The Struggle for Liberty

1. Topic 27 The Struggle for Liberty

2. Review from Topic 26 • What were some of the strengths and weaknesses of: • The Patriots? • The Loyalists? • The British Forces? • What happened at: • Lexington and Concord • Bunker Hill

3. Should we take Canada? • General Richard Montgomery captured Quebec. • General Benedict Arnold waited for Montgomery’s help and attempted to capture Montreal during a blizzard and… • EPIC FAIL! • Continental Army doesn’t focus on Canada after that.

4. Long Island (New York) – Aug 1776 • After Washington forced the British out of Boston, he went to Long Island with 23,000 troops to wait for them. • British General Howe showed up with over 32,000 troops. • A series of battles has Washington’s forces retreating across NY’s Hudson River into New Jersey, then across the Delaware into Pennsylvania. • Loses a majority of his men and his supplies fighting and retreating.

5. New Jersey Battles • Trenton – Dec 25, 1776 • Washington has to convince his 6,000 remaining troops to stay and fight. • Brit. General Howe left Trenton, NJ protected by the Hessians (German Mercenaries). • Washington crossed the Delaware and launched a surprise attack. • Over 900 Hessians taken prisoner. VICTORY!!! • Princeton – Jan 2, 1777 • Brit. General Cornwallis came to try and stop Washington in Princeton. • Washington tricked them into attacking the abandoned camp while the Colonial troops snuck up and attacked behind Brit. Lines.

6. Saratoga – October 1777 • British were hungering for a win. • Plan was for Brit. General Burgoyne to attack from Canada and Brit. General Howe to come up the Hudson River. • The timing didn’t quite work out for the British. • Colonial Troops managed to surround Burgoyne, who was lost in the woods. • Benedict Arnold again a hero because he drove the Brits back toward Canada. • Turning point of the war!

7. Battle Maps! • Break into four groups. • Draw out battle plans for your assigned battle: • Long Island (New York) • Trenton • Princeton • Saratoga • Share maps. • Now, journal write – using these battles, convince other countries to support the American Cause!

8. French Alliance -- 1777 • Ben Franklin goes to France to persuade King Louis XVI to aid America. • Battle of Saratoga convinced the French to officially help. • Treaty to aid the US signed in 1778. • Netherlands and Spain offered aid as well.

9. Help from Europe • Foreign Friends: • Marquis de Lafayette – Frenchman; served without pay, didn’t speak English, but was so passionate and skilled! • Baron Friedrich von Steuben – Prussian (German); worked with Washington on fine-tuning the Colonial Minutemen into real skilled and disciplined soldiers. • Bernardo de Galvez – Spanish; governor of Spanish Louisiana. Fought British troops in the western lands.

10. Valley Forge – Winter of 1777-78 • Winter camp for Washington’s troops north of Philadelphia. • Lacked many basic supplies because the states were squabbling over funding the war. • No shirts, no shoes, lots of problems! • Damp, drafty and COLD. • Over 2,000 of the 12,000 troops died of diseases and frostbite.

11. War at Sea • French Navy helped the Colonists immensely, helping us start the Marines and the Continental Navy. • John Paul Jones, scottish – helped take over many British supply ships. Is called the father of the American Navy. • Launched a capture of the British supply fort in Nassau, Bahamas. • Used fewer than 100 ships during the war, but ruined over 200 British ships.

12. War in the West • Both sides tried to use the Natives. British were more successful. Why? • George Rogers Clark led a series of attacks in the Appalachian Mountains against British trade towns. • Tricked the British into surrendering at Fort Sackville by using lots of flags and gunfire.

13. The War in the South • British brutally ruined crops, burned farms, killed animals and colonial soldiers, etc. as they headed south. • They even had control of Savannah and Charleston! • Guerrilla warfare became a key strategy for the outnumbered Colonials. • Cowpens , SC– Jan 1781 • Patriot General Morgan divided soldiers into two lines and told soldiers to attack twice, then retreat. • Brits followed retreating soldiers right into the second line!

14. Not looking so good…  • Patriots were tired, outnumbered, and low on supplies and pay. • British controlled most of the south, Philadelphia and New York City. • Benedict Arnold became a traitor and opened up the Fort at West Point for the British!

15. Yorktown – Sept-Oct 1781 • British General Cornwallis marches into Yorktown to try and communicate with British Naval Fleet. • Washington marched his troops down from New York and trapped Cornwallis on the Yorktown Peninsula. • Used Lafayette’s and the Comte de Rochambeau ‘s troops to surround Cornwallis! • French Fleet sitting in Chesapeake Bay preventing escape! • After weeks of fighting, Washington launches a major attack and the British surrender. • America Rocks!

16. The British Surrender!! • October 19, 1781 the British surrendered at Yorktown • Discuss – What would you have asked for as a Patriot? Loyalist? British Soldier? • Americans got nearly everything they requested in the peace talks, led by Ben Franklin. • USA from Atlantic to Mississippi; Great Lakes down to Florida (now Spanish again). • April 15, 1783 Treaty of Paris ratified.