerability of Washingtons rear, where an at-tack could have cut o Washington from his baggageand provisions.[82] Washington and his army encampedat Valley Forge in December 1777, about 20 miles (32km) from Philadelphia, where they stayed for the next sixmonths. Over the winter, 2,500 men (out of 10,000) diedfrom disease and exposure and the army was reduced to4,000 eectives. During this time Howes army, comfort-able in Philadelphia, made no eort to exploit the weak-ness of the American army.[83] The next spring the armyemerged from Valley Forge in good order, thanks in partto a training program supervised by Baron von Steuben,who introduced the most modern Prussian methods of or-ganization and tactics.[84]

Historians speculate that the British forfeited severalchances for military victory in 17761777 ...[85] and ifGeneral Howe had violated military tradition by advanc-ing in December on the Continental troops quartered [atValley Forge], he might have readily overwhelmed themand possibly ended the war.[86]

Howe submitted his resignation in October 1777; until itwas accepted he spent his time in Philadelphia preparinghis arguments for an expected parliamentary inquiry. Al-though he had twice as many men as Washington, the bit-ter memory of Bunker Hill made him highly reluctant toattack entrenched American forces. General Clinton re-placed Howe as British commander-in-chief on May 24,1778.[87]

3 Foreign interventionMain articles: France in the American RevolutionaryWar and Spain in the American Revolutionary War

From the spring of 1776, France and Spain had infor-mally been involved in the American Revolutionary War,with French admiral Latouche Trville having providedsupplies, ammunition and guns from France to the UnitedStates after Thomas Jeerson encouraged a French al-liance. Guns such as de Valliere type were used, play-ing an important role in such battles as the Battle ofSaratoga.[88] After learning of the American victory atSaratoga, the French became concerned that the Britishwould reconcile their dierences with the colonists andturn on France.[89] In particular, King Louis XVI was in-uenced by alarmist reports suggesting that Britain waspreparing to make huge concessions to the colonies andthen, allied with them, strike at French and Spanish pos-sessions in the West Indies.[90] To thwart this, they con-cluded a Treaty of Alliance with the United States onFebruary 6, 1778, committing the Americans to seek

nothing less than absolute independence. PreviouslyFrance had only been willing to act in conjunction withtheir Spanish ally but now they were willing to go to waralone if necessary. Britain responded by recalling its am-bassador, although Franco-British hostilities did not ac-tually break out until June 17, 1778.

French troops storming Redoubt #9 during the Siege of Yorktown

In 1776, the Count of Aranda met in representation ofSpain with the rst U.S. Commission composed by Ben-jamin Franklin, Silas Deane and Arthur Lee.[91] TheContinental Congress had charged the commissioners totravel to Europe and forge alliances with other Europeanpowers that could help break the British naval blockadealong the North American coast. Aranda invited thecommission to his house in Paris, where he was actingas Spanish ambassador and he became an active sup-porter of the struggle of the edgling Colonies, recom-mending an early and open Spanish commitment to theColonies. However, he was overruled by Jos Moino,1st Count of Floridablanca who opted for a more dis-creet approach. The Spanish position was later summa-rized by the Spanish Ambassador to the French Court,Jernimo Grimaldi, in a letter to Arthur Lee who wasin Madrid trying to persuade the Spanish government todeclare an open alliance. Grimaldi told Lee that Youhave considered your own situation, and not ours. Themoment is not yet come for us. The war with Portugal France being unprepared, and our treasure ships fromSouth America not being arrived makes it improperfor us to declare immediately.[92] Meanwhile, Grimaldireassured Lee, stores of clothing and powder were de-posited at New Orleans and Havana for the Americans,

10 4 SECOND PHASE, 17781781

and further shipments of blankets were being collected atBilbao.Spain nally entered ocially the war against Britain inJune 1779, thus implementing the Treaty of Aranjuez.The Spanish government had been providing assistanceto the revolutionaries since the very beginning of the war,but it did not recognize the United States ocially. TheDutch Republic, which also had assisted the colonistssince 1776, declared war on Britain at the end of 1780,and did recognize the United States diplomatically.[93]

4 Second phase, 17781781

4.1 British policies

Following news of the surrender at Saratoga and con-cern over French intervention, the British decided to com-pletely accept the original demands made by the Amer-ican Patriots. Parliament repealed the remaining tax ontea and declared that no taxes would ever be imposed oncolonies without their consent (except for custom duties,the revenues of which would be returned to the colonies).A Commission was formed to negotiate directly with theContinental Congress for the rst time. The Commis-sion was empowered to suspend all the other objection-able acts by Parliament passed since 1763, issue generalpardons, and declare a cessation of hostilities. The Com-missioners arrived in America in June 1778 and oeredto place the colonies in the condition of 1763 if theywould return to the allegiance of the King. Moreover,they agreed that no troops would be placed in the colonieswithout their consent. The Congress refused to negoti-ate with the commission unless they rst acknowledgedAmerican independence or withdrew all troops. On Oc-tober 3, 1778, the British published a proclamation oer-ing amnesty to any colonies or individuals who acceptedtheir proposals within forty days, implying serious con-sequences if they still refused. There was no positivereply.[94]

Oil on canvas painting depicting the Wyoming Massacre by loy-alists and Indians against frontier settlers, July 3, 1778

King George III gave up all hope of subduing Amer-ica by more armies, while Britain had a European warto ght. It was a joke, he said, to think of keepingPennsylvania.[95] There was no hope of recovering NewEngland. But the King was still determined never to ac-knowledge the independence of the Americans, and topunish their contumacy by the indenite prolongation ofa war which promised to be eternal.[96] His plan was tokeep the 30,000 men garrisoned in New York, Rhode Is-land, Quebec, and Florida; other forces would attack theFrench and Spanish in the West Indies. To punish theAmericans the King planned to destroy their coasting-trade, bombard their ports; sack and burn towns alongthe coast and turn loose the Native Americans to attackcivilians in frontier settlements. These operations, theKing felt, would inspire the Loyalists; would splinter theCongress; and would keep the rebels harassed, anxious,and poor, until the day when, by a natural and inevitableprocess, discontent and disappointment were convertedinto penitence and remorse and they would beg to re-turn to his authority.[97] The plan meant destruction forthe Loyalists and loyal Native Americans, an indeniteprolongation of a costly war, and the risk of disaster asthe French and Spanish assembled an armada to invadethe British Isles. The King hoped to re-subjugate the re-bellious colonies after dealing with the Americans Euro-pean allies.

