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Paul Revere's Ride
On this night Paul Revere and two others rode through norhter Massachusetts warning people of the apprach of the Britsh soldiers. This helped the militia prepare to fight them the next day. -
Battle of Lexington and Concord
British troops were marching to Concord to remove military supplies from colonial hands. Colonial militia stopped them once in Lexington but were quickly defeated by the British. Then at Concord the British were met by a larger militia force and held up at th Old North Bridge. The militia had an upper hand and forced the British to retreat back to Boston. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
The Americans had set up fortifications on Bunker Hill. This made the British nervous because it was a highly strategic position where they could see the British from both land and sea. The British attacked the hill twice before finally on the third try the Americans began running low on supplies and were forced to retreat. -
Capture of Montreal
Americans under the command of George Washington, decided to invade Canada in hopes of sparking more rebellion against the British rule there. -
Assault on Quebec
Two American forces moved to take Quebec. Benedict Arnold's force of 1,100 men left from Boston and arrived t Quebec first with only 600 men left. City only had 100 defenders so Arnold decided to try attacking but he failed. He waited for the reinforcements from General Montgomery. They both attacked but Montgomery was killed and Arnold was wounded and they were forced to withdraw. In early 1776, more British troops came and forced the Americans back to Ticonderoga. -
British Leave Boston
The British finally leave from Boston and retreat to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in Canada. -
British Fleet Arrives in New York
Rear Admiral Richard Howe, commander of all British naval forces was sent to invade New York City. Along with him was his brother, General William Howe, who was in command of a large force of troops, almost a third Hessian mercenaries. -
British Set up Camp at Staten Island
On this day, General Howe landed on Staten Island and began to make it his base for the assault on New York City. -
Declaration of Independance is Signed
In Philadelphia, representatives from all the colonies signed the Declaration of Independance. This officially seperated the colonies from Britain and made them into their own country, the United States of America. -
Battle of Long Island
The British had been moving troops from Staten to Long Island for the past 5 days and over 20,000 troops were now in Brooklyn. Washington sent 10,000 men to slow the British while he prepared in Manhatten. 300 Americans were killed and 1,400 were captured or missing while British losses were under 400. Three days later the Americans moved back to Manhatten to join up with Washington. -
British Arrive in Manhatten
Howe and his men landed in Manhatten and Washington withdrew realizing there was no way the Americans could successfully defend New York City. -
Battle of White Plains
After withdrawning from Manhatten, Washington set up his men on high ground near the village of White Plains. General Howe ordered an attack that killed around 280 men and drove the Continental Army from the field. He missed his chance to end Washington's army by not following, but instead setting up artillery on the high ground. -
Battle of Trenton
After a difficult winter in Valley Forge, Washington and his men crossed the Delaware River on Christmas Day. They moved to Trenton and on the morning of the 26th attacked. They caught the enemy completely off guard and killed 100 men taking around 900 others prisoner. By noon they'd crossed back over the Delaware. -
Battle of Princeton
Washington decided to have one more victory before ceasing operations for the winter. Him and his men once again crossed the Delaware on December 30th and eventually made it up to Princeton, New Jersey. They inflicted 500 more casualties and forced the British out of southern New Jersey. This reenergized the Revolution, and brought in 8,000 new recruits in the coming months. -
Battle of Fort Ticonderoga
General John Burgoyne needed to get to Albany. To do this, he had to pass the obstacle of Fort Ticonderoga, which was held by 3,500 Continental troops. The British moved their cannons to a nearby mountain called Sugar Loaf. The Continental commander at Ticonderoga realized they could fire inside the fort and ordered an evacuation. The British took the fort with no resistance. -
Seige of Fort Stanwix Begins
British general, Barry St. Leger, and a force of 2,000 men, roughly half of which were Iroqois Indians laid seige to Fort Stanwix. Two days later the destroyed a force of 800 militia coming to relieve the fort. -
Seige of Fort Stanwix Ends
Many of St. Leger's Indian soldiers deserted after waiting too long for orders. Benedict Arnold, who could only assemble 100 men to relieve the fort decided to have agents spread a rumor that his force was enormous. Eventually St. Leger believed the rumor and lifted the seige. -
Battle of Brandywine
Howe's troops were moving towards Pennsylvania and Philadelphia in particular. Washington had his army of 11,000 troops set up a defensive line. Instead of a direct attak though, Howe divided his men sending only 5,000 directly to Washington. The 12,000 he had move to the flank and in a couple hours Washington was forced to retreat. -
First Battle of Saratoga
Benedict Arnold was able to hold off the first British attack at Saratoga. The British then dug entrenchments in hopes of reinforcements coming form New York City. -
British take Philadelphia
After the Continental defeat at Brandywine, nothing stood between the British and Pennsylvania. The Continental Congress new they would be coming to Philadelphia and evacuated to York, Pennsylvania. On September 26, General Howe and his men came into the American capital unopposed. -
Second Battle of Saratoga
British reinforcements never arrive and the British make another attack, but were easily defeated. The Americans then made a counter-attack that drove the British from the field and into the town of Saratoga. -
General Howe Surrenders
General Howe realized that he could not win with the 6,000 men under his command. He began negotiations of surrender and on this date he and his trooops laid down their arms. The battle is considering the turning point in the American Revolution and convinced France that the USA had a chance of winning. -
Battle of Monmouth
After being trained by a former Prussian general, the Continental Army had become a fierce fighting force. Washington decided to attack the British on their march from Philadelphia back to New York and they met at Monmouth in New Jersey. In the end the British lost almost 12,00 men and the Americans lost less than 500. This was the largest battle of the Revolution and the last major battle in the northern theater.