Chapter 4 – The Road to Independence

1. Chapter 4 –The Road to Independence Section 4 – Fighting for Independence

2. The Siege of Boston • After the Battle of Lexington and Concord, 20,000 armed Patriots surrounded Boston, keeping the 6,000 British soldiers in the city. • Patriots needed military equipment • Colonel Ethan Allen led the Vermont militia into northern New York; surprised and captured Fort Ticonderoga and got cannons and other supplies

3. The Battle of Bunker Hill • Americans were on top of two hills (Breed’s Hill and Bunker Hill) in June 1775 • British army attacked: • Tightly packed lines of redcoats marched up Breed’s Hill. As they approached the top, 1,600 Patriots shot at them. The redcoats retreated • British launched a second attack. Same result. • British launched a third attack. Patriots had run out of ammunition and had to retreat. British forces then quickly took over Bunker Hill. • 1,100 of 2,400 British soldiers had been killed or wounded • Fewer than 400 of the 1,600 Patriots were killed, wounded or missing.

4. Strengths and Weaknesses • The British • Strengths • Well-equipped, disciplined, trained army • World’s best navy • 50,000 Loyalists (?) fought on the side of the British • Some southern African Americans fought on the side of England (which promised them freedom) • Native Americans • 30,000 mercenaries (colonists called them “Hessians”) • Weaknesses • War unpopular in England • English sympathized with Americans and resented paying taxes to fight the war • Troops fighting in hostile territory • British commanders refused to adapt their tactics to conditions in America

5. Strengths and Weakness, continued • The Americans • Strengths • Patriots fighting on friendly territory • Many officers use tactics that worked in French and Indian War • George Washington • Most African Americans • Weaknesses • No well-supplied, stable and effective fighting force • New soldiers constantly arriving, experienced constantly leaving

6. Result of Battle of Bunker Hill Location of war Loyalists War tactics British Americans Neither Both Use Notecards

7. The Fighting • By October 1776, Patriots had retreated from NY into PA. Many troops deserted. • Fearing for their safety, Continental Congress fled Philadelphia • December 1776 – Tom Paine to the rescue with a pamphlet, The Crisis. “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it NOW, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.” • Battle of Trenton – Christmas night 1776 – cross the Delaware River – surprised and captured 1,400 Hessians in Trenton. Patriots only had 5 casualties. • January of 1777 – GW surprised British in Princeton and captured the town. • Those 2 victories helped morale and got more soldiers to sign up. • July 1777, British occupied Philadelphia as Congress fled again. GW lost at the Battles of Brandywine Creek and Germantown. • October of 1777, Patriots won a major battle in Saratoga NY, called the Battle of Saratoga. Because of that victory, the French decided that the Americans might actually win, so they joined our fight in 1778. 1779, Spain joined. 1780, the Netherlands joined.