The American Revolution

1. The American Revolution The Creation of the Continental Army and Its Role in the War for Independence

2. Beginnings The American colonies relied on small militia units for local protection and the British army and navy for anything larger than attacks by Native Americans. When tensions between the colonies and Britain grew in the 1770s, special militia groups were created – these were known as ‘minute men’ in New England.

3. Lexington The Revolution began in April 1775 when a group of minute men traded shots with a British army unit in Lexington, Massachusetts. New England towns then called for the creation of special militia units for defense against “British tyranny.” Other colonies followed suit and King George III declared the colonies to be in rebellion.

4. Continental Battlefield Both sides in the Revolution faced the difficulties of supplying and maneuvering over thousands of miles of ground, ranging from coastal regions to mountains. The British army would have to supply its troops with most of the needed supplies by maintaining enough ports for the British Navy. The colonists would have to manufacture much of what it needed – or buy supplies from sellers in Europe.

5. Bunker Hill The first major battle was at ‘Bunker’ Hill, across from Boston – a very expensive British victory over American militia units.

6. A ‘National’ Army When the Continental Congress in Philadelphia authorized the creation of a national defense force – a Continental Army – in 1775, it took the first major step toward independence. This occurred more than year before the Declaration of Independence was written and signed. Joseph Plumb Martin’s memoir, written years after the Revolution, is the most detailed story of a soldier in the Continental Army.

7. War and Faith Religion induced many men to join the militias or the Continental Army – New Englanders (descendants of Puritanism) had long suspected the Church of England as supporting a ‘tyrannical’ monarchy, while many British soldiers saw the American ‘rebels’ as heirs of Oliver Cromwell.

8. Rebellion and Faith Churchmen served in the Continental Army and not just as chaplains. More than twenty years before the Revolution, Jonathan Mayhew wrote and gave sermons that attacked the monarchy as a ‘sinful tyranny.’ During the Revolution, John Peter Muhlenberg was a clergyman who commanded a regiment in George Washington’s army. He later served in Congress.

9. Pay for Service Congress offered up to $150 in bounty for an enlistment; state governments offered various sums for bounty. Most soldiers received but a few shillings in actual pay – and pay was often late or never arrived at all. Pay was uncertain during the war. Land was often used to pay for service – this land warrant was issued to Isaac Fleetwood for his service in the “Virginia State Navy” (probably an armed merchant ship used to attack British traders).

10. Armies Exist on Their Feet and Stomachs Soldiers who fought in the battles of the Revulsion spent far more time marching than they ever did in actual combat. Militia troops and members of the British and Continental army marched hundreds of miles each year. Because many of the soldiers were farmers, they often enlisted for only three or six months service, allowing them time (if they survived) to manage their planting and harvests. In late 1776, Washington’s army nearly collapsed then enlistments were coming to an end for over 50% of his men.

11. Non-professional Officers The British fought the war with soldiers commanded by professional officers of the British army (or professional mercenaries obtained the German states). The Americans had no properly trained or experienced officers – Washington commanded because he has fought in the French and Indian War. Many American officers learned soldiering from books or by trial and error. Nathaniel Greene was a business owner who rose from private in a militia company to Washington’s most reliable and victorious general.

12. The War and Minorities 1780 sketch of soldiers in a Rhode Island Regiment, including and African-American guardsman. Native Americans tended to favor a British victory for fear an American triumph would accelerate a western movement. Many tribes remained neutral to see who would win. 5000 African-Americans served in the American forces, but 20,000 joined the British, lured by promises of freedom from slavery.

13. Battle Line Because of the short range and inaccuracy of the musket, wars were fought with men lined up in formation, shoulder to shoulder, firing volleys. Speed of reloading was vital to survival.

14. Fear of the Bayonet American soldiers feared the British (and Hessian) expertise in bayonet charges. Guilford Courthouse (1781) was a rare action in which American soldiers used the bayonet to stop a British attack.

15. Winning the West George Rogers Clark used very small forces in the west (between the mountains and the Mississippi) to seize a number of key forts and fur trading posts from the British between 1777 and 1779. This allowed the United States to claim the ‘old northwest’ in the treaty negotiations that ended the war. From these lands the states of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin were created. Clark’s younger brother William later explored further lands even further west with Meriwether Lewis. Clark seized Fort Sackville (below) in 1779

16. The Lowest Points – New York With concise maneuvers and hardened troops, the British forced Washington to retreat from New York in September 1776. This French engraving depicts the entry of the British army into New York City.

17. Lowest Points -- Brandywine Defeated at Brandywine in September 1777, Washington was forced to retreat and the British marched on to occupy Philadelphia, forcing the Continental Congress to flee alternative towns in Pennsylvania. The British anticipated total victory in 1778.

18. The Lowest Points – Valley Forge "Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it." – Thomas Paine, The Crisis, 1778

19. Keeping the Army in Being The American victory at Saratoga (NY) in 1778 induced France to join the war as America’s ally. The American army at Saratoga, led by Benedict Arnold and Horatio Gates, forced the surrender of a British army marching from Canada to take control of the Hudson River. Washington’s Continental Army was intended to exceed 20,000 men, but seldom had more than 14-15,000 at any one time. But so long as it existed, and so long as state militia units continued to resist, the British could not end the Revolution.

20. Southern Campaign Forced by the American victory at Saratoga to abandon its strategy of starving New England into surrender, the British moved its main army to South Carolina, seeking allies in the south and access to southern food crops to feed its troops. French naval forces were hampering supply shipments from Britain.

21. Reliance on the Long Rifle Daniel Morgan, a poorly educated, hard-drinking and gambling Virginian, relied on sharpshooters armed with Pennsylvania-made ‘long rifles’ when he commanded a regiment for Washington. His victory at Cowpens in 1781 created the opportunity for Washington to win the war.

22. Commercial and Trade Problems This cartoon depicts the British dilemma by 1781 – French, Dutch and Spanish traders were using the war to grab shares of British trade (hence the cow losing its horns) French forces were threatening India and the Caribbean and the British image (the lion) was being tarnished worldwide.

23. Victory at Yorktown In 1781, Washington’s army, reinforced by French troops and aided by a French fleet, trapped the main British army at Yorktown, Virginia. Facing starvation and annihilation, the British commander surrendered. Britain could not continue the war for fear of losing India or all of North America,

24. Peace Cartoon celebrates the signing of the Treaty of Paris, recognizing American independence, in 1783.

25. End of the Army “I have now the honor of offering my sincere Congratulations to Congress [on the Treaty of Paris] and of presenting myself before them to surrender into their hands the trust committed to me, and to claim the indulgence of retiring from the Service of my Country.” Washington had held the Continental Army in readiness should peace talks fail. At one point he quelled a brief suggestion by disgruntled officers to threaten the Congress over back pay. He also rejected offers to be crowned as an American monarch. In December, 1783, he resigned his commission and retired to his home in Virginia.