Revolutionary+war

The **American Revolutionary War** (1775–1783), the **American War of Independence**, [|[8]] or simply the **Revolutionary War** in America, began as a war between the [|Kingdom of Great Britain] and the new United States of America, but gradually expanded to a [|global war] between Britain on one side and the United States, France, Netherlands and Spain on the other. The main result was an American victory, with mixed results for the other powers. The war was the result of the political [|American Revolution]. Colonists galvanized around the position that the [|Stamp Act of 1765], imposed by [|Parliament of Great Britain] , was unconstitutional. The British Parliament insisted it had the right to tax colonists. The colonists claimed that, as they were [|British subjects], [|taxation without representation] was illegal. The American colonists formed a unifying [|Continental Congress] and a shadow government in each colony, though at first remaining loyal to the king. The American boycott of taxed British tea led to the [|Boston Tea Party] in 1773, when shiploads of tea were destroyed. London responded by ending self-government in [|Massachusetts] and putting it under the control of the British army with General [|Thomas Gage] as governor. In April 1775 Gage learned that weapons were being gathered in [|Concord], and he sent British troops to seize and destroy them. [|[9]] Local [|militia] confronted the troops and exchanged fire (see [|Battles of Lexington and Concord] ). After repeated pleas to the British monarchy for intervention with Parliament, any chance of a compromise ended when [|the Congress were declared traitors] by royal decree, and they responded by [|declaring the independence] of a new [|sovereign nation], the United States of America, on July 4, 1776. [|American Loyalists] rejected the Declaration, and sided with the king; they were excluded from power everwhere. American attempts to expand the rebellion into [|Quebec] and the [|Floridas] were unsuccessful. [|France], [|Spain] and the [|Dutch Republic] all secretly provided [|supplies, ammunition and weapons] to the revolutionaries starting early in 1776. By June 1776 the Americans were in full control of every state, but then the British Royal Navy captured New York City and made it their main base. The war became a standoff. The Royal Navy could occupy other coastal cities for brief periods, but the rebels controlled the countryside, where 90 percent of the population lived. British strategy relied on mobilizing [|Loyalist militia], and was never fully realized. A British invasion from Canada in 1777 ended in the capture of the British army at the [|Battles of Saratoga]. That American victory persuaded France [|to enter the war] openly in early 1778, balancing the two sides' military strength. [|Spain] and the [|Dutch Republic] —French allies—also went to war with Britain over the next four years, threatening an [|invasion of Great Britain] and severely testing British military strength with campaigns in Europe. [|Spain's involvement] resulted in the [|expulsion] of British armies from [|West Florida], securing the American southern flank. The decisive British naval victory at the [|Battle of the Saintes] thwarted French and Spanish plans to drive Britain out of the Caribbean, and the joint Franco-Spanish attempt to capture the British stronghold of [|Gibraltar] also resulted in similar defeat. French involvement proved decisive [|[10]] yet expensive, ruining France's economy and driving the country into massive debt. [|[11]] A French [|naval victory in the Chesapeake] led to a siege by combined French and Continental armies that forced a second British army to surrender at the [|Yorktown, Virginia] in 1781. Fighting continued throughout 1782, while peace negotiations began. In 1783, the [|Treaty of Paris] ended the war and recognized the sovereignty of the United States over the territory bounded roughly by what is now Canada to the north, [|Florida] to the south, and the [|Mississippi River] to the west. [|[12]][|[13]] A wider international peace was agreed, in which several territories were exchanged

American armies and militias
Main articles: [|Continental Army] and [|Minutemen] Population density in the [|American Colonies] in 1775 When the war began, the 13 colonies lacked a professional army or navy. Each colony sponsored local [|militia]. Militiamen were lightly armed, had little training, and usually did not have uniforms. Their units served for only a few weeks or months at a time, were reluctant to travel far from home and thus were unavailable for extended operations, and lacked the training and discipline of soldiers with more experience. If properly used, however, their numbers could help the Continental armies overwhelm smaller British forces, as at the [|battles] of [|Concord], [|Bennington] and [|Saratoga] , and the [|siege of Boston]. Both sides used [|partisan warfare] but the Americans effectively suppressed Loyalist activity when [|British regulars] were not in the area. [|[14]] Seeking to coordinate military efforts, the [|Continental Congress] established (on paper) a regular army on June 14, 1775, and appointed [|George Washington] as [|commander-in-chief]. The development of the Continental Army was always a work in progress, and Washington used both his regulars and state militia throughout the war. The [|United States Marine Corps] traces its institutional roots to the [|Continental Marines] of the war, formed at [|Tun Tavern] in [|Philadelphia], by a resolution of the [|Continental Congress] on November 10, 1775, a date regarded and celebrated as the birthday of the Marine Corps. At the beginning of 1776, Washington's army had 20,000 men, with two-thirds enlisted in the Continental Army and the other third in the various state militias. [|[15]] At the end of the American Revolution in 1783, both the [|Continental Navy] and Continental Marines were disbanded. About 250,000 men served as regulars or as militiamen for the Revolutionary cause in the eight years of the war, but there were never more than 90,000 men under arms at one time. Armies were small by European standards of the era, largely attributable to limitations such as lack of powder and other logistical capabilities on the American side. [|[16]] It was also difficult for Great Britain to transport troops across the Atlantic and they depended on local supplies that the Patriots tried to cut off. By comparison, Duffy notes that [|Frederick the Great] usually commanded from 23,000 to 50,000 in battle. Both figures pale in comparison to the armies that would be fielded in the early 19th century, where troop formations approached or exceeded 100,000 men.

