War for Independence Timeline

By gaalvare

  • British Parliament declares Massachusetts to be in rebellion.

  • Battles of Lexington and Concord

  • First Session of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia

  • Patriots capture Fort Ticonderoga in New York

  • Congress establishes the Continental Army

  • Congress appoints George Washington Commander-in-Chief

  • Battle of Bunker Hill in Massachusetts

  • George Washington takes command of the Continental Army

  • Louis XVI sends Julien Achard de Bonvouloir to America on a fact-finding mission

  • George III issues a proclamation declaring the Americans to be in a state of open rebellion

  • Continental Congress appoints a Secret Committee to import gunpowder, musket locks, and arms

  • Congress founds Continental Navy

  • Julien-Alexandre Achard de Bonvouloir sends glowing report detailing the Secret Committee of Correspondence to Paris

  • Silas Deane receives instructions and list of supplies needed from France for the American war effort

  • Crown forces evacuate Boston

  • Louis XVI decides to provide funding to the Americans via the trading company of Roderigue Hortalez & Co. Soon after makes 1 million livres in cash available.

  • Independence resolution first introduced in Congress

  • Spain matches France's one million livres to American rebels

  • Congress ratifies the Declaration of Independence

  • Hessian troops begin to disembarked on Staten Island

  • Benjamin Franklin sets sail for France from Philadelphia

  • Battle of White Plains in New York

  • Crown forces occupy Newport

  • Second Battle of Trenton in New Jersey

  • Lafayette and de Kalb arrive

  • Battle of Brandywine in Pennsylvania

  • Battle of Germantown in Pennsylvania

  • John Adams appointed to replace Silas Deane in Paris

  • American representatives in Paris sign a "Treaty of Amity and Friendship" and a secret "Treaty of Alliance" with France

  • Continental Army at Valley Forge celebrates French alliance

  • Battle of Monmouth in New Jersey

  • British capture Savannah in Georgia

  • Continental Army enters winter quarters at Morristown , New Jersey

  • Battle of Spencer's Ordinary in Virginia

  • Rochambeau's infantry begins its march from Virginia to Boston