4.2 Northern theater after Saratoga,177881

See also: Northern theater of the American Revolution-ary War after SaratogaFrench entry into the war had changed British strategy,and Clinton abandoned Philadelphia to reinforce NewYork City, now vulnerable to French naval power. Wash-ington shadowed Clinton on his withdrawal through NewJersey and attacked him at Monmouth on June 28, 1778.The battle was tactically inconclusive but Clinton suc-cessfully disengaged and continued his retreat to NewYork.[98] It was the last major battle in the north. Clin-tons army went to New York City in July, arriving justbefore a French eet under Admiral d'Estaing arrivedo the American coast. Washingtons army returned toWhite Plains, New York, north of New York City. Al-though both armies were back where they had been twoyears earlier, the nature of the war had now changed asthe British had to withdraw troops from North Americato counter the French threats elsewhere.[99]

In August 1778 the Americans attempted to captureBritish-held Newport, Rhode Island with the assistanceof France, but the eort failed when the French withdrewtheir support. The war in the north then bogged downinto a stalemate, with neither side capable of attackingthe other in any decisive manner. The British instead at-tempted to wear out American resolve by launching vari-ous raiding expeditions such as Tryons raid against Con-

4.3 Northern and Western frontier 11

Portrait of Sir Henry Clinton, British Commander-in Chief inNorth America 17781782

necticut in July 1779. In that year the Americans won twomorale-enhancing victories by capturing posts at StonyPoint and Paulus Hook, although the British quickly re-took them. In October 1779 the British voluntarily aban-doned Newport and Stony Point in order to consolidatetheir forces.During the winter of 177980 the American army suf-fered worse hardships than they had at Valley Forgepreviously.[100] The Congress was ineective, the Con-tinental currency worthless, and the supply system wasfundamentally broken. Washington was nding it ex-tremely dicult to keep his army together, even with-out any major ghting against the British. In 1780 actualmutinies broke out in the American camp. The Conti-nental Armys strength dwindled to such an extent thatthe British decided to mount two probing attacks againstNew Jersey in June 1780. TheNew Jerseymilitia stronglyrallied, however, and the British quickly returned to theirbases.

Map of Newport with the camp of the troops of Rochambeau andthe position of the squadron of Knight Ternay in 1780.

In July 1780 the American cause received a boost when a5,500 strong French expeditionary force arrived at New-port, Rhode Island. Washington hoped to use this assis-tance to attack the British at New York and end the war.Events elsewhere, however, would frustrate this. Addi-tional French reinforcements were prevented from arriv-ing by a British blockade of French ports, and the Frenchtroops at Newport quickly found themselves blockadedas well. Moreover, the French eet refused to visit theAmerican coast in 1780, having suered signicant dam-age in actions in the West Indies.Benedict Arnold, the American victor of Saratoga, grewincreasingly disenchanted with struggle and decided todefect. In September 1780 he attempted to surrender thekey American fort at West Point along the Hudson Riverto the British, but his plot was exposed. He escaped andcontinued to ght under the British army. He wrote anopen letter justifying his actions by claiming he had onlyfought for a redress of grievances and since Britain hadwithdrawn those grievances (see above) there was no rea-son to continue shedding blood, particularly in an alliancewith an ancient and tyrannical enemy like France. Heled the last British attack in the north, a devastating raidagainst New London in September 1781.The British held Staten Island, Manhattan, and Long Is-land until peace wasmade in 1783. These areas containedabout 2% of the population of the Thirteen Colonies.

4.3 Northern and Western frontierFurther information: Western theater of the AmericanRevolutionary WarWest of the Appalachian Mountains and along the bor-

George Rogers Clark's 180 mile (290 km) winter march led tothe capture of General Henry Hamilton, Lieutenant-Governor ofQuebec

der with Quebec, the American Revolutionary War was

12 4 SECOND PHASE, 17781781

an "Indian War". Most Native Americans supported theBritish. Like the Iroquois Confederacy, tribes such as theShawnee split into factions, and the Chickamauga splito from the rest of the Cherokee over dierences re-garding peace with the Americans. The British suppliedtheir native allies with muskets, gunpowder and advice,while Loyalists led raids against civilian settlements, es-pecially in New York, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. JointIroquois-Loyalist attacks in theWyoming Valley in Penn-sylvania and at Cherry Valley in New York in 1778 pro-voked Washington to send the Sullivan Expedition intowestern New York during the summer of 1779. Therewas little ghting as Sullivan systematically destroyed theIndians winter food supplies, forcing them to ee perma-nently to British bases in Quebec and the Niagara Fallsarea.[101]

In the Ohio Country and the Illinois Country, the Virginiafrontiersman George Rogers Clark attempted to neutral-ize British inuence among the Ohio tribes by capturingthe outposts of Kaskaskia and Cahokia and Vincennes inthe summer of 1778, at which he succeeded. When Gen-eral Henry Hamilton, the British commander at Detroit,retook Vincennes, Clark returned in a surprise march inFebruary 1779 and captured Hamilton.[102]

In March 1782, Pennsylvania militiamen killed about ahundred neutral Native Americans in the Gnadenhttenmassacre. In the last major encounters of the war, a forceof 200Kentuckymilitia was defeated at the Battle of BlueLicks in August 1782.