Loyalists
Main article: [|Loyalist (American Revolution)] Historians [|[17]] have estimated that approximately 40 to 45 percent of the colonists supported the rebellion, while 15 to 20 percent remained loyal to the Crown. The rest attempted to remain neutral and kept a low profile. At least 25,000 Loyalists fought on the side of the British. Thousands served in the Royal Navy. On land, Loyalist forces fought alongside the British in most battles in North America. Many Loyalists fought in partisan units, especially in the Southern theater. [|[18]] The British military met with many difficulties in maximizing the use of Loyalist factions. British historian [|Jeremy Black] wrote, "In the American war it was clear to both royal generals and revolutionaries that organized and significant Loyalist activity would require the presence of British forces." [|[19]] In the South, the use of Loyalists presented the British with "major problems of strategic choice" since while it was necessary to widely disperse troops in order to defend Loyalist areas, it was also recognized that there was a need for "the maintenance of large concentrated forces able" to counter major attacks from the American forces. [|[20]] In addition, the British were forced to ensure that their military actions would not "offend Loyalist opinion", eliminating such options as attempting to "live off the country", destroying property for intimidation purposes, or coercing payments from colonists ("laying them under contribution"). [|[21]]

British armies and auxiliaries
Further information: [|History of the British Army: American War of Independence] Early in 1775, the [|British Army] consisted of about 36,000 men worldwide, but wartime recruitment steadily increased this number. Great Britain had a difficult time appointing general officers, however. General [|Thomas Gage], in command of British forces in North America when the rebellion started, was criticized for being too lenient (perhaps influenced by his [|American wife] ).[// [|citation needed] //] General [|Jeffrey Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst] turned down an appointment as commander in chief due to an unwillingness to take sides in the conflict. [|[22]] Similarly, Admiral [|Augustus Keppel] turned down a command, saying "I cannot draw the sword in such a cause." The [|Earl of Effingham] publicly resigned his commission when his [|22nd Regiment of foot] was posted to America, and [|William Howe] and [|John Burgoyne] were [|members of parliament] who opposed military solutions to the American rebellion. Howe and [|Henry Clinton] stated that they were unwilling participants in the war and were only following orders. [|[23]] Over the course of the war, Great Britain signed treaties with various [|German] states, which supplied about 30,000 soldiers.[// [|citation needed] //] Germans made up about one-third of the British troop strength in North America. The [|Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel] contributed more soldiers than any other state, and German soldiers became known as " [|Hessians] " to the Americans. Revolutionary speakers called German soldiers "foreign mercenaries," and they are scorned as such in the [|Declaration of Independence]. By 1779, the number of British and German troops stationed in North America was over 60,000, although these were spread from Canada to Florida. [|[24]] The Secretary of State at War [|Lord Barrington] and the Adjutant-General [|Edward Harvey] were both strongly opposed to outright war on land. In 1766 Barrington had recommended withdrawing the army from the 13 Colonies to Canada, Nova Scotia and Florida. At the beginning of the war he urged a naval blockade, which would quickly damage the colonists' trading activities. [|[25]]

Black Americans
1780 drawing of American soldiers from the [|Yorktown campaign] shows a black infantryman from the [|1st Rhode Island Regiment]. [|African Americans] —slave and free—served on both sides during the war. The British recruited slaves belonging to [|Patriot] masters and promised freedom to those who served. Because of manpower shortages, George Washington lifted the ban on black enlistment in the Continental Army in January 1776. Small all-black units were formed in [|Rhode Island] and [|Massachusetts] ; many slaves were promised freedom for serving. Another all-black unit came from [|Haiti] with French forces. At least 5,000 black soldiers fought for the Revolutionary cause. [|[26]] Tens of thousands of slaves escaped during the war and joined British lines; others simply moved off into the chaos. For instance, in South Carolina, nearly 25,000 slaves (30% of the enslaved population) fled, migrated or died during the disruption of the war. [|[27]] This greatly disrupted plantation production during and after the war. When they withdrew their forces from Savannah and Charleston, the British also evacuated 10,000 slaves, now freedmen. [|[28]] Altogether, the British were estimated to evacuate nearly 20,000 freedmen (including families) with other Loyalists and their troops at the end of the war. More than 3,000 freedmen were resettled in Nova Scotia; others were transported to the West Indies of the Caribbean islands, and some to Great Britain. [|[29]] Further information: [|Book of Negroes]

