The Revolutionary War

 

Overview

Few foreign observers thought that the American Revolutionaries could win a war against the world’s greatest empire – Great Britain. In fact, the Americans lost most of the battles of the Revolutionary War. Nonetheless they ended up winning the war due to the tenacity of the Patriots, the peculiar difficulties facing the British as they tried to conduct a far-flung campaign thousands of miles away from home and maintain the rest of their empire at the same time. Also assistance from the French and Spanish would prove to be significant.

 

The War secured American Independence, generated a new sense of nationalism, upset traditional class and social relationships, and began a process of social definition and change.

 

British Confidence

The British expected an easy victory. They were full of confidence as the rulers of a powerful empire whose troops had proven themselves in battle around the world. They believed the professionalism and experience of their troops would enable them to prevail over the ill equipped and ragtag Continental Army and militiamen of America.

 

By mid August 1776 British General William Howe, with the support of his older brother Admiral Richard, Lord Howe, had some 32,000 men at his disposal. This was the largest single force ever mustered by the British in the eighteenth century.

 

Washington Retreats

Washington, Head of the Continental Army, had about 30,000 men at this time. Washington was not the most brilliant of Generals. During his first experience as a commander during the French and Indian War he had been a complete failure. His patriotism was enhanced by the bitterness he felt towards the British Military stemming from his inability win promotion during his period of service before the Revolution. Nonetheless, he was renown for his eminence of character and became an inspiring leader of the American troops during periods of near desperation.

 

In New York Washington exposed his men to entrapments from which they escaped only by luck and the excessive caution of the British under Howe. Howe inflicted heavy losses and Washington was forced to retreat from New York, across New Jersey, over the Delaware River, and into Pennsylvania.

 

The Crisis

American morale suffered greatly, but was lifted some by Thomas Paine’s pamphlet The Crisis. The pamphlet included the immortal lines:

 

“These are times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this time of crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered. Yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”

 

The pamphlet was ordered read in American army camps.

 

Howe stayed on in New York to wait out the winter instead of moving to bring the rebellion to a speedy end.

 

The campaigns of 1776 ended, after repeated defeats, with two minor victories that inspired the Patriot cause.

 

Washington Crosses the Delaware

On Christmas night 1776 Washington slipped across the icy Delaware with 2,400 men. Near dawn at Trenton the Americans surprised a garrison of 1,500 Hessians (German mercenaries) befuddled from too much holiday rum. Only 500 royal soldiers escaped death or capture. Washington only lost 6 men. On January 3 the Americans repelled three regiments of British redcoats at nearby Trenton. These successes rallied the troops and gave Patriots hope that they could win.

 

British Setbacks

The year 1777 was a year of setbacks for the British. Divided counsel, overconfidence, poor communications, and indecision plagued British planning for the campaigns of 1777. The British changed their generals on several occasions. British General Burgoyne experienced disaster at Saratoga, abruptly ending his plan to cut off New England from the rest of the states. Howe failed to send an expedition up the Hudson River to reinforce Burgoyne.  Burgoyne was then forced to surrendered nearly 6,000 troops on October 17, 1777 when he was surrounded by Patriots led by Horatio Gates, a favorite of the New Englanders.

 

Where are the Loyalists?

The British were continually frustrated by the failure of Loyalists to materialize in strength and by the collapse of Loyalist militia units once British regulars pulled out.

 

One British officer was disheartened by “the licentiousness of the troops, who committed every act of rapine and plunder” and thereby converted potential friends into enemies. British and Hessian regulars, brought up in a hard school of warfare, tended to treat all civilians as hostile. Loyalist militiamen attacked rebel sympathizers, prodding them to join the Patriot militias.

 

The inability of the British to use Loyalists as pacification troops led them to abandon areas once they had conquered them. Patriot militias would quickly return once the British left. Loyalists then had to make a difficult choice. They could follow the British and leave their property to be confiscated or stay and await the wrath of the Patriots.

 

The British policy of offering slaves their freedom in exchange for their loyalty and even arming some of them to fight the Patriots alienated a large number of neutral and even Tory planters in the South.

 

Patriot Militias

The Patriot Militia sprang to life wherever the redcoats appeared nearby. Under state law all adult white males, with few exceptions, were obligated to serve. The militiamen served two purposes. They constituted a home guard defending their own communities, and they also helped the Continental army.

 

In the backcountry the militia engaged in frontier fighting. Typically dressed in hunting shirts and armed with muskets with long grooved barrels, they preferred to ambush their opponents or fight in hand to hand combat rather than fight in traditional formations. They also tended to kill unnecessarily and torture prisoners. They materialized when the British appeared, but then evaporated back into the countryside when they were gone because they had chores to do at home.

 

Washington said of the militia, “They come in, you cannot tell how, go you cannot tell when, and act you can not tell where, consume your provisions, exhaust your stores, and leave you at the critical moment.” Green troops would panic at the sight of British regulars. Often they were placed in the front ranks so they could get off a shot or two before they fled.

 

The Continental Army

The Continental army was better trained than the militias. In contrast to the professional soldiers of the British army they were citizen-soldiers, mostly poor native-born Americans or immigrants who had been indentured servants or immigrants or even convicts. Most found war and army life to be debilitating and combat to be horrifying.

 

Desertions grew as the war dragged on. The army fluctuated in size from 10,000 troops to 20,000. At times it was only 5,000 and Washington could put only 2,000 to 3,000 men in the field.