4.4 Georgia and the Carolinas, 177881Main article: Southern theater of the American Revolu-tionary War

During the rst three years of the American Revolu-tionary War, the primary military encounters were inthe north, although some attempts to organize Loyal-ists were defeated, a British attempt at Charleston, SouthCarolina failed, and a variety of eorts to attack Britishforces in East Florida failed. After French entry intothe war, the British turned their attention to the southerncolonies, where they hoped to regain control by recruitinglarge numbers of Loyalists. This southern strategy alsohad the advantage of keeping the Royal Navy closer tothe Caribbean, where the British needed to defend eco-nomically important possessions against the French andSpanish.[103]

On December 29, 1778, an expeditionary corps fromClintons army in NewYork captured Savannah, Georgia.An attempt by French and American forces to retake Sa-vannah failed on October 9, 1779. Clinton then besiegedCharleston, capturing it and most of the southern Conti-nental Army on May 12, 1780. With relatively few ca-sualties, Clinton had seized the Souths biggest city andseaport, providing a base for further conquest.[104]

The British Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton. Painting by Sir JoshuaReynolds, 1782.

The remnants of the southern Continental Army beganto withdraw to North Carolina but were pursued by Lt.Colonel Banastre Tarleton, who defeated them at theWaxhaws on May 29, 1780. With these events, orga-nized American military activity in the region collapsed,though the war was carried on by partisans such as FrancisMarion. Cornwallis took over British operations, whileHoratio Gates arrived to command the American eort.On August 16, 1780, Gates was defeated at the Battle ofCamden in South Carolina, setting the stage for Corn-wallis to invade North Carolina.[105] Georgia and SouthCarolina were thus both restored to Britain for the timebeing.Cornwallis eorts to advance into North Carolina werefrustrated. A Loyalist wing of his army was utterly de-feated at the Battle of Kings Mountain on October 7,1780, which temporarily aborted his planned advance.He received reinforcements, but his light infantry underTarleton was decisively defeated by Daniel Morgan atthe Battle of Cowpens on January 17, 1781. In spiteof this, Cornwallis decided to proceed, gambling thathe would receive substantial Loyalist support. GeneralNathanael Greene, who replaced General Gates, evadedcontact with Cornwallis while seeking reinforcements.By March, Greenes army had grown to the point where

4.5 Virginia, 1781 13

he felt that he could face Cornwallis directly. In thekey Battle of Guilford Court House, Cornwallis droveGreenes much larger army o the battleeld, but in do-ing so suered casualties amounting to one-fourth ofhis army. Compounding this, far fewer Loyalists werejoining up than expected because the Patriots put heavypressure on them and their families, who would becomehostages.[106] Cornwallis decided to retreat to coastalWilmington, North Carolina for resupply and reinforce-ment, leaving the interior of the Carolinas and Georgiaopen to Greene. He then proceeded north into Virginia(see below).American troops in conjunction with Patriot partisansthen began the process of reclaiming territory in SouthCarolina and Georgia. Despite British victories atHobkirks Hill and at the Siege of Ninety-Six, by the mid-dle of the year they had been forced to withdraw to thecoastal lowlands region of both colonies. The nal bat-tle (Battle of Eutaw Springs) in September 1781 was in-decisive but by the end of the year the British held onlySavannah and Charleston.

4.5 Virginia, 1781

Main article: Yorktown campaignCornwallis proceeded from Wilmington north into

Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown by (John Trumbull, 1797)

Virginia, on the grounds that Virginia needed to be sub-dued in order to hold the southern colonies. Earlier,in January 1781, a small British raiding force underBenedict Arnold had landed there, and began movingthrough the countryside, destroying supply depots, mills,and other economic targets. In February, General Wash-ington dispatched General Lafayette to counter Arnold,later also sending General Anthony Wayne. Arnoldwas reinforced with additional troops from New York inMarch, and his army was joined with that of Cornwallisin May. Lafayette skirmished with Cornwallis, avoidinga large-scale battle while gathering reinforcements.Cornwallis Virginia campaign was strongly opposed byhis superior, General Clinton, who did not believe such alarge and disease-ridden area, with a hostile population,

could be pacied with the limited forces available. Clin-ton instead favored conducting operations further north inthe Chesapeake region (Maryland, Delaware, and south-ern Pennsylvania) where he believed there was a strongLoyalist presence. Upon his arrival at Williamsburg inJune, Cornwallis received orders from Clinton to estab-lish a fortied naval base and a request to send sev-eral thousand troops to New York to counter a possibleFranco-American attack. Following these orders, he for-tied Yorktown, and, shadowed by Lafayette, awaited thearrival of the Royal Navy.[107]

The northern, southern, and naval theaters of the war con-verged in 1781 at Yorktown, Virginia. The French eetbecame available for operations, which could either moveagainst Yorktown or New York. Washington still favoredattacking New York, but the French decided to send theeet to their preferred target at Yorktown. Learning ofthe planned movement of the French eet in August,Washington began moving his army south to cooperate.The British eet, not realizing that the French had senttheir entire eet to America, dispatched an inadequateforce under Admiral Graves.

The French (left) and British (right) lines at the Battle of theChesapeake

In early September, French naval forces defeated theBritish eet at the Battle of the Chesapeake, cuttingo Cornwallis escape. Cornwallis, still expecting toreceive support, failed to break out while he had thechance. When Washingtons army arrived outside York-town, Cornwallis prematurely abandoned his outer po-sition, hastening his subsequent defeat. The combinedFranco-American force of 18,900 men began besiegingCornwallis in early October. For several days, the Frenchand Americans bombarded the British defenses, and thenbegan taking the outer redoubts. The British attempted tocobble together a relief expedition, but encountered nu-merous delays. Cornwallis decided his position was be-coming untenable and he surrendered his entire army ofover 7,000 men on October 19, 1781, the same day thatthe British eet at New York sailed for his relief.[108]

