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fighting at lexington and concord
paul revere, william dawes, and samuel prescott rode out to spread the word that 700 british were headed for concord. the british commander ordered the minuteman to lay down their arms and leave, the colonists began to move out without laying down their muskets. -
the battle of bunker hill
british general thomas gage decided to strike at militiamen on breed's hill. on june 17, 1775 gage sent 2,400 british soldiers up the hill. the colonists had lost 450 mens, while the british had suffered over 100 casualties. -
new york
the british sailed into new york harbor in the summer of 1776 with a force of about 32,000 soldiers. they included thousands of german mercenaries, or hired soldiers known as hessians because many of them came form german region hesse. -
trenton
general george washington's army crossed the icy delware on christmas day 1776 and, over the course if the next 10 days, won two crucial battles of the american revolution. in the battle of trenton (december 26), washington defeated a formidable garrison of hessian mercenaries before withdrawing. -
philadelphia
thus it was that general William Howe was thrilled to outmaneuver George Washington and march into Philadelphia without opposition on September 26, 1777. tense conflict ensued, however, because American patriots stripped the city of supplies before they arrived. -
Saratoga
American troops finally surround Burgoyne in Saratoga, where he surrendered on October 17,1777. although the french had secretly aided the patriots since early 1776, the saratoga victory bolstered France's belief that the Americans could win the war. as a results, the french signed an alliance with the American in February 1778, and openly joined them in their fight. -
marquis de lafayette
other foreign military leaders such as marquis de Lafayette also arrived to offer their help. Lafayette lobbied France for french reinforcements in 1779. -
valley forge
on June 19, 1778, exactly six months after they Americans arrived, a new army anxious to fight the British streamed out of valley forge toward new jersey. they had been transformed from rebel into a mature army. starvation, disease, malnutrition, and exposure killed more than 2,500 American soldiers by the end of February 1778. -
yorktown
shortly after learning of Cornwallis's actions. the armies of Lafayette and Washington moved south toward Yorktown. by late September, about 17,000 french and American troops surrounded the British on the Yorktown peninsula and began bombarding them day and night. less than a month later on October 19, 1781 corn walls finally surrendered. -
Treaty of paris
peace talks began in pairs in 1782. the American negotiation team included john Adams, john jay of new York, and Benjamin Franklin. in September 1783, the delegates signed the treaty of pairs, which confirmed U.S independence, and set the boundaries of the new nation.
