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Lexington
The kings troops, know as "redcoats" because of their uniforms, reached Lexington,Massachusetts, five miles short of concord, on the cold, windy dawn of April 19. The battle of Lexington, the first battle of the Revolutionary war, lasted only 15 minutes. -
Concord
The British marched on to Concord, where they found an empty arsenal.After a brief skimish with minutemen, the British soldiers lined up to march back to Boston, but the march quickly became a slaughter. -
Bunker Hill
Cooped up in Boston, British general Thomas Gage decided to strike at Militiamen on Breeds Hill, north of the city and near Bunker Hill. On June 17,1775, Gage sent 2,400 British soldiers up the hill. -
New York
As part of a plan to stop the rebellion by isolating New England, the British quickly attempted to seize New York City. The British sailed into New York harbor in the summer of 1776 with a force of about 32,000 soldiers. -
Philadelphia
In 1781, the congress appointed a rich Philadelphia merchant named Robert Morris as superintendent of finance. His associate was Haym Salomon, a jewish political refugee from Poland. -
Saratoga
American troops finally surrounded Burgoyne at Saratoga, where he surrendered on October 17,1777. The surrender at turned out to be one of the most important events of the war. -
Valley Forge
More than 2,000 soldiers died, yet the survivors didn't desert.Their endurance and suffering filled Washingtons letters to the congress and his friends. -
Trenton
The British soon regrouped however and in September of 1777 they captured the American capital at Philadelphia -
Marquis De Lafayette
They arrived to offer their help. Lafayette lobbied France for French reinforcements in 1779, and led a command in Virginia in the last years of the war. -
Yorktown
He led his army of 7,500 onto the peninsula between the James and York rivers and camped at Yorktown. Cornwallis planned to fortify Yorktown, take Virginia, and then move north to join Clinton's forces. -
Treaty of Paris
In September 1783, the delegates signed the Treaty of Paris, which confirmed U.S. independence and set the boundaries of the new nation. The United States now stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River and from Canada to Florida border.