14 6 BRITAIN VS. FRANCE, SPAIN, MYSORE, AND HOLLAND 17781783

4.6 Downfall of the North MinistryNews of the surrender at Yorktown arrived in Britain inNovember 1781. King George III took the news calmlyand delivered a deant address pledging to continue thewar, a majority of the House of Commons endorsed it.In the succeeding months news arrived of other reverses,however. The French and Spanish successfully took sev-eral West Indian islands and appeared to be on the vergeof completely expelling the British there. Minorca alsosurrendered to a Franco-Spanish force on February 5,1782 and Gibraltar seemed to be in danger of falling aswell. In light of this, Parliament on February 27, 1782voted to cease all oensive operations in America andseek peace. Threatened with votes of no condence, onMarch 20 Lord North resigned and his Tory governmentwas replaced by theWhigs. Ironically, shortly after Northresigned the British won the Battle of the Saintes, puttingan end to the French threat in the West Indies, and theysuccessfully relieved Gibraltar. Had the North govern-ment held out for a few more months they would havebeen considerably strengthened and could have continuedthe war in spite of Yorktown.The new Whig administration accepted American inde-pendence as a basis for peace. There were no furthermajor military activities in North America, although theBritish still had 30,000 garrison troops occupying NewYork City, Charleston, and Savannah.[109] The war con-tinued elsewhere, including the siege of Gibraltar andnaval operations in the East and West Indies, until peacewas agreed in 1783.

5 Naval conictFurther information: Naval operations in the AmericanRevolutionary War, France in the American Revolution-ary War, Spain in the American Revolutionary War andTurtle (submersible)When the war began, the British had overwhelming naval

Combat de la Dominique, April 17, 1780, by Auguste Louis deRossel de Cercy (17361804)

superiority over the American colonists although their

eet was old and in poor condition, a situation that wouldbe blamed on Lord Sandwich, the First Lord of the Ad-miralty. During the rst three years of the war, the RoyalNavy was primarily used to transport troops for land op-erations and to protect commercial shipping. The Amer-ican colonists had no ships of the line, and relied exten-sively on privateering to harass British shipping. The pri-vateers caused worry disproportionate to their materialsuccess, although those operating out of French channelports before and after France joined the war causedsignicant embarrassment to the Royal Navy and in-amed Anglo-French relations. About 55,000 Americansailors served aboard the privateers during the war.[110]The American privateers had almost 1,700 ships, andthey captured 2,283 enemy ships.[111] The ContinentalCongress authorized the creation of a small ContinentalNavy in October 1775, which was primarily used forcommerce raiding. John Paul Jones became the rst greatAmerican naval hero, capturing HMS Drake on April 24,1778, the rst victory for any American military vessel inBritish waters.[112]

The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 13,1782, by John Singleton Copley

6 Britain vs. France, Spain,Mysore, and Holland 17781783

6.1 EuropeSpain entered the war as a French ally with the goal ofrecapturing Gibraltar and Minorca, which had been cap-tured by an Anglo-Dutch force in 1704. Gibraltar was be-sieged for more than three years, but the British garrisonstubbornly resisted and was resupplied twice: once afterAdmiral Rodney's victory over Juan de Lngara in the1780 Moonlight Battle, and again by Admiral RichardHowe in 1782. Further Franco-Spanish eorts to captureGibraltar were unsuccessful. One notable success tookplace on February 5, 1782, when Spanish and Frenchforces captured Minorca, which Spain retained after thewar. Ambitious plans for an invasion of Great Britain in1779 had to be abandoned.

6.3 India 15

6.2 West Indies and Gulf Coast

Main article: Caribbean theater of the American Revo-lutionary War

The Battle of the Saintes fought on 12 April 1782near Guadeloupe.

Bernardo de Glvez.

Norteamerica, 1792, Jaillot-Elwe, Floridas bordersafter Bernardo Glvezs military actions.

There was much action in the West Indies, especially inthe Lesser Antilles. Although France lost St. Lucia earlyin the war, its navy dominated the West Indies, capturingDominica, Grenada, Saint Vincent, Montserrat, Tobago,St. Kitts and the Turks and Caicos between 1778 and1782. Dutch possessions in the West Indies and SouthAmerica were captured by Britain but later recaptured byFrance and restored to the Dutch Republic. At the Battleof the Saintes in April 1782, a victory by Rodneys eetover the French Admiral de Grasse frustrated the hopesof France and Spain to take Jamaica and other coloniesfrom the British.On the Gulf Coast, Count Bernardo de Glvez, the Span-ish governor of Louisiana, quickly removed the Britishfrom their outposts on the lower Mississippi River in1779 in actions at Manchac and Baton Rouge in BritishWest Florida. Glvez then captured Mobile in 1780and stormed and captured the British citadel and cap-ital of Pensacola in 1781. On May 8, 1782, Glvezcaptured the British naval base at New Providence inthe Bahamas; it was ceded by Spain after the Treaty ofParis and simultaneously recovered by British Loyalistsin 1783. Glvez' actions led to the Spanish acquisition ofEast and West Florida in the peace settlement, denied theBritish the opportunity of encircling the American forcesfrom the south, and kept open a vital conduit for sup-plies to the American frontier. The Continental Congresscited Glvez in 1785 for his aid during the revolution andGeorge Washington took him to his right during the rstparade of July 4.[113]

Central America was also subject to conict betweenBritain and Spain, as Britain sought to expand its infor-mal trading inuence beyond coastal logging and sh-ing communities in present-day Belize, Honduras, andNicaragua. Expeditions against San Fernando de Omoain 1779 and San Juan in 1780 (the latter famously led bya young Horatio Nelson) met with only temporary suc-cess before being abandoned due to disease. The Spanishcolonial leaders, in turn, could not completely eliminateBritish inuences along the Mosquito Coast. Except forthe French acquisition of Tobago, sovereignty in theWestIndies was returned to the status quo ante bellum in thepeace of 1783.

6.3 India

Main article: Second Anglo-Mysore War.

