Level 2

Vocabulary Turncoat: a traitor

Loyalist: someone who was loyal to the King

Terrain: landforms

Guerrilla warfare: a type of military action using small mobile irregular forces to carry out surprise attacks against hostile regular forces

Enlist: to join the military

Hessian: hired mercenary used by Britain from the area of what is now Germany

Essential Questions What was the military course of the Revolutionary

War?

What role did leadership, commitment, and luck play in the American victory over the British?

Strategies of the Principal Military Engagements

Washington’s leadership

George Washington was made commander and chief of the Continental Army

Video Clip

http://www.history.com/shows/america-the-story-of-us/videos/george-washington?m=518971d79ac04

Strategies of the Principal Military Engagements

Evolution of the war from the North to the South: Lexington, Concord and the Battle of Bunker Hill

British sent troops to get military supplies that the colonial militia was storing.

Paul Revere, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott and an outnumbered amount of minutemen were waiting at Lexington on April 19th.

British killed 5 colonists The British moved onto Concord and

then retreated to Boston under heavy fire British had 250 casualties; 73 fatalities British occupied Boston for 11 months;

surrounded by the militia June 17 British beat the colonists in the

Battle of Bunker Hill (Breed’s Hill)

Strategies of the Principal Military EngagementsEvolution of the war from the North to the South: Trenton

General George Washington vs. Colonel Rahl

Trenton, NJ on the Delaware River

2,400 American troops, 18 guns vs. 1,400 Hessians, 6 guns

Washington and 3 regiments crossed the Delaware River on Dec. 25 in a surprise attack

American victory

Who else was there? James Madison

James Monroe

John Marshall

Aaron Burr

Alexander Hamilton

Washington crossing the Delaware River

Battle in the Streets of Trenton

General Washington leading the Attack on Trenton

The surrender to General George Washington of the dying Hessian commander, Colonel Rahl, at the Battle of Trenton

Strategies of the Principal Military EngagementsEvolution of the war from the North to the South: Battle of Saratoga

The British Plan: End the war in 1777 General John Burgoyne was to march troops from

Montreal down the Hudson River General St. Leger take troops from Lake Ontario to the

Hudson River General Howe was to march from NYC

What went wrong? St. Leger’s troops retreated to Canada Howe took his troops to Philadelphia following

Washington Burgoyne’s army reached Saratoga, north of Albany, and

were surrounded by the troops led by General Horatio Gates and was forced to surrender

Effects: Turning point in the war Convinced French to enter the war as an ally to the United

States.

Video Clip http://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/american-revolution-history/videos/battle-of-saratoga-turns-the-tide-of-the-american-revolution

General Burgoyne surrenders to General Gates

Strategies of the Principal Military Engagements

Evolution of the war from the North to the South: Battle of Saratoga

Benedict Arnold: Colonial General who won at Lake Champlain and helped Ethan Allen take Fort Ticonderoga.

Hero of the Battle of Saratoga

Turncoat who joined the British

Plan and Failure: Give his own keys to West Point, site of the

U.S. army, to Britain's Major John Andre and join the British Army.

Result:

Andre was captured and hanged.

Arnold escaped and actually commanded British troops later in the war.

He died in Britain, unrecognized and alone

Strategies of the Principal Military Engagements

Evolution of the war from the North to the South

Sir Henry Clinton

Howe was replaced by Sir Henry Clinton

British troops moved from Philadelphia to NJ and fought in a battle against Washington at Monmouth

Britain attacked and took Savannah, Atlanta and Charleston and they captured 5,500 American troops

The French Navy on the coast began to present a problem for the British

Strategies of the Principal Military EngagementsEvolution of the war from the North to the South: Yorktown 1781

Americans began to win battles against the British in the South

Britain only held NYC and a few Southern ports General Cornwallis took his troops to VA on the

coast so that the British could support him between the York and James River

Washington moved from NYC with 7,000 troops

VA troops under Lafayette and 3,000 French regulars brought by the French fleet moved into VA

Cornwallis couldn’t retreat inland Admiral de Grasse and his French fleet arrived

and brought more troops and prevented the British navy from helping Cornwallis with reinforcements, supplies or escape by the sea.

Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, 1781

Role of the LoyalistsColonists of Nova Scotia, Quebec, and Prince Edward Island did not join the Revolution

Refuge for Loyalists: about 40,000 loyalists went North due to being chased out, fined, jailed and even from the threat of being killed

Staging ground for attacks on New York’s patriots as in the Battle of Saratoga

The Outcome of the War was Influenced by Many Factors

Geography

Importance of various physical features Colonist knew the territory 3,000 miles away from Britain

so it was hard to supply them with enough military power to occupy key cities after they were won

Colonists were defending their own towns, homes and families

Terrain: rocky and cold in New England, buggy and humid in the South, impassable forests and mountain in the West

The Outcome of the War was Influenced by Many Factors

Allocation of Resources and Advantages

Britain

Financial

Trained and disciplined troops

Control of the Seas

Colonies

Superior officers

Aid and money, supplies, troops and naval support from France

Defending their own homes and new terrain

Marquis de Lafayette

The Outcome of the War was Influenced by Many Factors

Disadvantages

Britain

Hard to supply troops

Vast area to fight in

Adjusting to guerilla-type warfare

Fighting other enemies like France, Holland, and Spain

Cutting off flow of aid from their allies

Colonies

Lack of central government authority

No sound financial system

No power to tax

Tories supporting the British

Raise and maintain the Continental Army

The Outcome of the War was Influenced by Many Factors

Foreign Aid

Baron Von Steuben

French sent Naval Power and troops as well as funding for the Revolutionary War

Lafayette of France

Von Steuben of Prussia: trained troops at Valley Forge

Kosciusko and Pulaski of Poland

The Outcome of the War was Influenced by Many FactorsRole of Women, African Americans and Native American Indians

Margaret Corbin: manned artillery during the attack on Fort Washington when her husband fell by her side. She took his place and performed his duties. In 1779 the Congress awarded her a pension for her heroism.

Molly Pitcher: (possibly a myth) she brought water to soldiers on the battlefield

Nancy Hart: (possibly a myth) patriot who killed British soldiers in her cabin in Georgia.

Lydia Darragh: warned the colonists that the British were planning an attack at Whitemarsh, PA

Peter Salem: African American slave who gained his freedom after he enlisted in the Continental Army. He fought at Concord and then in Bunker Hill where it is thought that he may have killed the first British soldier who happened to be a Major.

Joseph Brant: Mohawk chief who rallied and led other Native Americans to join the British cause.

Molly Pitcher

Margaret Corbin

Nancy Hart

Lydia Darragh

Peter Salem

Joseph Brant

The Outcome of the War Influenced by Many Factors

Haphazard Occurrences of Events: the Human Factor

Washington's decision to attack on the Hessians in Trenton, New Jersey on the night of December 25. This attack caught the Hessians off guard. Rahl chose not to build defenses, even though told to and chose to ignore reports that the Americans were coming. The note sent to him was found in his coat after death.

The failed British attack on Albany because St. Leger was defeated at Fort Stanwix and General Howe didn’t adhere to General Burgoyne's request for troops from NYC. Led to the American win at Saratoga.

Cornwallis was defeated at Yorktown because he refused to send troops to New York as ordered by Sir Henry Clinton.

Benedict Arnold's decision to join the British.

St. LegerCornwallis

The Outcome of the War was Influenced by Many Factors

Clash between colonial authority and Second Continental Congress

2nd Continental Congress had no given legal authority to govern but it still appointed ambassadors signed treaties raised armies appointed generals obtained loans from Europe issued paper money (called "Continentals") disbursed funds

It had no right to levy taxes had to request money supplies, and troops from

colonial states to support the war effort. Colonial states often ignored the requests

because not everyone was represented and the delegates and state legislatures had no authority to give power to a national government.

The Outcome of the War was Influenced by Many Factors

Clash Between Colonial Authority and Second Continental Congress

Delegates did not have power to pass the Declaration of Independence so Congress passed a resolution recommending that any colony without a revolutionary government should form one, May 10, 1776. May 15 Congress adopted a more radical

preamble to the resolution, drafted by John Adams. It advised throwing off oaths of allegiance to decrease the authority of Britain in any colonial government.

May 15, Virginia Convention instructed its delegates to propose a resolution that called for a declaration of independence, the formation of foreign alliances, and a confederation of the states.

The resolution of independence was delayed for several weeks as delegates had to get approval from their own colonial governments.

The Outcome of the War was Influenced by Many Factors

Clash between colonial authority and Second Continental Congress

Treaty of Paris: Continental Congress didn’t want a

separate peace with Britain because the agreement with France stated that the US would fight Britain until France stopped. The French had made an agreement with Spain not to stop fighting Britain until Spain stopped.

John Jay, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin signed a treaty anyway in Sept. of 1782 with favorable terms for the US.

Individual States ignored Federal recommendations to restore confiscated Loyalist property and they: confiscated Loyalist property for "unpaid

debts" like VA, kept laws against payment of

debts to British creditors

Essential Questions What was the military course of the Revolutionary

War?

What role did leadership, commitment, and luck play in the American victory over the British?