Native Americans
Most [|Native Americans] east of the [|Mississippi River] were affected by the war, and many communities were divided over the question of how to respond to the conflict. Though a few tribes were on friendly terms with the Americans, most Native Americans opposed the United States as a potential threat to their territory. Approximately 13,000 Native Americans fought on the British side, with the largest group coming from the [|Iroquois] tribes, who fielded around 1,500 men. [|[30]] The powerful [|Iroquois Confederacy] was shattered as a result of the conflict; although the Confederacy did not take sides, the [|Seneca], [|Onondaga] , and [|Cayuga] nations sided with the British. Members of the [|Mohawk] fought on both sides. Many [|Tuscarora] and [|Oneida] sided with the colonists. The Continental Army sent the [|Sullivan Expedition] on raids throughout New York to cripple the Iroquois tribes which had sided with the British. Both during and after the war friction between the Mohawk leaders [|Joseph Louis Cook] and [|Joseph Brant], who had sided with the Americans and the British respectively, further exacerbated the split. A watercolor painting depicting a variety of Continental Army soldiers. [|Creek] and [|Seminole] allies of Britain fought against Americans in Georgia and South Carolina. In 1778, a force of 800 Creeks destroyed American settlements along the [|Broad River] in Georgia. Creek warriors also joined [|Thomas Brown's] raids into South Carolina and assisted Britain during the [|Siege of Savannah]. [|[31]] Many Native Americans were involved in the fighting between Britain and Spain on the [|Gulf Coast] and up the Mississippi River—mostly on the British side. Thousands of Creeks, [|Chickasaws], and [|Choctaws] fought in or near major battles such as the [|Battle of Fort Charlotte] , the [|Battle of Mobile] , and the [|Siege of Pensacola]. [|[32]]

Sex, race, class
Pybus (2005) estimates that about 20,000 slaves defected to or were captured by the British, of whom about 8,000 died from disease or wounds or were recaptured by the Patriots, and 12,000 left the country at the end of the war, for freedom in Canada or slavery in the West Indies. [|[33]] Baller (2006) examines family dynamics and mobilization for the Revolution in central Massachusetts. He reports that warfare and the farming culture were sometimes incompatible. Militiamen found that living and working on the family farm had not prepared them for wartime marches and the rigors of camp life. Rugged individualism conflicted with military discipline and regimentation. A man's birth order often influenced his military recruitment, as younger sons went to war and older sons took charge of the farm. A person's family responsibilities and the prevalent patriarchy could impede mobilization. Harvesting duties and family emergencies pulled men home regardless of the sergeant's orders. Some relatives might be Loyalists, creating internal strains. On the whole, historians conclude the Revolution's effect on patriarchy and inheritance patterns favored egalitarianism. [|[34]] McDonnell, (2006) shows a grave complication in Virginia's mobilization of troops was the conflicting interests of distinct social classes, which tended to undercut a unified commitment to the Patriot cause. The Assembly balanced the competing demands of elite slave owning planters, [|the middling yeomen] (some owning a few slaves), and landless indentured servants, among other groups. The Assembly used deferments, taxes, military service substitute, and conscription to resolve the tensions. Unresolved class conflict, however, made these laws less effective. There were violent protests, many cases of evasion, and large-scale desertion, so that Virginia's contributions came at embarrassingly low levels. With the British invasion of the state in 1781, Virginia was mired in class division as its native son, George Washington, made desperate appeals for troops. [|[35]]

War in the north, 1775–1780
See also: [|Northern theater of the American Revolutionary War after Saratoga]

Massachusetts
Main article: [|Boston campaign] Before the war, [|Boston] had been the center of much revolutionary activity, leading to the punitive [|Massachusetts Government Act] in 1774 that ended local government. Popular resistance to these measures, however, compelled the newly appointed royal officials in Massachusetts to resign or to seek refuge in Boston. Lieutenant General [|Thomas Gage], the British [|North American commander-in chief] , commanded four regiments of British regulars (about 4,000 men) from his headquarters in Boston, but the countryside was in the hands of the Revolutionaries. The British marching to [|Concord] in April 1775 On the night of April 18, 1775, General Gage sent 700 men to seize munitions stored by the colonial militia at [|Concord, Massachusetts]. Riders including [|Paul Revere] alerted the countryside, and when British troops entered [|Lexington] on the morning of April 19, they found 77 [|minutemen] formed up on the village green. Shots were exchanged, killing several minutemen. The British moved on to Concord, where a detachment of three companies was engaged and routed at the North Bridge by a force of 500 minutemen. As the British retreated back to Boston, thousands of militiamen attacked them along the roads, inflicting great damage before timely British reinforcements prevented a total disaster. With the [|Battles of Lexington and Concord], the war had begun. The militia converged on Boston, [|bottling up the British] in the city. About 4,500 more British soldiers arrived by sea, and on June 17, 1775, British forces under General [|William Howe] seized the Charlestown peninsula at the [|Battle of Bunker Hill]. The Americans fell back, but British losses were so heavy that the attack was not followed up. The siege was not broken, and Gage was soon replaced by Howe as the British commander-in-chief. [|[36]] In July 1775, newly appointed General Washington arrived outside Boston to take charge of the colonial forces and to organize the Continental Army. Realizing his army's desperate shortage of gunpowder, Washington asked for new sources. Arsenals were raided and some manufacturing was attempted; 90% of the supply (2 million pounds) was imported by the end of 1776, mostly from France. [|[37]] Patriots in New Hampshire had seized powder, muskets and cannons from [|Fort William and Mary] in Portsmouth Harbor in late 1774. [|[38]] Some of the munitions were used in the Boston campaign. The standoff continued throughout the fall and winter. In early March 1776, heavy cannons that the patriots had [|captured at Fort Ticonderoga] were brought to Boston by Colonel [|Henry Knox], and [|placed on Dorchester Heights]. Since the artillery now overlooked the British positions, Howe's situation was untenable, and the British [|fled] on March 17, 1776, sailing to their naval base at [|Halifax, Nova Scotia]. [|[39]] [|Washington] then moved most of the Continental Army to fortify New York City.