Suren meeting with ally Hyder Ali in 1783. J.B. Morret engrav-ing, 1789

When word reached India in 1778 that France hadentered the war, the British East India Companymoved quickly to capture French colonial outposts there,capturing Pondicherry after two months of siege.[114] Thecapture of the French-controlled port of Mah on In-dias west coast motivatedMysore's ruler, Hyder Ali (whowas already upset at other British actions, and benetedfrom trade through the port), to open the Second Anglo-Mysore War in 1780. Ali, and later his son Tipu Sul-tan, almost drove the British from southern India but wasfrustrated by weak French support, and the war ended sta-tus quo ante bellum with the 1784 Treaty of Mangalore.French opposition was led in 1782 and 1783 by Admi-ral the Baillie de Suren, who recaptured Trincomaleefrom the British and fought ve celebrated, but largelyinconclusive, naval engagements against British AdmiralSir Edward Hughes.[115] Frances Indian colonies were re-turned after the war.

6.4 Fourth Anglo-Dutch War

Main article: Fourth Anglo-Dutch War

The Dutch Republic, nominally neutral, had been tradingwith the Americans, exchanging Dutch arms and muni-tions for American colonial wares (in contravention ofthe British Navigation Acts), primarily through activitybased in St. Eustatius, before the French formally en-tered the war.[116] The British considered this trade toinclude contraband military supplies and had attemptedto stop it, at rst diplomatically by appealing to previ-ous treaty obligations, interpretation of whose terms thetwo nations disagreed on, and then by searching and seiz-ing Dutch merchant ships. The situation escalated whenthe British seized a Dutch merchant convoy sailing un-der Dutch naval escort in December 1779, prompting the

16 8 ANALYSIS OF COMBATANTS

Dutch to join the League of Armed Neutrality. Britainresponded to this decision by declaring war on the Dutchin December 1780, sparking the Fourth Anglo-DutchWar.[117] The war was a military and economic disas-ter for the Dutch Republic. Paralyzed by internal politi-cal divisions, it could not respond eectively to Britishblockades of its coast and the capture of many of itscolonies. In the 1784 peace treaty between the two na-tions, the Dutch lost the Indian port of Negapatam andwere forced to make trade concessions.[118] The DutchRepublic signed a friendship and trade agreement withthe United States in 1782, becoming the third country(after Morocco and later France) to formally recognizethe United States.[119]

7 Treaty of Paris

Main article: Treaty of Paris (1783)

In London, as political support for the war plummetedafter Yorktown, British Prime Minister Lord North re-signed in March 1782. In April 1782, the Commonsvoted to end the war in America. Preliminary peace ar-ticles were signed in Paris at the end of November 1782;the formal end of the war did not occur until the Treatyof Paris (for the U.S.) and the Treaties of Versailles (forthe other Allies) were signed on September 3, 1783. Thelast British troops left New York City on November 25,1783, and the United States Congress of the Confedera-tion ratied the Paris treaty on January 14, 1784.[120]

Britain negotiated the Paris peace treaty without con-sulting her Native American allies and ceded all NativeAmerican territory between the Appalachian Mountainsand the Mississippi River to the United States. NativeAmericans reluctantly conrmed these land cessions withthe United States in a series of treaties, but the ght-ing would be renewed in conicts along the frontier inthe coming years, the largest being the Northwest IndianWar.[121] The British sought to establish a buer Indianstate in the American Midwest, and continued to pursuethat goal as late as 1814 in the War of 1812.[122][123]

The United States gained more than it expected, thanksto the award of western territory. The other Allies hadmixed-to-poor results. France made some gains over itsnemesis, Great Britain, but its material gains were min-imal and its nancial losses huge. It was already in -nancial trouble and its borrowing to pay for the war usedup all its credit and created the nancial disasters thatmarked the 1780s. Historians link those disasters to thecoming of the French Revolution. The Dutch clearly loston all points. The Spanish had a mixed result; they didnot achieve their primary war goal (recovery of Gibral-tar), but they did gain territory. However, in the longrun, as the case of Florida shows, the new territory wasof little or no value.[22]

8 Analysis of combatantsThe population of Great Britain and Ireland in 1780 wasapproximately 12.6 million[124] while the population ofthe thirteen colonies for the same year has been estimatedat 2.8 million including over 500,000 slaves.[125] Theo-retically this gave Britain a 4.5:1 manpower advantage,by comparison the Unions manpower advantage over theConfederacy in the American Civil War was only 2.5:1.In practice, the British army never had more than a slightnumerical advantage over the Continental Army due to anumber of factors, including the need to maintain signif-icant numbers of troops outside of North America. Con-scription outside of naval impressment did not exist inBritain back then, and the proportion of Americans will-ing to serve in their own countrys defense was believedto be considerably larger than the proportion of Britonswilling to serve overseas. One pre-war estimate claimedthat the Patriots could mobilize 100,000 men in a matterof months,[126] but substantial loyalist or neutralist senti-ment would keep Patriot forces much smaller than theirpotential.[127][128]

Historians continue to debate whether the odds for Amer-ican victory were long or short. John E. Ferling says theodds were so long that the American victory was AlmostA Miracle.[129] On the other hand, Joseph Ellis says theodds favored the Americans, and asks whether there everwas any realistic chance for the British to win? He ar-gues that this opportunity came only once, in the summerof 1776 and the British failed that test. Admiral Howeand his brother General Howe, missed several oppor-tunities to destroy the Continental Army....Chance, luck,and even the vagaries of the weather played crucial roles.Elliss point is that the strategic and tactical decisions ofthe Howes were fatally awed because they underesti-mated the challenges posed by the Patriots. Ellis con-cludes that once the Howe brothers failed, the opportunityfor a British victory would never come again.[130]:11 TheU.S. Armys ocial textbook argues that while the Britishdiculties were great, they were hardly insurmountable.The British forfeited several chances for military victoryin 17761777, and again in 1780 they might have wonhad they been able to throw 10,000 fresh troops into theAmerican war.[131]

8.1 PatriotsMain articles: Continental Army and MinutemenThe Americans began the war with signicant disadvan-tages compared to the British. They had no national gov-ernment, no national army or navy, no nancial system,no banks, no established credit, and no functioning gov-ernment departments, such as a treasury. The Congresstried to handle administrative aairs through legislativecommittees, which proved inecient. The state govern-ments were themselves brand new and ocials had noadministrative experience. In peacetime the colonies re-

