Early Defeats

-British capture all major colonial cities

New York

Philadelphia

Boston

Charleston

-Washington’s army in retreat and many desert

Patriot Victories

-a few victories helped keep morale up

-Dec. 1776 at Trenton

Jan. 1777 at Princeton

Turning Point

-large British force defeated at Saratoga Oct. 1777

-kept British near the coastline

-helped colonists get French help in the war effort

-turning point of the war

Valley Forge

-camp site of Washington’s army during winter of 1777-78.

-British forces occupied nearby cities

-many soldiers died of cold and starvation

-Congress struggled to gain supplies for the army

-lack of central gov’t

Civilian Life

-inflation

-shortage of goods

-women took over the work of men

-some women helped the military effort

Foreign Help

-foreign military leaders offered professional training for the army

-Friedrich von Steuben

Prussian officer who trained patriot soldiers

-Marquis de Lafayette

led volunteer army from France

Southern Campaign

-British strategy changed to splitting the colonies

-Charleston

captured by Cornwallis

-Kings Mtn

Patriot

-Cowpens

Patriot

War’s End

-Guilford Courthouse

costly British victory

-retreat to Yorktown

-surrounded by French and Americans

-Cornwallis surrenders Oct, 1781

Treaty of Paris

-Treaty of Paris 1783

-recognized U.S. independence

-set boundaries to the Mississippi

-some provisions of the treaty will lead to trouble later

Symbol to the World

-liberty

-freedom

-equality

-opportunity

-belief in a greater cause

-set a precedent for the American future