SSUSH4 B,C & D The American Revolution - Weebly

SSUSH4 B,C & D

The American Revolution


Divided Colonists

• The growing tension between the American Colonies and Great Britain

divided the colonists into two key factions.

• Americans who backed the British

were known as Loyalists or Tories.

• Those colonists who opposed

British rule were known as

Patriots or Whigs.

• Although both sides of the struggle were well represented in the American

Colonies, historians have estimated that about 40 to 45 percent of all

colonists supported the rebellion, while only 15 to 20 percent remained loyal

to the British Crown.


American Forces

• When the American Revolution began, the American Colonies lacked a

professional Army or Navy.

• Each of the 13 Colonies had

their own local Militia, but

were reluctant to send them

outside the borders of their

own colony.

• Colonial Militiamen were lightly

armed, had very little training, and usually did not have uniforms.


American Forces

• Seeking to improve their military efforts, the Continental Congress

established a regular army on June 14, 1775 and appointed George

Washington as Commander-in-Chief.

• At the beginning of 1776, the

Colonial Military consisted of

about 20,000 men, with 2/3

enlisted in the Continental

Army and the other 1/3 in the

various State Militias.

• About 250,000 men actually served in the colonial forces during the

eight years of the revolution, but there were never more than 90,000

serving at any one time..


British Forces

• Early in 1775, the British Army consisted of about 36,000 worldwide.

• Although the Redcoats were the most

recognizable forces during the war,

about 25,000 Loyalists served with the

British forces during the war.

• Most Loyalists troops fought alongside

the British in the same units, while

others fought in Partisan Units similar to the Patriot Militia.

• However, the British dependency on local Loyalist forces was often

influenced by the availability of supplies and regular British troops to

support them.


British Forces

• Over the course of the revolution, Great Britain signed treaties with

various German States, which supplied the British Army with about

30,000 soldiers.

• These German troops, known as

Hessians, eventually made up

about 1/3 of the total British

forces in North America.

• By 1779, the number of British and

German troops stationed in North

America was over 60,000 men.


Native Americans

• During the American Revolution, most Native Americans fought on the

side of the British in an effort to prevent Colonial expansion into their

tribal lands.

• The largest groups of Native Americans

included the Iroquois tribes in the

Northern Colonies and the Creeks and

Seminoles in the South.

African Americans

• In addition, both the British and Americans recruited African slaves

and freedmen into their colonial forces.

• Many slaves were eventually promised freedom by both sides if they

successfully completed at least one year of service during the war.

The American Revolution in the North

Battle of Lexington and Concord (19 April 1775)

• At the beginning of the war, the British Commander-

in-Chief in North America was Lieutenant General

Thomas Gates.

• Determined to seize the colonial munitions in

Massachusetts, he sent 700 British troops to the town of Concord.

• Riders like Paul Revere alerted the countryside,

which allowed 77 minutemen to greet the

British as the arrived in the town of Lexington.

• Shots were exchanged between the British

troops and colonists, killing several militiamen.


Battle of Lexington and Concord

• The British moved on to the town of

Concord, where a force of 500

colonial minutemen waited for them.

• At North Bridge, three companies of

British troops were engaged and routed by the militia.

• As the British retreated back

toward Boston, thousands of

minutemen attacked them from

behind rocks and trees, inflicting

great damage on the Redcoats.


Battle of Bunker Hill (17 Jun 1775)

• As the Colonial Militia converged on Boston, 4,500 more British

soldiers arrived by sea.

• Eventually, the British forces under

Major General William Howe attacked

the Americans at Breed’s and Bunker

Hill .

• Although the Americans fell

back, they managed to repel

three British attacks, causing

heavy British losses.


Battle for Long Island (27 Aug 1776)

• Having withdrawn his army from

Boston, British General William Howe

focused on capturing New York City.

• To defend the city, General George

Washington concentrated 20,000

colonial troops on Long Island and

Manhattan.

• After landing about 20,000 troops

on Long Island, the British drove

back the Americans to Brooklyn

Heights and laid siege to the city.


Washington’s River Crossings (Aug & Dec 1776)

• Washington personally directed the withdrawal of his entire army and

their supplies across the East River in one

night without being discovered by the British.

• By November 1776, the Continental

Army had dwindled to fewer than

5,000 men fit for duty.

• Thomas Paine, who was with the

retreating army wrote, “These are

the times that try men’s souls.”

• Realizing the situation was bleak, Washington decided to take the

offensive by secretly crossing the Delaware River on Christmas night.


Battle of Trenton (26 Dec 1776)

• After successfully crossing the

Delaware, Washington’s troops

marched on the town of Trenton.

• Arriving at 8 am, the Americans

caught the defending Hessian

troops by surprise.

• Although the Hessians put up a

strong defense, the Americans

managed to captured almost 900

enemy troops with only 7 American

casualties, boosting American morale.


Britsh Plans to Divide the Continental Forces (1777)

• When the British began planning operations for 1777, they had two

main armies in North America:

Maj. Gen. Guy Carleton’s

army in Quebec.

