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early 1776
Still better from their defeat by the British in the French and Indain War, the French had secretly sent weapons to the Patriots since early 1776 -
Mach
The Britsh had previously retreated from Boston in March 1776, moving the theater of war to the Middle States -
Summer of 1776
Two brothers General William Howe and Admiral Richard Howe joined forces on Staten Island and sailed into New York Harbor in the Summer of 1776 with the largest Britsh expenditionary force ever assembled-32,00 soldiers, including thousands of Germans mercenaries, or soldiers who fight solely for money. -
The Battle of New York ends
the battle for New York ended late in August with an American retreat following heavy losses -
Death and Despair
Washington resovled to risk everything on one hold stroke set for Christmas night, 1776 in the face at a fierce storm, he led 2,400 men in small rowboats across the ice-choked Delaware River -
8 o'clock
Wahington and his men had marched nine miles through sleet and snow to the objective-Trenton, New Jersey, held by a garrison of Hessians by surprise killing 30 mens, 918 captives and 6 Hessians cannons -
8 days later
The Americans were rallied by another astonishing victory eight days later against 1,200 Bristsh stationed at Princeton -
Spring of 1777
General Howe began his campaign to seize the American capital at Philadelphia. His troops sailed from New York to the head of Chesapeake Bay, and landed near the capital in late August. -
Saratoga
Massed American troops finally surrounded Burgoyne at Saratoga where he surrendered his battered army to General Gates -
1777-1778 (winter)
General George Washington's troops marched to Valley Forge -
February 1778
The French recoginzed American independence and signed an alliance or treaty of cooperation, with the Americans in Feb. 1778 -
*Feb. 1778
During the winter at Valley Forge, American troops began to an amazing transformation, Friedrich von Steuben taught the colonial soldiers at attention, execute field maneuvers, fire and reload quickly, and wield bayonets. The raw Continental Army was becoming an effective fighting force. -
Summer of 1778
After their devastating defeat at Saratoga, the British changed their millitary strategy; in the summer of 1778 they began to shift their operations to the South, hoping for Loyalist support. -
*Robert Morris*
The Congress appointed a rich Philiadelphia merchant named Robert Morris as superintendent of finance -
end of 1778
A royal governor once again commanded Georgia -
Lafayette
Marquis de Lafayette joined Washington's staff and bore the misery of Valley Forge, lobbied for French reinforcements in France in 1779, and led a command in Virginia in the last years of the war. -
*1780*
For most of 1780, Cornwallis succeeded. As the redcoats advanced, they were joined by thousands of Afican American who had escaped from Patriot slave owners to join the British and win thier freedom -
May 1780
Their greatest victory of the war, Britsh captured Charles Town, South Carolina then left for New York leaving Cornwallis to command the Britsh forces in the South, to conquer South and North Carolina. -
*August*
In August, Cornwallis's army smashed American forces at Camden, South Carolina and within 3 months the British had established forts across the state -
In 1778
General Henry Clinton who had replaced Howe in New York, along with the ambitious General Charles Cornwall sailed South with 8,500 men. -
*1780*
A French Army of 6,000 had landed in Newport, Rhode Island and after the British left the city to focus on the South -
British Surrender
When the forces met at Cowpens, South Carolina, the British expected the outnumbered Americans to flee: but the Continental Army fought back, and forced the redcoats to surrender. -
2 MONTHS LATER!!
2 moths later, after the Continental Army forced the British to surrender.....Angered by the defeat at Cowpens, Cornwallis attacked Greene at Guilford Court House, North Carolina. Cornwallis won the victory cost him nearly a fourth of his troops-93 were killed, over 400 were wounded and 26 were missing -
Help!
Greene had weakened the British, but he worried about teh fight for the South. So he wrote a letter to Lafayette asking for help -
Paid
Due to the efforts of Morris and Salomon on September 8th, 1781 the troops were finally paid in specie or gold coin -
White
With his troops outnumbered by more than two to one and exhuasted from shelling, Cornwallis finally raised the white flag to surrender. -
SURRENDER!
Colonel William Fontaine of the Virginia Militia stood with the Americans and French armies lining a road near Yorktown, Virginia on the afternoon of October 19, 1781 to the formal British surrender -
Meeting
On October 19, 1981 a triumphant Washington, the French gerenals and their troops assembled to accept the British surrender -
Seeking Peace
Peace talks began in Paris in 1782. Representatives of four nations-the United States, Great Britian, France, and Spain-joinede the negotiations, with each nation looking out for its own interests. Britian hoped to avoid giving America full Independence. France supported it but feared America's becoming a major power. Spain was interested in acquiring the land between the Appalachian Moutains and the Mississippi River. -
Freedom!
In September 1783, the delegates signed the Treaty of Paris, which confirmed U.S Independence and set boundaries of the new nation. The United States now stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River and from Canada to the Florida border.
