Fighting the American Revolution

Fighting of the American Revolution

1775, 19^th April: Lexington and Concord - Thomas Gage (in Boston) orders troops to capture colonial munitions. Met at Lexington and Concord by militamen, disperse them but find no weapons, then return and are badly mauled by sharpshoorters

1775, 10^th May - Ticonderoga captured by Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen. Cannon hauled to seige of Boston

1775, 17^th June: Battle of Breed's Hill and Bunker Hill. British push Americans from Charlestown neck, overlooking Boston, but at enormous cost.1775, August - December: Richard Montgomery leads ill fated expedition to Canada, captures Montreal, but turned back at Quebec City; Benedict Arnold leads second force through Maine to Quebec City as well; turned back, and continues unsuccessful "siege" during winter. American forces retreat in pitiful shape that spring.

1775, December 11^th - Virginia's governor, Lord Dunmore, raises an African-American regiment by promising slaves who fight for British freedom, and then is decisively defeated by patriots.1776, February-June, General Henry Clinton, unsuccessfully tried to harass the Carolina coast, and is rebuffed June 4^th in an attempted attack on Charleston, South Carolina, by forces under American General Charles Lee.

1776, 27^th August, after landing at Gravesend on Long Island half a week earlier, William Howe leads British troops against American positions on Brooklyn Heights, and dislodges American defenses in bloody, one-sided battle.

1776, 15^th September, British launch amphibious assault of Manhattan from Brooklyn at Kips' Bay, take New York City, but fail to stop Washington's retreat to fortifications north of city.

1776, 16^th October, Howe takes Fort Washington (near current GW Bridge); two days later General Lord Cornwallis takes Fort Lee.

1776, 28^th October, inconclusive skirmish at White Plains. Washington retreats across New Jersey to Pennsylvania in three columns, with no more than 6,000 of his troops left.

1776, 26^th December, remnant of American army slips across Delaware and captures Hessian troops garrisoning at Trenton.

1777, 3^rd January, Washington strikes again at British at Princeton, then moves to winter quarters at Morristown. Hugh Mercer killed in skirmish at Princeton.

1777, July-September - Howe, supported by British fleet under Admirral Sir Richard Howe move up Chesapeake Bay and overland to occupy Philadelphia. Tey defeat Washington at Brandywine Creek (Chad's Ford), September 11^th and repulse an American attack at Germantown, October 4^th.

1777, June-October, General John Burgoyne launches attack down Lake Champlain, toward Albany. He recaptures Ticonderoga.

1777, 6^th August, Nickolas Herkimer's forces coming to relieve Fort Stanwix, attacked by Iroquois, Canadian, loyalist and British troops under Col. Barry St. Leger are ambushed in Mohawk Valley and forced to retreat. Herkimer dies of wounds. This leg of Burgoyne's invasion initially goes quite well.

1777, 11^th August, strong British force sent by Burgoyne to raid Bennington, Vermont, defeated with extreme casualties.

1777, 19^th September, Burgoyne crosses to west side of Hudson and engages General Horatio Gates forces at Freeman's Farm, near Saratoga, New York Forces under Daniel Morgan and Benedict Arnold help stop Burgoyne's regiments.

1777, 7^th October, second engagement near Saratoga at Bemis Heights, and Morgan and Arnold again inflict heavy casualties on the British.

1777, 16^th October, General Clinton moving up from new York City to connect with Burgoyne, attacks and burns Kingston, but then stops rather than push on to Albany.

1777, 17^th October, Burgoyne surrenders British army of 5,000 men to Gates at Saratoga.

1777, 17^th December, France recognizes American independence.

1777-1778 - winter at Valley Forge for American army.

1778, 6^th February, France-American alliance signed.

1778, 8^th May, Clinton replaces William Howe, and British evacuate Philadelphia June 18^th for New York.

1778, 28^th June, Washington attacks Clinton at Monmouth as Clinton crosses New Jersey from Philadelphia to New York. Inconclusive battle that Americans might have won results in court-martial of General Charles Lee.
1778, 3^rd July, "Wyoming Massacre" of Seneca and Cayuga Iroquois at Forty Fort in Wyoming Valley. Blamed on Joseph Brant; paroled patriot militia violate arrangement.

1778, 11^th November, Cherry Valley massacre of loyalists and patriots by Iroquois angered about Wyoming Valley. Joseph Brant saves lives of many non-combatants.

1778, July-1779, February, George Rogers Clark, acting for Virginia, defeats British in Ohio River Valley under Colonel Henry Hamilton, known as the "Hair Buyer" for his alleged encouragement of Indian scalping of patriots.

1778, August, unsuccessful coordinated french-American effort to dislodge British at Newport Rhode Island (taken during the 1776 campaign).

1778, 29^th December, Savannah occupied by British [Slave regiment raised in Caribbean employed in the attack.]

1779, August-September, General John Sullivan's expedition against loyalist and Iroquois in Mohawk Valley destroys villages and corn supplies.

1779, 21^st June, Spain declares war on Great Britain but does recognize US independence.

1779, September-October, combined American (land)-French (sea) force fails to retake Savannah. Clinton evacuates Newport to reinforce the South.

1780, 12^th May, Charleston falls to British forces under Clinton, more than 5,000 patriot troops surrender, and Banastre Tarleton begins bloody cavalry assaults on remaining patriot units.

1780, 25^th May, Connecticut regiments enduring worst winter of war at Morristown, New Jersey, mutiny; brought to order by Pennsylvania troops at George Washington's command.

1780, June-August, Francis Marion ("Swamp Fox") and Thomas Sumter ("Fighting Gamecock") engage in "guerrilla warfare" against British occupation forces in South Carolina. Sumter is defeated by Tarleton in August, and Cornwallis begins invasion of South Carolina.

1780, 16^th August, patriot forces, led by Horatio Gates, attempt to counterattack against British at Camden, South Carolina and suffer crushing defeat.

1780, 21^st September, George Washington discovers Benedict Arnold's treasonous attempt to turn West Point over to British; Arnold escapes. Major John André, Arnold's contact, captured, tried, and hung. Arnold becomes a British general and leads raids on Virginia and Connecticut.

1780, 7^th October, British forces screening Cornwallis flank caught at King's Mountain and all killed or captured.

1780, 14^th October, Nathanael Greene replaces Horatio Gates as southern commander.

1781, 17^th January, Daniel Morgan defeats Tarleton at Battle of Cowpens in South Carolina.

1781, 1^st March, Articles of Confederation ratified.

1781, 15^th March, Cornwallis pursuse Greene to Don River in N.C., and forces him from field at Battle of Guilford Court House, but at tremendous cost; retreats to Charleston. Greene fails to dislodge Cornwallis from Ninety Six and Eutaw Springs, but takes back much of the Carolinas.

1781, May-October, Cornwallis launches Virginia campaign; trapped at Yorktown by French fleet and American forces, surrenders on 18^th of October.

1782, March, North ministry falls in Great Britain; new ministry under Lord Rockingham opens peace negotiations.

1782, 30^th November, preliminary peace treaty signed with British by Adams, Jay, Henry Laurens, and Franklin for the United States [France kept out of negotiations].

1783, 26^th April, 7,000 loyalists sail to Great Britain (including Galloway)

1783, 15^th April, preliminary peace treaty ratified by Congress; 3^rd September final treaty signed in Paris, 14 January 1784, final treaty ratified in Congress and exchanged with British 12 May 1784.