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Prelude to War
The colony of Massachusetts was seen by King George III and his ministers as the hotbed of disloyalty. After the Boston Tea Party (December 16, 1773), Parliament responded with the Intolerable Acts (1774), a series of punitive measures that were intended to cow the restive population into obedience. -
Paul Revere’s ride and the Battles of Lexington and Concord
On April 16 Revere rode to Concord, a town 20 miles (32 km) northwest of Boston, to advise local compatriots to secure their military stores in advance of British troop movements. Two nights later Revere rode from Charlestown to Lexington to warn that the British were on the march. -
The Siege of Boston and the Battle of Bunker Hill
Rebel militia then converged on Boston from all over New England, while London attempted to formulate a response. Generals Sir William Howe, Sir Henry Clinton, and John Burgoyne were dispatched at once with reinforcements, and Charles Cornwallis followed later. -
Washington takes command
On July 3 Washington assumed command of the American forces at Cambridge. Not only did he have to contain the British in Boston, but he also had to recruit a Continental army. During the winter of 1775–76 recruitment lagged so badly that fresh drafts of militia were called up to help maintain the siege. The balance shifted in late winter, when Gen. Henry Knox arrived with artillery from Fort Ticonderoga in New York. -
The Battle for New York
Having made up its mind to crush the rebellion, the British government sent General Howe and his brother, Richard, Admiral Lord Howe, with a large fleet and 34,000 British and German troops to New York. It also gave the Howes a commission to treat with the Americans. -
The Surrender at Saratoga and French involvement
Britain’s strategy in 1777 aimed at driving a wedge between New England and the other colonies. An army under Gen. John Burgoyne was to march south from Canada and join forces with Howe on the Hudson. But Howe seems to have concluded that Burgoyne was strong enough to operate on his own and left New York in the summer, taking his army by sea to the head of Chesapeake Bay. Washington struck back at Germantown on October 4 but, compelled to withdraw, went into winter quarters at Valley Forge. -
Land Campaigns From 1778
Meanwhile, the Americans at Valley Forge survived a hungry winter, which was made worse by quartermaster and commissary mismanagement, graft of contractors, and unwillingness of farmers to sell produce for paper money. Order and discipline among the troops were improved by the arrival of the Freiherr von Steuben, a Prussian officer in the service of France. Steuben instituted a training program in which he emphasized drilling by officers, marching in column, and using firearms more effectively. -
Setbacks in the North
With a company of volunteers, Clark captured Kaskaskia, the chief post in the Illinois country, on July 4, 1778, and later secured the submission of Vincennes. The latter was recaptured by Gen. Henry Hamilton, the British commander at Detroit, but, in the spring of 1779, Clark raised another force and retook Vincennes from Hamilton. That expedition did much to free the frontier from Indian raids, gave the Americans a hold upon the northwest, and encouraged expansion into the Ohio valley.