Ticonderoga

• On May 10th, 1775, Americans attacked British Fort Ticonderoga on the New York side of Lake Champlain.

• Ethan Allen led this band of backwoodsmen known as the Green Mountain Boys.

• They captured forts and its large supply of cannons and large guns.

Second Continental Congress

• Began meeting in Philadelphia. Delegates included John and Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and Patrick Henry.

• They agreed to form the Continental Army. Washington was chosen as it’s commanding general. He had served as a colonial officer during the French and Indian War.

• Congress also authorized the printing of paper money to pay the troops. It was beginning to act as a government.

Bunker Hill• Militiamen seized Bunker Hill and Breed’s Hill behind

Charlestown. They built fortifications on Breed’s Hill. Alarmed, the British decided to attack.

• General William Howe crossed the bay with 2,200 British soldiers. On the hilltop, the militia waited.

• When the British got close, the militia unleashed murderous fire. The British forced the militia off the hill.

Olive Branch Petition• In July 1775, moderates in

Congress drafted the Olive Branch Petition and sent it to London. This document asked the king to restore harmony between Britain and the colonies.

• Some members opposed the petition but signed it away at the last hope.

• The king rejected the petition, however, and announced new measures to punish the colonies, He would use the British navy to block American ships from leaving their ports and also send thousands of German soldiers, called Hessians, to fight in America.

Quebec Benedict Arnold

• One of the leaders of this expedition was Benedict Arnold.

• He was an officer who had played a role in the victory at Fort Ticonderoga.

• After a grueling march across Maine, Arnold arrived at Quebec in November 1775.

• The American's launched their attack, but failed after a few months they limped home in defeat.

Dorchester Heights• Washington moved

his troops to Dorchester Heights.

• The Americans threatened to bombard the city.

• General Howe, who was now in charge of the British Forces and decided to withdraw his troops.

“Common Sense”• “Common Sense”

helped convince many Americans that a complete break with Britain was necessary.

• “Common Sense” was written by Thomas Paine.

• Thomas Paine disagreed with the economic arguments for remaining with Britain.

Declaration Of Independence

• The committee included Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, and Thomas Jefferson

• Why a group of people should separate from their country is because if the war were to be lost, they would most likely be hanged.

• In the Declaration Of Independence it had 27 reasons and the colonies wanted to break away from Britain. It was because of Britain's unwillingness to solve the problems colonists were declaring about their independence from Britain.

New York

• Britain General William Howe arrived in New York with a large army.

• Then more soldiers came including 9,000 Hessian mercenaries.

• Mercenaries are professional soldiers hired to fight for a foreign country.

Trenton

• Washington's troop rowed across the icy Delaware River to New Jersey.

• From there they marched in bitter early morning cold to Trenton to surprise the Hessians.

• Some of whom were sleeping after Christmas Celebration.

Princeton

• Washington had another victory at Princeton.• All of Washington's victories made people

believe that the American General was better than the British thought.

• British were perusing a new strategy.

British Strategy to defeat Patriots

• British were perusing a strategy and over all plan of action to seize the Hudson River Valley.

• The Strategy called three armies to meat at Albany, to New York.

• General John Burgoyne would lead a force from Canada.

Saratoga

• Burgoyne's army ran out of supplies and needed horses.

• On September 19th Burgoyne attacked Gates.• On October 7th another battle broke out.• Arnold got shot in the leg.• Burgoyne finally surrendered and its now known as

the Battle of Saratoga.

Europeans Help

• Along with the Lafayette came the Baron de Kalp, a German officer who had served in the French Army.

• He became one of Washington's Generals and earned a reputation for bravery.

• In 1780, he received wounds in the battle of Camden and died.

Valley Forge

• Valley Forge came to stand for the great hardships that Americans endured in the Revolutionary War.

• Over winter soldiers at Valley Forge grew weak from not having enough food or warm clothing.

• Roughly a quarter of them died from Diseases like small pox and typhoid fever.

Ft. Sackville

• Arnold sent a captured loyalist and some Iroquois who were American allies to spread the rumor that they had a large army.

• The army retreated so fast that it left behind tents.

• St. Legers fight and Howe's refusal to fallow the strategy.

• No one was left to rendezvous with Burgoyne.

John Paul Jones

• Commander of the ship Bonhomme Richard. • Came head to head with British vessel and took

over the surrendered British ship. • Jones’ success against the best navy ship

impressed the Americas.

Savannah

• December 1778 British captured the port of Savannah, Georgia.

• Used Savannah as a base, then they conquered most of Georgia.

Charles Town

• British trapped American forces in Charles Town.

• 5,000 patriots surrendered and lost almost all of their Southern army.

• It was the worst American defeat of the war.

Camden

• General Gates lead an army of 2,000 untrained militia to Camden.

• They wanted to challenge the British army lead by lord Cornwallis.

• On the way Gates met up with Francis Marion with an army of about 20 men.

Francis MarionFrancis Marion• Fighting from the base of a swamp,

Marion’s men cut of the British supply.• Francis helped Gates with South

Carolina’s swampland. • They fought in a style called Guerrilla. • Guerrilla is where small bands of armies

would do a surprise raid in front of the group.

Kings Mountain

• A vicious battle on the border of North and South Carolina.

• After surrounding a force of about 1,000 militia men and British soldiers.

• The Americans killed most of the British soldiers.

Yorktown • The Battle of Yorktown was a fierce battle

when the American-French army burned British buildings

• French came and blocked the bay so Washington to trap General Cornwallis.

• Washington had enough men to fight because they joined the French army lead by General Rochambeau.

• A British base to receive supplies from New York.

Yorktown

• The British surrendered their army of about 8,000 men.

• American soldiers attacked Yorktown with canon fire and burned the town to the ground.

• Small fighting continued, but this was the last major battle of the Revolutionary War.

Treaty of Paris• The Treaty of Paris ended the Revolutionary War. • The following are the six conditions of the treaty.• These united states are now independent.• Its boundaries would be the Mississippi River on the

west, Canada on the north, and Spanish Florida on the south.

• The new United States would receive the right to fish off of Canada’s Atlantic Coast, near Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.

Treaty of Paris

• Each side would repay debts it owed to each other.

• The British would return any enslaved persons they had captured.

• Congress would recommend that the states return any property they had seized from the Loyalists.