The World Turned Upside Down

1. The World Turned Upside Down

2. Help From Europe, Huzzah! When the war in America began, there were no other wars going on in Europe. Many out of work European soldiers offered their services to the American cause for a paycheck. The Marquis de Lafayette was a rich Frenchman whose father was killed by the British.

3. Help From Europe, Huzzah! He wanted to avenge his father’s death and help the Americans with their fight for freedom. The Marquis did believe the American’s fight for freedom. The Marquis bought a ship and paid soldiers to come to America with him.

4. The Marquis became a general on Washington’s staff and suffered with the rest of the soldiers during the cold winters at Valley Forge The Marquis de Lafayette earned the respect of Washington and the men who served with him.

5. Help From Europe, Huzzah! Baron Friedrich Von Steuben said he was an officer from the Prussian army. This was not true. Von Steuben was a fine drill master. During the long, cold winter at Valley Forge Camp, Von Steuben taught Washington’s men how to march, load their guns quickly, and take orders.

6. By the time Spring arrived, Von Steuben turned Washington’s farmers into a real army.

7. Thaddeus Kosciusko • Thaddeus Kosciusko was an engineer who built a fort near the town of Saratoga, New York. • At this spot the Americans stopped British General Burgoyne’s advance and won an important victory.

8. France Agrees to an Alliance • Benjamin Franklin has been in France trying to persuade the French to fight with the Americans. • The French would love to see the British lose, but they are not sure the Americans can win and they do not want to be on the losing side again. • When the Americans win at the Battle of Saratoga and capture British General Burgoyne, the French are finally convinced that the Americans could win their war for independence. • France immediately sent lots of gunpowder, money, officers, soldiers, and their navy.

9. More Help from Europe • Spain also joined the war against Britain. • The Governor of Spanish Louisiana, Bernardo de Gálvez captured key British forts along the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico. • These victories severely weakened British power in the Southeast region of our country.

10. War in the West • West of the Appalachian Mountains and east of the Mississippi River, a British officer named Tarleton, was paying the local Native Americans to murder American Colonials. • Tarleton earned the nickname, “The Hair Buyer,” because he would pay Indians for American scalps. • Many American colonists in this region were terrified of Indian attacks. • Tarleton told the colonists that if they pledged their loyalty to the King, he would protect them from the Indians. What do you think of this promise of Tarleton’s?

11. War in the West • George Rogers Clark was an American woodsman who has been fighting Native American groups for years to clear lands for more settlers. • Clark was not only an Indian fighter. He also could negotiate with some of the tribes because he knew their language and customs. • He was 25 when he persuaded Virginia Governor, Patrick Henry, to let him gather a force to take the Ohio Valley from British and Indian forces.

12. George Rogers Clark • Clark quickly captured two strategically located British forts: Cahokia and Kaskaskia located on the Mississippi River. • Clark also convinced the French settlers in this region to join the American side against the British.

13. George Rogers Clark • Clark and his 170 man army marched 180 miles through a flooded, freezing swamplands. • They spent an entire day wading in icy waters up the their shoulders.

14. George Rogers Clark Clark knew that the British would not be expecting an attack in such terrible weather. Clark surprised the British and captured Fort Vincennes.

15. George Rogers Clark • When Clark won Vincennes, he had only 150 men, most of whom were sick with chills and fever from the cold, wet journey to the fort. • Clark sent the British commander a note asking for his surrender. The commander refused. • Clark told his men to run around the fort and yell and make as much noise as they could. • His men shot at the fort from all sides and continued to run. • The British thought that Clark had a much larger army of men and couldn’t defend against the moving targets. The British surrendered. • Because Clark won these three forts: Cahokia, Kaskaskia, and Vincennes, the British lost control of the Ohio River Valley.

16. The War in the South • Since the British were not having the luck they needed in the northern or western regions of the colonies, they decided to take the war to the south. • The British were hoping to find more American allies in the south since many of these colonists depended on England for trade of their cash crops.