8.1 Patriots 17

1st Maryland Regiment holding the line at the Battle of Guilford

lied heavily on ocean travel and shipping, but that wasnow shut down by the British blockade and the Ameri-cans had to rely on slow overland travel.However, the Americans had multiple advantages that inthe long run outweighed the initial disadvantages theyfaced. The Americans had a large prosperous popula-tion that depended not on imports but on local produc-tion for food and most supplies, while the British weremostly shipped in from across the ocean. The Britishfaced a vast territory far larger than Britain or France,located at a far distance from home ports. Most of theAmericans lived on farms distant from the seaportstheBritish could capture any port but that did not give themcontrol over the hinterland. They were on their homeground, had a smoothly functioning, well organized sys-tem of local and state governments, newspapers and print-ers, and internal lines of communications. They had along-established system of local militia, previously usedto combat the French and Native Americans, with com-panies and an ocer corps that could form the basis oflocal militias, and provide a training ground for the na-tional army created by Congress.[132]

Motivation was amajor asset. The Patriots wanted to win;over 200,000 fought in the war; 25,000 died. The Britishexpected the Loyalists to do much of the ghting; theydid much less than expected. The British hired Germanmercenaries to do much of their ghting.[133]

At the onset of the war, the Americans had no major in-ternational allies. Battles such as the Battle of Benning-ton, the Battles of Saratoga and even defeats such as theBattle of Germantown[134] proved decisive in gaining theattention and support of powerful European nations suchas France and Spain, who moved from covertly supply-ing the Americans with weapons and supplies, to overtlysupporting them militarily, moving the war to a globalstage.[135]

The new Continental Army suered signicantly from alack of an eective training regime, and largely inexpe-rienced ocers and sergeants. The inexperience of itsocers was compensated for in part by its senior o-

cers; ocers such as George Washington, Horatio Gates,Charles Lee, Richard Montgomery and Francis Marionall had military experience with the British Army dur-ing the French and Indian War. The Americans solvedtheir training dilemma during their stint in Winter Quar-ters at Valley Forge, where they were relentlessly drilledand trained by General Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben,a veteran of the famed Prussian General Sta. He taughtthe Continental Army the essentials ofmilitary discipline,drills, tactics and strategy, and wrote the RevolutionaryWar Drill Manual.[136] When the Army emerged fromValley Forge, it proved its ability to equally match theBritish troops in battle when they fought a successfulstrategic action at the Battle of Monmouth.[98]

Population density in the American Colonies in 1775

When the war began, the 13 colonies lacked a profes-sional army or navy. Each colony sponsored local militia.Militiamen were lightly armed, had little training, andusually did not have uniforms. Their units served for onlya few weeks or months at a time, were reluctant to travelfar from home and thus were unavailable for extendedoperations, and lacked the training and discipline of sol-diers with more experience. If properly used, however,their numbers could help the Continental armies over-whelm smaller British forces, as at the battles of Concord,Bennington and Saratoga, and the siege of Boston. Bothsides used partisan warfare but the Americans eectivelysuppressed Loyalist activity when British regulars werenot in the area.[137]

Seeking to coordinate military eorts, the ContinentalCongress established a regular army on June 14, 1775,and appointed George Washington as commander-in-chief. The development of the Continental Army wasalways a work in progress, and Washington used both hisregulars and state militia throughout the war.The United States Marine Corps traces its institutional

18 8 ANALYSIS OF COMBATANTS

roots to the Continental Marines of the war, formed by aresolution of the Continental Congress on November 10,1775, a date regarded and celebrated as the birthday ofthe Marine Corps. At the beginning of 1776, Washing-tons army had 20,000 men, with two-thirds enlisted inthe Continental Army and the other third in the variousstate militias.[138] At the end of the American Revolu-tion in 1783, both the Continental Navy and ContinentalMarines were disbanded. About 250,000 men served asregulars or as militiamen for the Revolutionary cause inthe eight years of the war, but there were never more than90,000 men under arms at one time.Armies were small by European standards of the era,largely attributable to limitations such as lack of powderand other logistical capabilities on the American side.[139]It was also dicult for Great Britain to transport troopsacross the Atlantic and they depended on local suppliesthat the Patriots tried to cut o. By comparison, Duynotes that Frederick the Great usually commanded from23,000 to 50,000 in battle. Both gures pale in com-parison to the armies that were elded in the early 19thcentury, where troop formations approached or exceeded100,000 men.

8.2 Loyalists

Main article: Loyalist (American Revolution)

Historians[140] have estimated that approximately 40 to45 percent of the colonists supported the rebellion, while15 to 20 percent remained loyal to the Crown. The restattempted to remain neutral and kept a low prole.At least 25,000 Loyalists fought on the side of the British.Thousands served in the Royal Navy. On land, Loyal-ist forces fought alongside the British in most battles inNorth America. Many Loyalists fought in partisan units,especially in the Southern theater.[141]

The British military met with many diculties in max-imizing the use of Loyalist factions. British historianJeremy Black wrote, In the American war it was clear toboth royal generals and revolutionaries that organized andsignicant Loyalist activity would require the presenceof British forces.[142] In the South, the use of Loyalistspresented the British with major problems of strategicchoice since while it was necessary to widely dispersetroops in order to defend Loyalist areas, it was also rec-ognized that there was a need for the maintenance oflarge concentrated forces able to counter major attacksfrom the American forces.[143] In addition, the Britishwere forced to ensure that their military actions wouldnot oend Loyalist opinion, eliminating such options asattempting to live o the country, destroying propertyfor intimidation purposes, or coercing payments fromcolonists (laying them under contribution).[144]

8.3 British

Main article: British Army during the American War ofIndependenceBritain entered the war with condence; it had the worlds