Maj. Gen. William Howe’s

army in New York

• The British Government in

London approved two primary

campaigns:

Carleton’s Saratoga Campaign. Howe’s Philadelphia Campaign.


Battle of Saratoga (19 Sep & 7 Oct 1777)

• The British sent a force of about 7,000 soldiers from Quebec toward

New York under Brigadier General John Burgoyne.

• American General Horatio Gates

had a force of about 8,000 men

entrenched just south of Saratoga.

• Unfortunately, Burgoyne’s attempt

to outflank the American’s failed.

• In addition, Burgoyne expected to be

re-enforced by General Howe from New York, which never occurred.

• The defeat of Burgoyne’s British forces proved to the French that the

American’s were worthy allies and was the turning point of the war.


Battle of Brandywine (11 Sept 1777)

• Having secured New York City, General Howe landed 15,000 troops

near Chesapeake Bay and marched toward the city of Philadelphia.

• General Washington positioned his

11,000 men between the advancing

British and Philadelphia.

• Unfortunately, the colonial forces

were outflanked by British and

Hessian troops and forced to

retreat.

• As a result of Washington’s failure to stop the British advance, the

Continental Congress abandoned Philadelphia by September 26th.


Valley Forge (Dec 1777 – Apr 1778)

• Washington’s army established a winter

encampment at Valley Forge in Dec 1777.

• For six months, the undernourished and

poorly clothed soldiers lived in crowded,

damp, quarters, ravished by sickness and

disease.

• However, while in Valley Forge,

the Continental Army received

extensive military training

supervised by Baron Friedrich

von Steuben of Prussia.


The American Allies

• Since 1776, France had been informally

involved in the American Revolution by

providing supplies, ammunition, and guns.

• However, after learning of the American victory at Saratoga, France

signed a treaty of alliance with the United States on 6 Feb 1778,

formalizing the Franco-American alliance negotiated by Benjamin Franklin.

• In addition, Spain had also secretly supplied patriot forces in the mid-west

and eventually allowed American Ships the use of the port of Havana, Cuba.

• Likewise, many weapons and barrels of gunpowder were secretly shipped

from the Dutch Republic to American ports during the length of the war.

The American Revolution in the South

Savannah and Charleston (Dec 1778 – May 1780)

• On 29 Dec 1778, a British expeditionary

force from New York landed in Georgia

and captured the port city of Savannah.

• On 9 Oct 1779, a combined force of

American and French troops were

defeated trying to retake Savannah.

• Finally, on 12 May 1780, British forces

besieged Charleston, South Carolina,

capturing the city and most of the

southern Continental Army in the process.

The American Revolution in the South

Battle of Camden (16 Aug 1780)

• By May 1780, Lord Cornwallis was the British commander of operations

in the south, while General Horatio Gates arrived to command the

American forces.

• Unfortunately, General Gates

attempted to meet the British

forces face to face on the

open battlefield.

• As a result, the American Militia broke

ranks and fled from the battlefield,

followed closely by General Gates.


Battle of King’s Mountain (7 Oct 1780)

• In Sept 1780, British Major Patrick Ferguson arrived

in America to organize the Loyalist militia in the

Carolinas .

• A challenge issued by Ferguson against

the patriot militia in the Carolinas

caused backcountry frontiersmen to

rally against the British.

• These militiamen from Virginia, North

Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and

Georgia were organized into a force

known as the “Overmountain Men.”


Battle of King’s Mountain (7 Oct 1780)

• Receiving intelligence that a force of

militia was approaching, Ferguson

tried to reach the safety of the

British camp of Lord Cornwallis .

• Instead, Ferguson’s loyalists were

surprised and surrounded by the

“Overmountain Men” along the border

between North and South Carolina.

• As a result, Ferguson was killed and

most of his soldiers were either

killed or captured.


Battle of Cowpens (17 Jan 1781)

• Brig. Gen. Daniel Morgan took command of the

American forces in South Carolina in December 1780.

• Using his knowledge of British

tactics and the American Militia’s

lack of discipline, he was able to

draw the British forces into battle.

• This result of the battle was a

decisive American Victory.

//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/DanielMorgan.jpeg


Battle of Guilford Courthouse (15 Mar 1781)

• Gen. Nathaniel Greene, who had replaced

Gen. Gates, was ready to meet the British

forces under Lord Cornwallis by Mar 1781.

• Although the battle lasted only ninety

minutes and the British technically

defeated the American forces, the British

lost over a quarter of their own men.

• Greene had chosen to withdraw from

the battlefield to prevent a repeat of

the American loss at Camden, while

Cornwallis declined to chase the

Americans into the Carolina backcountry.


Battle of Yorktown (28 Sep – 19 Oct 1781)

• The Northern and Southern campaigns

converged at Yorktown, Virginia in 1781.

• Cornwallis had been ordered to occupy

a fortified position that could be easily

resupplied from the sea.

• Expecting the arrival of the French fleet from the West Indies,

Washington moved a combined Franco-American force of about 19,000

men toward Yorktown .

• After several days of siege, Cornwallis

decided it was time to surrender,

bringing an end to the war.

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SSUSH4 B,C & D The American Revolution - Weebly