Revolutionary War Founding Fury
Founding Fury The Spirit of 1776 unleashed irreconcilable passions and bloody conflicts. The Revolutionary War was America s longest declared war, lasting over eight years and with an appalling death toll. Of a population about 2.5 million, some 30,000 soldiers perished. Of those who served in the Continental Army, one in four died. One American male in sixteen of military age died. One in four British soldiers, German mercenaries and American Loyalist soldiers perished. Over 50,000 died fighting for the British.
The Improbable How did inexperienced, poorly trained forces of an infant nation made up of thirteen independent and mutually jealous states defeat the world s greatest power? American marksmanship? Unfamiliar New World guerrilla tactics? British blunders? French aid? Washington s leadership and soldiers valor?
Lexington-Concord
Quell The Rebellion At first the British believed they could crush the resistance with a swift demonstration of force at Boston. At the Battle of Bunker Hill (June 17, 1775) the British attempted to demonstrate invincibility by assaulting untrained militia on Breed s Hill. Although the British captured the hill, they did so after incurring high casualties. The rebels showed that the Revolution would not end with one swift stroke.
Battle of Bunker Hill
General Washington George Washington s extraordinary leadership and courage helped win independence. As Edmund S. Morgan writes, Washington s genius lay in his understanding of power. He clearly understood that he had to keep his small force concentrated and mobile in order to defeat the British. His influence helped prevent the Continental Army from disintegrating.
General Washington
Trenton And Princeton After the Battle of Long Island and the British occupation of New York City, Washington and the Continental Army narrowly escaped with General Howe in pursuit. Washington s army retreated across New Jersey and headed toward Pennsylvania. Washington boldly decided to cross the Delaware River from Pennsylvania to New Jersey to attack the Hessians at Trenton on December 26, 1776 and a British main force near Princeton on January 3, 1777.
The Crossing
Underestimation Howe defeated Washington in nearly every engagement and occupied cities such as Philadelphia, but the British failed to subdue the countryside. In an attempt to cut off New England from the rest of the colonies, General Burgoyne left Canada to invade New York via Lake Champlain and the Hudson River Valley. The British underestimated civilian hostility and suffered from lack of supplies. The American victory at Saratoga was a turning point because it helped to win an alliance with France. The British failed to pacify American civilians. British misconduct turned civilians into Patriots.
Battle of Saratoga
Battle of Germantown
South In 1778 the war shifted southward as the British sought to mobilize the support of the many Loyalists. In May of 1780 Clinton captured Charleston. The countryside was divided bitterly between the Loyalists and Patriots. Banastre Tarleton ravaged the populace with his brutal tactics, turning increasing numbers of civilians into Patriots. Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox, skillfully used guerrilla tactics to harass the British. Without winning a single battle, Nathanael Greene s forces helped to push Cornwallis northward by inflicting heavy casualties. Acting on orders from London, Clinton and Cornwallis moved to the Chesapeake Bay in an attempt to sever Greene s lines of communication and to disrupt the tobacco trade.
Yorktown After some skirmishing, Cornwallis occupied Yorktown on August 1, 1781. Washington took advantage of the French Fleet commanded by Admiral Comt de Grasse and an expeditionary force under Comte de Rochambeau as he trapped Cornwallis. American forces under Marquis de Lafayette laid siege to Cornwallis s encampment. Faced with relentless pressure and bad weather, Cornwallis elected to surrender on October 19, 1781. The defeat at Yorktown ended British desires to prosecute the war. Yorktown turned out to be the final major action of the war
Siege
Treaty of Paris John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay successfully negotiated a favorable peace. Recognition of American independence Fishing access to the Grand Banks Size of nation doubled with western boundary at the Mississippi River Agreed not to block creditors from seeking to recover debts U.S. agreed to end persecution of Loyalists and to restore their confiscated property.
Peace of Paris
Bibliography Alden, John R. A History Of The American Revolution. New York: Da Capo Press, 1969. Bushman, Richard L. Revolution. In: The Reader s Companion To American History. Edited by Eric Foner and John Garraty. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1988. pp. 939-942. Ferling, John. Almost A Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. Morgan, Edmund S. The Genius of George Washington. New York: W.W. Norton, 1980. Royster, Charles. A Revolutionary People At War: The Continental Army and American Character, 1775-1783. Wilmington: University of North Carolina Press, 1980.