The Death of Major Peirson, in the 1781 Battle of Jersey

most powerful navy, a well-trained professional army, asound nancial system that could pay the costs, a sta-ble government, and experienced leadership.[145] How-ever they were beset with major challenges. Comparedto the Americans, the British had no major allies, andonly had troops provided by small German states to bol-ster the small British Army. At the onset of the war, theBritish Army was less than 48,000 strong worldwide, andsuered from a lack of eective recruiting. By 1778,the army was pardoning criminals for military service andhad extended the age range for service to be from 16 to50. Although its ocer and non-commissioned ocercorps were relatively professional and experienced, thisprofessionalism was diluted because wealthy individualslacking military experience could purchase commissionsand promotions. As a consequence, inexperienced of-cers sometimes found their way into positions of highresponsibility.[146]

Distance was also a major problem for the British. Al-though the Royal Navy was the largest and most experi-enced in the world at the time, it sometimes took monthsfor troops to reach North America, and orders were oftenout of date because the military situation on the groundhad changed by the time they arrived.[147] Additionally,the British had logistical problems whenever they oper-ated away from the coast; they were vulnerable to guerillaattacks on their supply chains whenever they went farinland. On a logistical note, the ints used in Britishweapons also put them at a disadvantage on the battleeld.British ints could only re for 6 rounds before requiringre-sharpening, while American ints could re 60 roundsbefore resharpening. A common expression ran amongthe redcoats; which was that Yankee int was as goodas a glass of grog.[148] Although discipline was harsh inthe army, the redcoats had little self-discipline; gambling,looting, promiscuity and heavy drinking were commonproblems, among all ranks alike. The army suered from

8.3 British 19

mediocre organisation in terms of logistics, food supplieswere often bad and the sparse land of America oeredlittle in the way of nding reliable substitutes.[149]

Map of campaigns in the Revolutionary War

Suppressing a rebellion in America also posed other prob-lems. At the onset of the war, the British had around8,000 men stationed in North America, however thesewere required to cover an area that stretched from north-ern Canada to Florida, a distance of almost 2,000 miles(3,200 km). As the colonies had not been united beforethe war, there was no central area of strategic importance.In European conicts, the capture of a capital city of-ten meant the end of the war; however in America, whenthe British seized key cities such as New York, Philadel-phia or Bostonor Washington D.C. in the War of 1812thirty years laterthe war continued unabated. Further-more, despite the fact that at its height, the British eldedsome 56,000 men in the colonies exclusive of mercenar-ies and militia,[150] they lacked the sucient numbers toboth defeat the Americans on the battleeld and simulta-neously occupy the captured areas. It was not unusual forthe Americans to suer a string of defeats, only to havethe British retreat because they could not occupy the cap-tured land. Despite strong Loyalist support, these troopswere often displaced by Patriot militia when British reg-ulars were not in the area, demonstrated at battles such asKings Mountain. The manpower shortage became criti-cal when France, Spain and the Netherlands entered thewar, as the British were spread across several theatres

worldwide, when before they were concentrated only inAmerica.[151]

The British also had to contend with several psychologicalfactors during the conict. The need to maintain Loyalistallegiance provided setbacks, as the British could not usethe harsh methods of suppressing rebellion they had usedin Ireland and Scotland. Loyalists often came from thesame communities as Patriots and as a result, such meth-ods could not be employed for fear of alienating them.Even despite these limitations, neutral colonists were of-ten driven into the ranks of the Revolutionaries due tothe conict, such as the war in the Carolinas, marked byheavy brutality on both sides.[152] As a result of the man-power shortage and Patriot control of the countryside,where the majority of the American population lived, theBritish often could not simultaneously defeat the Ameri-cans on the eld and occupy the captured areas, evidencedby withdrawals from Philadelphia and the Carolinas aftergreat initial success. A single American victory could of-ten reverse the impact of a string of British successes,as shown by engagements at Trenton, Bennington, KingsMountain and even defeats such as Germantown,[134] allof which went a long way to galvanizing Patriot supportfor the war, and of persuading European powers such asFrance and Spain to support the rebellion.Early in 1775, the BritishArmy consisted of about 36,000men worldwide, but wartime recruitment steadily in-creased this number. Great Britain had a dicult timeappointing general ocers, however. General ThomasGage, in command of British forces in North Americawhen the rebellion started, was criticized for being toolenient (perhaps inuenced by his American wife). Gen-eral Jerey Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst turned down anappointment as commander in chief due to an unwilling-ness to take sides in the conict.[153] Similarly, AdmiralAugustus Keppel turned down a command, saying I can-not draw the sword in such a cause. The Earl of En-gham publicly resigned his commission when his 22ndRegiment of foot was posted to America, and WilliamHowe and John Burgoyne were members of parliamentwho opposed military solutions to the American rebel-lion. Howe and Henry Clinton stated that they were un-willing participants in the war and were only followingorders.[154]

Over the course of the war, Great Britain signedtreaties with various German states, which supplied about30,000 soldiers.[155] Germans made up about one-thirdof the British troop strength in North America. TheLandgraviate of Hesse-Kassel contributed more soldiersthan any other state, and German soldiers became knownas "Hessians" to the Americans. Revolutionary speakerscalled German soldiers foreign mercenaries, and theyare scorned as such in the Declaration of Independence.By 1779, the number of British and German troops sta-tioned in North America was over 60,000, although thesewere spread from Canada to Florida.[156] Initially, severalGerman principalities oered military support to Great

20 8 ANALYSIS OF COMBATANTS

Britain but these oers were rejected. However, as thewar dragged on it became clear that Great Britain wouldneed the extra manpower of the German states and led toGreat Britain seeking support fromGerman principalitiessuch as Hesse-Kassel and Ansbach-Bayreuth.[157]

The Secretary of State at War Lord Barrington and theAdjutant-General Edward Harvey were both strongly op-posed to outright war on land. In 1766 Barrington hadrecommended withdrawing the army from the ThirteenColonies to Canada, Nova Scotia and Florida. At thebeginning of the war he urged a naval blockade, whichwould quickly damage the colonists trading activities.[158]

8.4 African Americans

1780 drawing of American soldiers from the Yorktown campaignshows a black infantryman from the 1st Rhode Island Regiment.

