The Revolutionary War

The Players

Continental Army

Strengths• Strong military leadership• Fighting on home territory• Alliance with France

Weaknesses• Small, untrained military• Shortages of resources• Weak central government

British Army

Strengths• Well-trained military• Ample resources• Alliances with Loyalists

Weaknesses• Fighting in unfamiliar territory• Fighting far from home

New York

• General Howe evacuates troops Boston

• New York – Loyalist stronghold

• Br. win easy victory at Brooklyn Heights

• New York City falls - burns

Battle of Trenton

• Howe believed war almost won

• Stationed 1400 Hessians at Trenton to keep close eye on Patriots across Delaware River

• Built no fortifications – “Let them come. We want no trenches. We will go at them with the bayonet.”

Battle of Trenton

• Gen. Washington ignored customary Christmas halt in fighting

• Ferried troops across ice-chocked Delaware River on Christmas Night

• Surprise Hessian camp at daybreak• 1400 Hessians – 120 casualties and 918 were

taken prisoner• Americans suffered just 5 wounded and no

fatalities • No hope for early end of war

Washington Crossing the Delaware – Emanuel Leutze

Cornwallis

• Br. General Charles Cornwallis prepared counter attack

• Americans slipped away in night leaving fires burning to fool Br.

• Washington struck inland ambushing Br. at Princeton

• Hit and run campaign – increased morale

Saratoga

• Br. attempted to cut off NE – hot bed of rebellion - from other colonies

• Br. General “Gentleman Johnny” Burgoyne devised strategy

• Three separate Br. forces would converge on Albany

• Failed miserably• Failed to realize proposed lines of attack

crossed lakes, swamps, hills and forests teeming w/ Patriots

Surrender of General Burgoyne – John Trumbull (1822)

Burgoyne• 2 of British forces never met

up w/ Burgoyne’s troops

• October - Burgoyne and his 5000 men were at Saratoga, New York, surrounded by American force of 17 000 under General Horatio Gates

• Failing to break through Continental lines, he surrendered on October 17, 1777

• Considered turning point of Revolutionary War

European Allies

• Americans wanted recognition as sovereign nation from Europe

• European nations could also provide Americans w/ money/supplies to fight war

• France became biggest ally• Hoped Br. defeat in America

would help restore French power in Europe

• Initially France sent gunpowder, artillery, and muskets

• 1776 - Benjamin Franklin travelled to Paris

Rochambeau• B/c of Saratoga victory

and Franklin’s diplomacy, France signed two treaties

• Formally recognized U.S. as nation

• Promised military help• 1780- French government

sent 6000 soldiers• Led by French General,

Count de Rochambeau

Spain

• Joined war in 1779 as ally of France

• Bernardo de Gálvez - Spanish governor of Louisiana

• Attacked British forts on Mississippi and along Gulf Coast in West Florida, which had once belonged to Spain

• Defeated British in Baton Rouge, Natchez, Mobile, Pensacola

Valley Forge

• Spring 1777— Br. plan was to cut N.E. off from rest of colonies

• Howe attacked Philadelphia w/ army of 15 000

• September - met Washington and army of 11 000 in southeastern Pennsylvania

• Br. won Battle of Brandywine, but Americans escaped w/out serious casualties

• Howe captured Philadelphia, where he settled comfortably for winter

• Continental Congress fled city

• Washington and exhausted troops settled into quarters at Valley Forge, Penn., for winter of 1777-78

Valley Forge

• Winter of 1777–78 was low point of Revolution for Continental Army

• Harsh winter weather w/ inadequate housing • Food scarce• Soldiers in worn, ragged uniforms• 2000 die w/out a shot being fired• Tough test of Washington’s leadership• Firm character/common sense helped hold troops

together• Always managed to keep national army in field

Washington and Lafayette at Valley Forge

• Money problems • Congress did not have power

to tax people• Congress and states printed

paper money w/ little to back it up

• Worthless - prices soared (inflation)

• Some farmers/merchants chose to trade w/ British, who had gold/silver coin

• Resulted in food shortages at Valley Forge

Benedict Arnold

• His treason severe blow to morale

• A brilliant military commander attempted to surrender American forces at West Point to British

• His secret messages were intercepted

Yorktown

• Summer 1781 - Cornwallis moved army to Yorktown, Virginia where had access to Br. fleet and supplies

• Washington saw opportunity to trap Cornwallis

• French Admiral de Grasse est. a blockade in Chesapeake Bay, preventing British ships from rescuing Cornwallis’ men

Yorktown

• Lafayette kept Cornwallis’s army trapped on peninsula

• Washington and Rochambeau traveled south w/ huge French and American army

• Cornwallis, w/ 7000 troops, faced combined French and American army of more than 17 000

Yorktown

• Battle of Yorktown lasted three weeks

• Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, 1781

• War for independence was over

• The Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown (1820) – John Trumbull

Treaty of Paris (1783)

• Granted U.S. independence • Britain formally recognized U.S. as independent

nation• Boundary? • Land westward from Atlantic coast to Mississippi

River• Great Lakes south to Florida• Spain was given Florida for help during war• Britain agreed to abandon its’ forts in West

North America after the Treaty of Paris (1783)

Change?

Women’s rights

• Equality did not include American women

• Words in Declaration of Independence applied only to white males

• Married women still could not sign contracts/own property

• Law stated that married woman’s property belonged to her husband

African Americans • Many African Americans who had

fought for Patriot cause believed had earned their freedom

• 1780 Pennsylvania passed law for gradual abolition of slavery

• 1780s - New England states also abolished slavery

• After war, both Virginia and Maryland made it easier to grant freedom to enslaved people

• Several southern states also passed laws limiting slave trade

Change?

Impact on Religion• Before war, many colonies had

official churches that everyone paid taxes to support

• New laws endorsed separation of church and state

• For Roman Catholic Church, the Revolutionary War led to certain amount of acceptance

• Catholics had often faced prejudice, but arrival of French Catholic soldiers helped change many people’s attitudes

A New Nation • War left new nation w/ some

problems• Revolution had cost a lot of

money, and Congress had borrowed from foreign sources and American citizens

• Money needed to be repaid• Setting up a central government to

deal w/ debt and other national issues was going to be complicated

• Continental Congress would meet again to discuss economic issues and new system of government