Quebec
Main article: [|Invasion of Canada (1775)] Canadian militiamen and British soldiers repulse the American assault at [|Sault-au-Matelot], December 1775 Three weeks after the siege of Boston began, a troop of militia volunteers led by [|Ethan Allen] and [|Benedict Arnold] [|captured Fort Ticonderoga], a strategically important point on [|Lake Champlain] between New York and the [|Province of Quebec]. After that action they also raided [|Fort St. John's], not far from Montreal, which alarmed the population and the authorities there. In response, Quebec's governor [|Guy Carleton] began fortifying St. John's, and opened negotiations with the [|Iroquois] and other Native American tribes for their support. These actions, combined with lobbying by both Allen and Arnold and the fear of a British attack from the north, eventually persuaded the Congress to authorize an invasion of Quebec, with the goal of driving the British military from that province. (Quebec was then frequently referred to as //Canada//, as most of its territory included the former French Province of [|Canada] .) [|[40]] Two Quebec-bound expeditions were undertaken. On September 28, 1775, Brigadier General [|Richard Montgomery] marched north from [|Fort Ticonderoga] with about 1,700 militiamen, [|besieging and capturing Fort St. Jean] on November 2 and then Montreal on November 13. General Carleton escaped to [|Quebec City] and began preparing that city for an attack. The [|second expedition], led by Colonel Arnold, went through the wilderness of what is now northern Maine. Logistics were difficult, with 300 men turning back, and another 200 perishing due to the harsh conditions. By the time Arnold reached Quebec City in early November, he had but 600 of his original 1,100 men. Montgomery's force joined Arnold's, and they [|attacked Quebec City] on December 31, but were defeated by Carleton in a battle that ended with Montgomery dead, Arnold wounded, and over 400 Americans taken prisoner. [|[41]] The remaining Americans held on outside Quebec City until the spring of 1776, suffering from poor camp conditions and smallpox, and then withdrew when a squadron of British ships under [|Captain Charles Douglas] arrived to relieve the siege. [|[42]] Another attempt was made by the Americans to push back towards Quebec, but they failed at [|Trois-Rivières] on June 8, 1776. Carleton then launched his own invasion and defeated Arnold at the [|Battle of Valcour Island] in October. Arnold fell back to Fort Ticonderoga, where the invasion had begun. While the invasion ended as a disaster for the Americans, Arnold's efforts in 1776 delayed a full-scale British counteroffensive until the [|Saratoga campaign] of 1777. The invasion cost the Americans their base of support in British public opinion, "So that the violent measures towards America are freely adopted and countenanced by a majority of individuals of all ranks, professions, or occupations, in this country." [|[43]] It gained them at best limited support in the population of Quebec, which, while somewhat supportive early in the invasion, became less so later during the occupation, when American policies against suspected Loyalists became harsher, and the army's hard currency ran out. Two small regiments of [|Canadiens] were recruited during the operation, and they were with the army on its retreat back to Ticonderoga. [|[44]]