African Americansslave and freeserved on bothsides during the war. The British recruited slaves be-longing to Patriot masters and promised freedom tothose who served by act of Lord Dunmores Proclama-tion. Because of manpower shortages, George Wash-ington lifted the ban on black enlistment in the Con-tinental Army in January 1776. Small all-black unitswere formed in Rhode Island and Massachusetts; manyslaves were promised freedom for serving. (Some ofthe men promised freedom were sent back to their mas-ters, after the war was over, out of political convenience.George Washington received and ignored letters fromthe re-enslaved soldiers.) Another all-black unit camefrom Saint-Domingue with French colonial forces. Atleast 5,000 black soldiers fought for the Revolutionarycause.[159][160]

Tens of thousands of slaves escaped during the war andjoined British lines; others simply moved o in the chaos.For instance, in South Carolina, nearly 25,000 slaves(30% of the enslaved population) ed, migrated or diedduring the disruption of the war.[161] This greatly dis-rupted plantation production during and after the war.When they withdrew their forces from Savannah andCharleston, the British also evacuated 10,000 slaves be-longing to Loyalists.[162] Altogether, the British evacu-ated nearly 20,000 blacks at the end of the war. Morethan 3,000 of themwere freedmen andmost of these were

resettled in Nova Scotia; other blacks were sold in theWest Indies.[163][164]

8.5 Native AmericansMostNativeAmericans east of theMississippi River wereaected by the war, and many communities were di-vided over the question of how to respond to the con-ict. Though a few tribes were on friendly terms with theAmericans, most Native Americans opposed the UnitedStates as a potential threat to their territory. Approxi-mately 13,000 Native Americans fought on the Britishside, with the largest group coming from the Iroquoistribes, who elded around 1,500 men.[165] The power-ful Iroquois Confederacy was shattered as a result of theconict; although the Confederacy did not take sides, theSeneca, Onondaga, and Cayuga nations sided with theBritish. Members of the Mohawk fought on both sides.Many Tuscarora andOneida sided with the colonists. TheContinental Army sent the Sullivan Expedition on raidsthroughout New York to cripple the Iroquois tribes thathad sided with the British. Both during and after the warfriction between the Mohawk leaders Joseph Louis Cookand Joseph Brant, who had sided with the Americans andthe British respectively, further exacerbated the split.

A watercolor painting depicting a variety of Continental Armysoldiers.

Creek and Seminole allies of Britain fought againstAmericans in Georgia and South Carolina. In 1778,

9.1 Casualties 21

a force of 800 Creeks destroyed American settlementsalong the Broad River in Georgia. Creek warriors alsojoined Thomas Browns raids into South Carolina and as-sisted Britain during the Siege of Savannah.[166] ManyNative Americans were involved in the ghting betweenBritain and Spain on the Gulf Coast and up the Missis-sippi Rivermostly on the British side. Thousands ofCreeks, Chickasaws, and Choctaws fought in or near ma-jor battles such as the Battle of Fort Charlotte, the Battleof Mobile, and the Siege of Pensacola.[167]

8.6 Race and class

Pybus (2005) estimates that about 20,000 slaves defectedto or were captured by the British, of whom about 8,000died from disease or wounds or were recaptured by thePatriots, and 12,000 left the country at the end of thewar, for freedom in Canada, the Caribbean or London,or some enslaved and transported to the West Indies.[168]

Baller (2006) examines family dynamics and mobiliza-tion for the Revolution in central Massachusetts. He re-ports that warfare and the farming culture were some-times incompatible. Militiamen found that living andworking on the family farm had not prepared them forwartime marches and the rigors of camp life. Rugged in-dividualism conicted with military discipline and reg-imentation. A mans birth order often inuenced hismilitary recruitment, as younger sons went to war andolder sons took charge of the farm. A persons fam-ily responsibilities and the prevalent patriarchy could im-pede mobilization. Harvesting duties and family emer-gencies pulled men home regardless of the sergeants or-ders. Some relatives might be Loyalists, creating inter-nal strains. On the whole, historians conclude the Revo-lutions eect on patriarchy and inheritance patterns fa-vored egalitarianism.[169]

McDonnell (2006) shows a grave complication in Vir-ginias mobilization of troops was the conicting inter-ests of distinct social classes, which tended to under-cut a unied commitment to the Patriot cause. The As-sembly balanced the competing demands of elite slave-owning planters, the middling yeomen (some owninga few slaves), and landless indentured servants, amongother groups. The Assembly used deferments, taxes, mil-itary service substitute, and conscription to resolve thetensions. Unresolved class conict, however, made theselaws less eective. There were violent protests, manycases of evasion, and large-scale desertion, so that Vir-ginias contributions came at embarrassingly low levels.With the British invasion of the state in 1781, Virginiawas mired in class division as its native son, GeorgeWashington, made desperate appeals for troops.[170]

9 Costs of the war

Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau at Yorktown, 1781

9.1 Casualties

9.1.1 Americans and allies

The total loss of life throughout the war is largely un-known. As was typical in the wars of the era, diseaseclaimed far more lives than battle. Between 1775 and1782 a smallpox epidemic swept across North America,killing 40 people in Boston alone. Historian Joseph El-lis suggests that Washingtons decision to have his troopsinoculated against the smallpox epidemic, including theuse of biological warfare by the British, was one of hismost important decisions.[171]

At least 25,000 American Patriots died during active mil-itary service.[15] About 6,800 of these deaths were inbattle; the other 17,000 recorded deaths were from dis-ease, including about 8,00012,000 who died of starva-tion or disease brought on by deplorable conditions whileprisoners of war,[172] most in rotting British prison shipsin New York. Another estimate, however, puts the to-tal death toll at around 70,000, which if true would makethe conict proportionately deadlier than the AmericanCivil War.[8] The uncertainty arises from the number ofdisease deaths, which were believed to be quite numer-ous, amounting to an estimated 10,000 in 1776 alone.[8]The number of Patriots seriously wounded or disabledby the war has been estimated from 8,500 to 25,000.[173]P