17. The War in the South • The British captured the city of Savannah, Georgia, Charleston and Camden, South Carolina. • Francis Marion, a militia leader from South Carolina, became famous for his surprise attacks on the British army. “We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again.” • The British kept winning battles, but it appeared they were losing the war. • Marion knew the swamps and forests of the area. • He would attack the British, and disappear into the swamps frustrating the British over and over again. • This earned Marion the nickname, “Swamp Fox.”

18. The War at Sea • The Patriots also battled the British on the ocean. • John Paul Jones was captain of the Bonhomme Richard (the French name for Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard Almanac). • Jones came under fire from a British warship the Serapis. • Jones was losing the battle badly when the British admiral asked him to surrender his ship and crew. • Famously, Jones replied, “I have not yet begun to fight!”

19. John Paul Jones

20. Jones next move saved the day. • He maneuvered his ship so that it came right up next to the side of the Serapis. • Jones tied his ship to the British warship so they could not fire the cannons. • The fighting turned to hand-to-hand combat and lasted for hours until the British commander surrendered.

21. Time to Read and Think • Open your textbooks to page 314. • Read pages 314-316 and take a good look at the map on page 317. • Answer the following questions in your spiral: • What was the effect of France and Spain’s entry into the war against Britian? • Why was the victory of John Paul Jones so important? • Looking at the map, draw a conclusion about the British OR the Americans chance for victory.

22. Victory at Yorktown • Nathanael Greene was in command of the American Army in the south. • British General Charles Cornwallis was in command of the British army in the south. • Greene’s strategy was to use the open spaces of the south to his advantage. • Greene forced Cornwallis to chase him back and forth across North Carolina. • This strategy began to wear down the British army. • Cornwallis decided to take a break at a port city called Yorktown, Virginia • Cornwallis was promised fresh men and supplies would be coming by the sea. He just needed to sit and wait.

23. British Lord Charles Cornwallis American Nathanael Greene

24. Victory at Yorktown • Washington knew and opportunity when he saw one. • He needed to leave New York and trap Cornwallis in Yorktown. • Washington would join with Greene and American and French soldiers could surround the city by land. • The final piece would be if the French navy could blockade the harbor and prevent British ships from entering. • This final piece would leave Cornwallis trapped without the hope of help arriving.

25. Victory at Yorktown • Washington arrived at Yorktown in September and joined the Marquis de Lafayette, Baron Von Steuben already in Yorktown. • The French fleet took its position in Chesapeake Bay and sent the ships with the supplies for Cornwallis back to New York. • Day after day Washington ordered American cannons and artillery to pound the city. By night the American army dug deep trenches in a half circle around the city.

26. Victory at Yorktown

27. Victory at Yorktown • Cornwallis tried to save his soldiers by sailing them across the York river, but a sudden storm swamped the boats. (Can you believe this happened again!) • An English drummer climbed on top of a trench and beat his drums. An English officer followed waving a white handkerchief. • The date was October 17, 1781. The British army was surrendering. Two days later American and French soldiers stood in two long lines. Between them marched defeated British and German soldiers.

28. The British came through the lines singing “The World Turned Upside Down.” They lay down their weapons before the Americans and French as they passed.

29. The World Turned Upside Down If buttercups buzzed after the bee; If boats were on land, churched on sea; If ponies rode men and grass ate the cows; And cats should be chased to holes by the mouse; If the mammas sold their babied to gypsies for half a crown; Summer were spring and the t’other way round; Then all the world would be upside down. What was the meaning of singing this song as they surrendered?

30. Surrender at Yorktown Following military custom, Cornwallis surrendered his sword to General Washington. Cornwallis tried to give his sword to an aide of his to give to Washington, but the American commander refused to take it from anyone but the General himself.

31. Treaty of Paris • The American revolution was officially over in 1783, two years after the Americans defeated Cornwallis. • The Treaty of Paris was signed in Paris, France by both American representatives and representatives of the King. • Great Britain formally acknowledged America as a free and independent nation. • The struggle with the war was over, but a new one was just beginning. What kind of government would we choose? What were we going to do about slavery?