New York and New Jersey
Main article: [|New York and New Jersey campaign] American soldiers in the [|Battle of Long Island], 1776 Having withdrawn his army from Boston, General Howe now focused on capturing New York City, which then was limited to the southern tip of Manhattan Island. To defend the city, General Washington spread about 20,000 soldiers along the shores of New York's harbor, concentrated on [|Long Island] and [|Manhattan]. [|[45]] While British and recently hired [|Hessian] troops were assembling across the upper harbor on [|Staten Island] for the campaign, Washington had the newly issued [|Declaration of American Independence] read to his men and the citizens of the city. [|[46]] No longer was there any possibility of compromise.[// [|citation needed] //] On August 27, 1776, after landing about 22,000 men on Long Island, the British drove the Americans back to [|Brooklyn Heights], securing a decisive British victory in the [|largest battle of the entire Revolution]. Howe then laid [|siege] to fortifications there. In a feat considered by many historians to be one of his most impressive actions as Commander in Chief, Washington personally directed the [|withdrawal] of his entire remaining army and all their supplies across the [|East River] in one night without discovery by the British or significant loss of men and [|materiel]. [|[47]] After a [|failed peace conference] on September 11, Howe resumed the attack. On September 15, Howe [|landed about 12,000 men] on lower Manhattan, quickly taking control of New York City. The Americans withdrew north up the island to Harlem Heights, where they [|skirmished the next day] but held their ground. When Howe moved to encircle Washington's army in October, the Americans again fell back, and a [|battle at White Plains] was fought on October 28. [|[48]] Again Washington retreated, and Howe returned to Manhattan and captured [|Fort Washington] in mid November, taking about 2,000 prisoners (with an additional 1,000 having been captured during the battle for Long Island). Thus began [|the infamous "prison ships" system] the British maintained in New York for the rest of the war, in which more American soldiers and sailors [|died of neglect] than died in every battle of the entire war, combined. [|[49]][|[50]][|[51]][|[52]][|[53]] Howe then detached General Clinton to seize [|Newport, Rhode Island], while [|General Lord Cornwallis] continued to chase Washington's army through [|New Jersey] , until the Americans withdrew across the [|Delaware River] into Pennsylvania in early December. [|[54]] With the campaign at an apparent conclusion for the season, the British entered winter quarters. Although Howe had missed several opportunities to crush the diminishing American army, he had killed or captured over 5,000 Americans. The outlook of the Continental Army was bleak. "These are the times that try men's souls," wrote [|Thomas Paine], who was with the army on the retreat. [|[55]] The army had dwindled to fewer than 5,000 men fit for duty, and would be reduced to 1,400 after enlistments expired at the end of the year.[// [|citation needed] //] Congress had abandoned Philadelphia in despair, although popular resistance to British occupation was growing in the countryside. [|[56]] [|Emanuel Leutze] 's stylized depiction of // [|Washington Crossing the Delaware] // (1851) Washington decided to take the offensive, [|stealthily crossing the Delaware] on Christmas night and capturing nearly 1,000 Hessians at the [|Battle of Trenton] on December 26, 1776. [|[57]] Cornwallis marched to retake Trenton but was first [|repulsed] and then outmaneuvered by Washington, who successfully attacked the British rearguard at [|Princeton] on January 3, 1777. [|[58]] Washington then entered winter quarters at [|Morristown, New Jersey], having given a morale boost to the American cause. New Jersey militia continued to harass British and Hessian forces [|throughout the winter], forcing the British to retreat to their base in and around New York City. [|[59]] At every stage the British strategy assumed a large base of Loyalist supporters would rally to the King given some military support. In February 1776 Clinton took 2,000 men and a naval squadron to invade North Carolina, which he called off when he learned the Loyalists had been crushed at the [|Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge]. In June he tried to seize [|Charleston, South Carolina], the leading port in the South, hoping for a simultaneous rising in South Carolina. It seemed a cheap way of waging the war but [|it failed] as the naval force was defeated by the forts and because no local Loyalists attacked the town from behind. The Loyalists were too poorly organized to be effective, but as late as 1781 senior officials in London, misled by Loyalist exiles, placed their confidence in their rising.[// [|citation needed] //]

Saratoga and Philadelphia
[|Mohawk] leader [|Joseph Brant] led both Native Americans and [|white] [|Loyalists] in battle. " [|The surrender at Saratoga] " shows General [|Daniel Morgan] in front of a French [|de Vallière] 4-pounder. [|Washington] and [|Lafayette] look over the troops at [|Valley Forge]. When the British began to plan operations for 1777, they had two main armies in North America: Carleton's army in Quebec, and Howe's army in New York. In London, [|Lord George Germain] approved campaigns for these armies which, because of miscommunication, poor planning, and rivalries between commanders, did not work in conjunction. Although Howe successfully captured Philadelphia, the northern army was lost in a disastrous surrender at Saratoga. Both Carleton and Howe resigned after the 1777 campaign.

