The American Revolution

Even before the Second Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence, a state of war existed between Great Britain and the American colonies. The first armed action took place in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, on April 19, 1775. British troops marched to Concord to destroy military supplies. The militia, known as Minutemen, were alerted, and they assembled in Lexington. Eight Minutemen were killed, and the British continued toward Concord. At the Concord Bridge, the British were turned away, and they began a retreat toward Boston. All along the road, the militia fired at the British and inflicted heavy casualties.??

Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys and Benedict Arnold surprised the British at Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain with an attack on May 10, 1775. On June 17, 1775, at Breed's Hill (known as Bunker Hill) near Boston, colonial militia were able to hold off British troops for two charges, but hard to retreat when they ran out of ammunition. The British lost 1,054 men to the colonists' 449 in this bloodiest battle of the Revolution. The British troops then moved to Nova Scotia.

On June 15, 1775, George Washington was appointed the commander in chief of the Continental Army. Arriving in Boston after the Battle of Breed's Hill, Washington gathered men and supplies, and early in 1776 placed the guns captured at Fort Ticonderoga on the heights overlooking Boston.

The war then shifted to New York City. Washington moved his men to Long Island and Manhattan Island. The British, commanded by General William Howe, landed 32,000 men including 9,000 German mercenaries (Hessians), on Long Island in July 1776. The inexperienced Continental Army was defeated on Long Island, Manhattan, and at White Plains, New York. However, the British failed to push their advantage, and Washington and his men were able to escape to New Jersey and across the Delaware River to Pennsylvania.

Before going into winter camp, Washington led his men across the Delaware River to attack a Hessian outpost at Trenton, New Jersey, on the morning of December 26, 1776. The Hessians were not expecting an attack on the day after Christmas. Over 900 Hessians were taken prisoner. Washington then moved around an army commanded by General Charles Cornwallis and attacked British troops near Princeton, New Jersey, on January 3, 1777. These victories greatly restored the patriots' hopes.

The battles fought at Saratoga, New York, on September 19 and October 17, 1777, resulted in the surrender of the British army commanded by General John Burgoyne to U.S. General Horatio Gates. After this victory, the French recognized the independence of the United States and agreed to form an alliance with the Americans against the British.

Fighting then shifted to the south with battles in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia. Greatly helped by the French Navy, American and French troops closed in on the British forces in Yorktown, Virginia, commanded by General Cornwallis. By late August 1781, French ships had blockaded Yorktown so that no British reinforcements could reach Cornwallis. By October, Washington's army and General Jean Rochambeau's French troops surrounded Cornwallis and bombarded the British with French artillery. General Cornwallis? formally surrendered on October 17, 1781. This was the last significant battle of the war.