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Victory. Section 4.4. Main Idea. A strengthened Continental Army, along with European allies, helped achieve a victory at Yorktown. War in West. UK held many forts in the frontier along the Mississippi River.
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Victory Section 4.4
Main Idea • A strengthened Continental Army, along with European allies, helped achieve a victory at Yorktown.
War in West • UK held many forts in the frontier along the Mississippi River. • Virginia Governor Patrick Henry sent a group of militia through the backcountry to defeat the British in Illinois and Indiana.
War in the South • The southern states had more loyalists, and the British thought that they could easily win the war there. • The UK invades SC and begins to march north. • Washington appointed Nathanael Greene as commander of the southern army. • Greene had few troops, but he won or inflicted massive casualties on the British throughout SC and NC. • The British were lead by Charles Cornwallis.
War in North Carolina • In early 1781 UK and US forces met at Kings Mountain. • In a reverse of Bunker Hill, the British were surrounded and had to surrender to the Americans. • Cornwallis marched toward Virginia. • Greene was waiting at Guilford Courthouse. • In March of 1781, the battle began. • Cornwallis would force Greene to retreat, but the victory cost Cornwallis many soldiers, he needed to get to the coast for reinforcements.
US Allies • Continental Congress sent Ben Franklin to France to secure aid. • The French nobleman Marquis de Lafayette volunteered and became the most trusted aid of Washington. • French send gunpowder, cannon, muskets, but they refused to send men until the victory at Saratoga. • The French recognized US sovereignty (independence) and sent troops to help the Revolution.
Spanish Aide • Spain became a US ally. • Though the US and Spain never fought side by side, the Spanish weakened British forces in the west and the Caribbean.
Final Curtain • Desperate for reinforcements, British Gen Cornwallis marches toward the Chesapeake Bay for a rendezvous with the British Navy. • GW army pinned Cornwallis down on a peninsula near Yorktown, VA. • French navy blockades their escape by sea. • Cornwallis surrenders in 1781. • Last major battle of Revolution!!!
Treaty of Paris • Britain still had plenty of troops, but most in London were tired of war. • John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay were sent to negotiate peace with UK. • Treaty of Paris, 1783. • US gets independence. • US gets all land east of Mississippi and south of present day Canada (except Florida) • Loyalists were not to be persecuted. • British debts were to be paid.
So What? • The details of the Treaty of Paris would be haggled over for another 30 years. • US and Britain go back to war in 1812. • US alliance very rocky at first, but states stick together. • US the first of many colonies that would eventually successfully rebel against European empires.