Saratoga campaign
Main article: [|Saratoga campaign] The first of the 1777 campaigns was an expedition from Quebec led by General [|John Burgoyne]. The goal was to seize the [|Lake Champlain] and [|Hudson River] corridor, effectively isolating [|New England] from the rest of the American colonies. Burgoyne's invasion had two components: he would lead about 8,000 men along Lake Champlain towards [|Albany, New York], while a second column of about 2,000 men, led by [|Barry St. Leger] , would move down the [|Mohawk River] Valley and link up with Burgoyne in Albany. [|[60]] Burgoyne set off in June, and [|recaptured Fort Ticonderoga] in early July. Thereafter, his march was slowed by the Americans who literally knocked down trees in his path, and by his army's extensive baggage train. A detachment sent out to seize supplies was decisively defeated in the [|Battle of Bennington] by American militia in August, depriving Burgoyne of nearly 1,000 men. Meanwhile, St. Leger—more than half of his force Native Americans led by [|Sayenqueraghta] —had [|laid siege to Fort Stanwix]. American militiamen and their Native American allies marched to relieve the siege but were ambushed and scattered at the [|Battle of Oriskany]. When a second relief expedition approached, this time led by Benedict Arnold, St. Leger's Indian support abandoned him, forcing him to break off the siege and return to Quebec. Burgoyne's army had been reduced to about 6,000 men by the loss at Bennington and the need to garrison Ticonderoga, and he was running short on supplies. [|[61]] Despite these setbacks, he determined to push on towards Albany. An American army of 8,000 men, commanded by General [|Horatio Gates], had entrenched about 10 miles (16 km) south of [|Saratoga, New York]. Burgoyne tried to outflank the Americans but was checked at the [|first battle of Saratoga] in September. Burgoyne's situation was desperate, but he now hoped that help from Howe's army in New York City might be on the way. It was not: Howe had instead sailed away on his expedition to capture Philadelphia. American militiamen flocked to Gates' army, swelling his force to 11,000 by the beginning of October. After being badly beaten at the [|second battle of Saratoga], Burgoyne surrendered on October 17. Saratoga was the turning point of the war. Revolutionary confidence and determination, suffering from Howe's successful occupation of Philadelphia, was renewed. What is more important, the victory encouraged [|France] to make an open alliance with the Americans, after two years of semi-secret support. For the British, the war had now become much more complicated. [|[62]]

Philadelphia campaign
Main article: [|Philadelphia campaign] Having secured New York City in 1776, General Howe concentrated on capturing Philadelphia, the seat of the Revolutionary government, in 1777. He moved slowly, landing 15,000 troops in late August at the northern end of [|Chesapeake Bay]. Washington positioned his 11,000 men between Howe and Philadelphia but was driven back at the [|Battle of Brandywine] on September 11, 1777. The Continental Congress again abandoned Philadelphia, and on September 26, Howe finally outmaneuvered Washington and marched into the city unopposed. Washington unsuccessfully [|attacked the British encampment in nearby Germantown] in early October and then retreated to watch and wait. After repelling a British attack at [|White Marsh], Washington and his army encamped at [|Valley Forge] in December 1777, about 20 miles (32 km) from Philadelphia, where they stayed for the next six months. Over the winter, 2,500 men (out of 10,000) died from disease and exposure. The next spring, however, the army emerged from Valley Forge in good order, thanks in part to a training program supervised by [|Baron von Steuben], who introduced the most modern [|Prussian] methods of organization and tactics.[// [|citation needed] //] General Clinton replaced Howe as British commander-in-chief. French entry into the war had changed British strategy, and Clinton abandoned Philadelphia to reinforce New York City, now vulnerable to French naval power. Washington shadowed Clinton on his withdrawal and forced a strategic victory at the [|battle at Monmouth] on June 28, 1778, the last major battle in the north. Clinton's army went to New York City in July, arriving just before a French fleet under [|Admiral d'Estaing] arrived off the American coast. Washington's army returned to [|White Plains, New York], north of the city. Although both armies were back where they had been two years earlier, the nature of the war had now changed. [|[63]]

An international war, 1778–1783
Main articles: [|France in the American Revolutionary War] and [|Spain in the American Revolutionary War] The French (left) and British (right) lines at the [|Battle of the Chesapeake] From 1776 France had informally been involved in the American Revolutionary War, with [|French] admiral [|Latouche Tréville] having provided [|supplies, ammunition and guns] from France to the United States after [|Thomas Jefferson] had encouraged a French alliance, and guns such as [|de Valliere] type were used, playing an important role in such battles as the [|Battle of Saratoga]. [|[64]] [|George Washington] wrote about the French supplies and guns in a letter to General [|Heath] on May 2, 1777. After learning of the American victory at Saratoga, France signed the [|Treaty of Alliance] with the United States on February 6, 1778, formalizing the [|Franco-American alliance] negotiated by [|Benjamin Franklin]. French troops storming Redoubt #9 during the [|Siege of Yorktown] In 1776 the [|Count of Aranda] met in representation of Spain with the first U.S. Commission composed by Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane and Arthur Lee. [|[65]] The Continental Congress had charged the commissioners to travel to Europe and forge alliances with other European powers that could help break the British naval blockade along the North American coast. Aranda invited the commission to his house in Paris, where he was acting as Spanish ambassador and he became an active supporter of the struggle of the fledgling Colonies, recommending an early and open Spanish commitment to the Colonies. However he was overruled by [|José Moñino, 1st Count of Floridablanca] who opted by a more discreet approach. The Spanish position was later summarized by the Spanish Ambassador to the French Court, [|Jerónimo Grimaldi], in a letter to Arthur Lee who was in Madrid trying to persuade the Spanish government to declare an open alliance. Grimaldi told Lee that "You have considered your own situation, and not ours. The moment is not yet come for us. The war with Portugal — France being unprepared, and our treasure ships from South America not being arrived — makes it improper for us to declare immediately." [|[66]] Meanwhile, Grimaldi reassured Lee, stores of clothing and powder were deposited at New Orleans and Havana for the Americans, and further shipments of blankets were being collected at Bilbao. Spain finally entered officially the war in June 1779, thus implementing the [|Treaty of Aranjuez], although the Spanish government had been providing assistance to the revolutionaries since the very beginning of the war. So too had the [|Dutch Republic], which was formally brought into the war at the end of 1780. [|[67]]