 

The Continental army continuously faced problems of finance and supply. Soldiers complained of being paid in inflated “Continental dollars.” At Valley Forge during the winter of 1777-1778 Washington’s men suffered greatly of cold, hunger, and disease. The troops went hungry less because of actual shortages than because farmers preferred to sell their produce for British gold and silver. During the previous winter at Morristown Washington’s army had almost disintegrated as enlistments expired and deserters fled the hardships.  Only about 1,000 Continentals and a few militiamen stuck it out.

 

Alliance with France

In early December 1777 news of the American triumph at Saratoga led to celebration in Paris almost as if it were a French victory. The French had taken their first step toward aiding the colonists with clandestine help in 1776. This included 14 ships with war supplies including much needed powder. On February 6, 1778 the French and Americans signed two treaties.

 

In a Treaty of Amity and Commerce in which France recognized the United States and offered trade concessions, including important privileges to American shipping. This was significant because France was the first important European power to recognize the independence of the United States.

 

In a Treaty of Alliance both parties agreed that if France entered the war, both countries would fight until American Independence was won.

 

By June 1778 British vessels had fired on French ships and the two nations were at war.

 

In 1779, Spain entered the war as an ally of France, but not the United States. From its European friends the Americans received troops, munitions, gold, weapons, and powder.

 

Volunteers from other European nations came to America to fight in the Revolution. Pulaski and Kosciusko are examples from Poland.

 

1778:Both Sides Regroup

After Saratoga many in Parliament knew that the war was un-winnable for the British. On March 16, 1778 the House of Commons in effect granted all the American demands prior to independence.  Parliament repealed the Townshend tea duty, the Massachusetts Government Act, and the Prohibitory Act. The British suspended the coercive acts and offered to pardon the Patriots.

 

Congress refused to begin any negotiations until Britain recognized American independence and withdrew its forces.

 

After the seasoning of suffering at Valley Forge Washington had warned Congress that without supplies the army “must inevitably be reduced to one or other of these three things: starve, dissolve, or disperse.” Dissension in Congress over the plight of the army reduced morale further. Many in Congress attempted to put the blame on Washington.

 

Morale improved as the winter came to an end and Congress promised extra pay and bonuses after the war. News of the French alliances also helped boost morale.

 

There were several important battles in the spring 1778 in New York and New Jersey, and then both sides settled into a long stalemate interrupted by minor and inconclusive engagements.

 

War on the Frontier

Virginian Rogers Clark helped to clear the western lands of British troops. Battles occurred at Fort Detroit, Fort Niagara, Cahokia, Vincennes, and Kaskaskia. The British had convinced many of the Native American tribes to join them in Battle against the Americans. Clark tomahawked Indian captives in sight of the fort to show that the British afforded them no protection.

 

The Iroquois had managed to kill hundreds of militiamen in Western New York and Pennsylvania. The Americans responded by ruthlessly devastating about forty Seneca and Cayuga villages. They also destroyed their orchards and food supplies.

 

Daniel Boone and a band of settlers faced the Shawnees, British, and Loyalists in Kentucky in 1778.

 

The Shawnees, Delawares, and Mohawks talked the Cherokees into attacking Virginia and the Carolinas. The Indians were met with swift retaliation.

 

The weakening of these Indian tribes during the war cleared the way for white settlement west of the Appalachians after the war.

 

War in the South

At the end of 1778 the focus of British attention shifted to the South. The South had seen no major action since 1776. The British captured Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina.

 

The British hoped Loyalist support would be stronger in the Anglican South. They also believed the South was more valuable than the north because it produced valuable staple crops such as tobacco, indigo, and naval stores.

 

Fighting in the Carolinas degenerated into brutal guerilla-style civil conflicts between local Loyalists and local Patriots. This brought chaos to the region.

 

The British attempted to terrorize the Patriots into submission.

 

Cornwallis faced Nathaniel Greene the “fighting Quaker” of Rhode Island who had replaced Gates as commander of American forces in the South. Greene was a man of infinite patience. He was also skilled at managing men and saving supplies and careful to avoid risks. This made him the right kind of General for the war of attrition that developed in the South.

 

American victories led to a situation in which the British held only New York City and a few southern ports.

 

In July 1781 at Yorktown in Virginia Cornwallis and 7,200 men were positioned on a peninsula between the York and James Rivers. Lafayette, Von Stueben, and Wayne were nearby but too weak to fight. Cornwallis believed Washington and Rochambeau were preparing to attack the British at New York. 

 

On August 30 the French fleet from the West Indies led by De Grasse with 3,000 soldiers arrived in Chesapeake Bay as Washington and Rochambeau faked a flanking movement towards New York. The British fleet appeared on September 6 and fought the French on the next day. The British were forced to give up their efforts to relieve Cornwallis.

 

De Grasse sent ships up the Chesapeake to ferry down Washington’s and Rochambeau’s armies. This brought the combined forces of the Americans and French to more than 16,000, more than twice the size of Cornwallis’s army.

 

The Siege began on September 28.

 

On October 17, 1781, four years to the day after Saratoga, Cornwallis sued for peace. On October 19 the British force surrendered marching to somber tunes along with the English nursery rhyme “The World Turned Upside Down.” Cornwallis claimed to be too ill to appear.

 

His dispatch to his superior was:

 

“I have the mortification to inform your Excellency that I have been forced to surrender the troops under my command.”

 

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