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Victory for Americans
The Americans were railled by another astonishing victory against 1,200 British stationed at Princeton. Encouraged by these victories, Washington marched his army into winter camp near Morristown, in northern New Jersey. -
Secret Tools
Still bitter from their defeat by the British in the French and Indian war, the French had secretly sent weapons to the Patriots. -
Joining Forces
General William Howe and Admiral Richard Howe, joined forces on Staten Island and sailed into the New York Harbor. -
The Struggle
The battle for New York ended in late this August with an American Retreat following heavy losses. Michael Graham, a Contintenal Army volunteer, decribed the chaotic withdrawl. -
The trap
By late fall, around this time, The British has pushed Washington's army across the Deleware River into Pennsylvania. A majority of Washington's men had either been deserted, killed, or captured. -
Washington's risk
Washington resolved to risk everything. Even with a strong storm, he led 2,400 men in small rowboats across the ice-choked Deleware River .The men had marched nine miles through the snow to Trenton, New Jersey held by a garrison of Hesslians. -
The ending
Fewer than 8,000 men remained under Washington's command, and the terms of their enlistment were due to end. Washington needed a way to keep his men from leaving and just going home. -
The American Capital
In the Spring, General Howe began his campaign to seize the American capital at Philidelphia. -
Sailing to Victory
General Howe's troops sailed from New York to the head of Chesapeake Bay, and landed near the Capital. The Continental Congress fled the city while Washington's troops unsuccessfuly tryed to block the redcoats at nearby Brandywine Creek. The British captured Philly. -
Surrender
Massed American troops finally surrounded Burgoyne at Saratoga, where he surrendered his battered army to General Gates. -
Struggling Toward Saratoga
Ablbigense Waldo worked as a surgeon at Vallery Forge outside Philly. -
Treaty Of Cooperation
The French recognized American independence and signed an alliance with the Americans. -
Tranformation
In the midst of the frozen winter at Vallery Forge, American troops began an amazing transformation. The continental army was becoming an effective fighting force. -
The British Move South
In the summer, the British began to shift their operations to the South. There, the British hoped to rally Loyalist support, reclaim their former colonies in the region, and then slowly fight their way back north. -
Early British Success In The South
A British expedition easily took Savannah and George. -
Layayette and the French
Marquis de Layfayette joind Washington's staff and bore the misery of Vallery Forge, lobbied for the French reinforcements in France and led a command in Virginia in the last years of the war. -
Early British Success In The South
A royal governor once again commanded Georgia. -
Early British Success In The South
General Henry Clinton, who has replaced Howe in New York, along with the ambitious General, Charles Cornwallis sailed south with 8,500 men. -
The British Surrender at Yorktown
A French army of 6,000 had landed in Newport, Rhode Island, after the British left the city to focus on the South. -
Early British Success In The South
In their greatest victory of the war, the British captured Charles Town, South Carolina and marched 5,500 American soldiers off as prisioners of war. -
Early British Success In the South
For most of 1780, Cornwallis succeeded. As the redcoats advanced, they were joined by thousands of African Americans who had escaped from Patriot slave owners to join the British and win their freedom. -
The Defeat
Washington ordered Nathaniel Greene, his ablest general, to march south and harass Cornwallis as he retreated. Cornwallis in turn sent Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton and his troops to pursue Morgan's soldiers. -
British Losses In 1781
When forces met at Cowpens, the British expected the outnumbered Americans to flee; but the Continental amry fought back, and forced the redcoats to surrender. -
British Losses in 1781
Angered by the defeat at Cowpens, COrnwallis attacked Greene two months later at Guilford Court House, North Carolina. Cornwallis won the battle but the victory cost him nearly a fourth of his troops. -
British Losses in 1781
Greene has weakened the British, but he worried about the fight for the South. He wrote a letter to Lafayette, asking for help. -
Congress
The Congress appointed a rich Philidelphia merchant name Robert Morris as a superintendent of finance. -
Financing the war
Morris, a superintendent in Finance and his associate, Haym Salomon, raised fund s to provide salaries for the Continental Army, which was finally paid in specie, or gold coin. -
Victory at Yorktown
When Lafayette's troops outnumbered by more than two to one and exhausted from constant shelling, Cornwallis finally raised the white flag of surrender. -
British Surrender
Colonel William Fontaine of the Virginia militia stood with the American and French armies lining a road near Yorktown,Virginia,to witness the formal British surrender. -
Victory at Yorktown
A truimphant Washington, the French generals, and their troops assembled to accept the British surrender. -
Seeking Peace
The delegated signed the Treaty Of Paris, which confirmed U.S independence and set the boundaries of the new nation.