Punish the Americans
Oil on canvas painting depicting the [|Wyoming Massacre], July 3, 1778 In London [|King George III] gave up all hope of subduing America by more armies, while Britain had a European war to fight. "It was a joke," he said, "to think of keeping Pennsylvania." There was no hope of recovering New England. But the King was still determined "never to acknowledge the independence of the Americans, and to punish their contumacy by the indefinite prolongation of a war which promised to be eternal." [|[68]] His plan was to keep the 30,000 men garrisoned in New York, Rhode Island, Quebec, and Florida; other forces would attack the French and Spanish in the West Indies. To punish the Americans the King planned to destroy their coasting-trade, bombard their ports; sack and burn towns along the coast (as [|Benedict Arnold] [|did to New London, Connecticut] in 1781), and turn loose the Native Americans to attack civilians in frontier settlements. These operations, the King felt, would inspire the Loyalists; would splinter the Congress; and "would keep the rebels harassed, anxious, and poor, until the day when, by a natural and inevitable process, discontent and disappointment were converted into penitence and remorse" and they would beg to return to his authority. [|[69]] The plan meant destruction for the Loyalists and loyal Native Americans, an indefinite prolongation of a costly war, and the risk of disaster as the French and Spanish assembled an armada to invade the British Isles. The British planned to re-subjugate the rebellious colonies after dealing with the Americans' European allies.

Widening of the naval war
Further information: [|Naval operations in the American Revolutionary War], [|France in the American Revolutionary War] , [|Spain in the American Revolutionary War] **American** [|European Waters] ||   ||
 * ||||~ [ [|show] ] * [|v]
 * [|t]
 * [|e]
 * Revolutionary War**:

**American** [|Caribbean theater] ||   || // [|Combat de la Dominique] //, April 17, 1780, by [|Auguste Louis de Rossel de Cercy] (1736–1804)       Map of Newport with the camp of the troops of [|Rochambeau] and the position of the squadron of Knight Ternay in 1780. When the war began, the British had overwhelming naval superiority over the American colonists. The [|Royal Navy] had over 100 [|ships of the line] and many frigates and smaller craft, although this fleet was old and in poor condition, a situation which would be blamed on [|Lord Sandwich], the [|First Lord of the Admiralty]. During the first three years of the war, the Royal Navy was primarily used to transport troops for land operations and to protect commercial shipping. The American colonists had no [|ships of the line], and relied extensively on [|privateering] to harass British shipping. The privateers caused worry disproportionate to their material success, although those operating out of French [|channel] ports before and after France joined the war caused significant embarrassment to the Royal Navy and inflamed Anglo-French relations. About 55,000 American sailors served aboard the privateers during the war. [|[70]] The American privateers had almost 1,700 ships, and they captured 2,283 enemy ships. [|[71]] The [|Continental Congress] authorized the creation of a small [|Continental Navy] in October 1775, which was primarily used for [|commerce raiding]. [|John Paul Jones] became the first great American naval hero, capturing [|HMS //Drake//] on April 24, 1778, the first victory for any American military vessel in British waters. [|[72]] // [|The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar] //, September 13, 1782, by [|John Singleton Copley] France's formal entry into the war meant that British naval superiority was now contested. The Franco-American alliance began poorly, however, with failed operations at [|Rhode Island] in 1778 and [|Savannah, Georgia], in 1779. Part of the problem was that France and the United States had different military priorities: France hoped to capture British possessions in the [|West Indies] before helping to secure American independence. While French financial assistance to the American war effort was already of critical importance, French military aid to the Americans would not show positive results until the arrival in July 1780 of a large force of soldiers led by the [|Comte de Rochambeau]. Spain entered the war as a French ally with the goal of recapturing [|Gibraltar] and [|Minorca], which it had lost to the British in 1704. [|Gibraltar was besieged] for more than three years, but the British garrison stubbornly resisted and was resupplied twice: once after Admiral [|Rodney] 's victory over [|Juan de Lángara] in the 1780 [|"Moonlight Battle"], and again after Admiral [|Richard Howe] fought [|Luis de Córdova y Córdova] to a draw in the [|Battle of Cape Spartel]. Further Franco-Spanish efforts to capture Gibraltar were unsuccessful. One notable success took place on February 5, 1782, when Spanish and French forces [|captured Minorca], which Spain retained after the war. Ambitious plans for an invasion of Great Britain in 1779 [|had to be abandoned].
 * ||||~ [ [|show] ] * [|v]
 * [|t]
 * [|e]
 * Revolutionary War**:

West Indies and Gulf Coast
[|Bernardo de Gálvez] Main article: [|Caribbean theater of the American Revolutionary War] There was much action in the West Indies, especially in the [|Lesser Antilles]. Although France lost [|St. Lucia] early in the war, its navy dominated the West Indies, capturing [|Dominica], [|Grenada] , [|Saint Vincent] , [|Montserrat] , [|Tobago] , [|St. Kitts] and the [|Turks and Caicos] between 1778 and 1782. [|Dutch possessions] in the West Indies and South America [|were captured] by Britain [|but later recaptured] by France and restored to the [|Dutch Republic]. At the [|Battle of the Saintes] in April 1782, a victory by Rodney's fleet over the French [|Admiral de Grasse] frustrated the hopes of France and Spain to take [|Jamaica] and other colonies from the British.[// [|citation needed] //] On the [|Gulf Coast], [|Count Bernardo de Gálvez] , the Spanish [|governor] of [|Louisiana] , quickly removed the British from their outposts on the lower [|Mississippi River] in 1779 in actions at [|Manchac] and [|Baton Rouge] in British [|West Florida]. Gálvez then captured [|Mobile] in 1780 and [|stormed and captured] the British citadel and capital of [|Pensacola] in 1781. On May 8, 1782, Gálvez [|captured] the British naval base at [|New Providence] in [|the Bahamas] ; it was ceded by Spain after the Treaty of Paris and simultaneously [|recovered] by British Loyalists in 1783. Gálvez' actions led to the Spanish acquisition of [|East] and West Florida in the peace settlement, denied the British the opportunity of encircling the American rebels from the south, and kept open a vital conduit for supplies to the American frontier. The Continental Congress cited Gálvez in 1785 for his aid during the revolution and George Washington took him to his right during the first [|parade of July 4]. [|[73]] Norteamerica, 1792, Jaillot-Elwe, Florida's borders after Bernardo Gálvez's military actions. Central America was also subject to conflict between Britain and Spain, as Britain sought to expand its influence beyond coastal logging and fishing communities in present-day [|Belize], [|Honduras] , and [|Nicaragua]. Expeditions against [|San Fernando de Omoa] in 1779 and [|San Juan] in 1780 (the latter famously led by a young [|Horatio Nelson] ) met with only temporary success before being abandoned due to disease. The Spanish colonial leaders, in turn, could not completely eliminate British influences along the [|Mosquito Coast]. Except for the French acquisition of [|Tobago], sovereignty in the West Indies was returned to the // [|status quo ante bellum] // in the peace of 1783.

India and the Netherlands
**American** [|East Indies] ||   || When word reached India in 1778 that France had entered the war, the [|British East India Company] moved quickly to capture French colonial outposts there, [|capturing Pondicherry] after two months of siege. [|[74]] The capture of the French-controlled port of [|Mahé] on India's west coast motivated [|Mysore] 's ruler, [|Hyder Ali] (who was already upset at other British actions, and benefited from trade through the port), to open the [|Second Anglo-Mysore War] in 1780. Ali, and later his son [|Tipu Sultan], almost drove the British from southern India but was frustrated by weak French support, and the war ended //status quo ante bellum// with the 1784 [|Treaty of Mangalore]. French opposition was led in 1782 and 1783 by Admiral the [|Baillie de Suffren], who [|recaptured Trincomalee] from the British and fought five celebrated, but largely inconclusive, naval engagements against British Admiral [|Sir Edward Hughes]. [|[75]] France's Indian colonies were returned after the war. [|Suffren] meeting with ally [|Hyder Ali] in 1783. J.B. Morret engraving, 1789 The Dutch Republic, nominally neutral, had been trading with the Americans, exchanging Dutch arms and munitions for American colonial wares (in contravention of the British // [|Navigation Acts] //), primarily through activity based in [|St. Eustatius], before the French formally entered the war. [|[76]] The British considered this trade to include contraband military supplies and had attempted to stop it, at first diplomatically by appealing to previous treaty obligations, interpretation of whose terms the two nations disagreed on, and then by searching and seizing Dutch merchant ships. The situation escalated when the British [|seized a Dutch merchant convoy sailing under Dutch naval escort] in December 1779, prompting the Dutch to join the [|League of Armed Neutrality]. Britain responded to this decision by declaring war on the Dutch in December 1780, sparking the [|Fourth Anglo-Dutch War]. [|[77]] The war was a military and economic disaster for the Dutch Republic. Paralyzed by internal political divisions, it could not respond effectively to British blockades of its coast and the capture of many of its colonies. In the 1784 peace treaty between the two nations, the Dutch lost the Indian port of [|Negapatam] and were forced to make trade concessions. [|[78]] The Dutch Republic signed a friendship and trade agreement with the United States in 1782, and was the second country (after France) to formally recognize the United States. [|[79]]
 * ||||~ [ [|show] ] * [|v]
 * [|t]
 * [|e]
 * Revolutionary War**: