American Revolution Study Guide

Battle of Brandywine Creek

September 1777; Pennsylvania; largest single day battle; Howe vs. Washington; Howe captured Philly; British victory

Battle of Charleston

March 1780; South Carolina; Americans surrendered to Clinton; 4,500 Continental Army soldiers from the South were captured; British victory

Battle of Cowpens

January 1781; South Carolina; Morgan killed 1/6 of British forces; turning point in the South that led to the Battle of Yorktown; American victory

Battle of Guilford Courthouse

March 1781; Greensboro, North Carolina; Greene was forced to retreat, but 1/3 of the British forces were killed/injured; Cornwallis abandoned his Carolina campaign and retreated to Virginia; American victory

Battle of King’s Mountain

October 7, 1780; North Carolina; battle of the militias; the British refused to surrender, and Major Patrick Ferson was killed; forced Cornwallis to retreat to South Carolina; American victory

Battle of Long Island / Brooklyn Heights

August 1776; New York City; first major battle of the war; Patriots were outnumbered by 2:1; Washington was forced to retreat to NJ and the British took control of New York City; British victory

Battle of Monmouth

June 1778; New Jersey; Washington and Lee attacked the British Army; the Continental Army was outnumbered 2:1, but Greene, Wayne, and the Marquis de Lafayette helped force the British back to New York City; American victory

Battle of Princeton

December 1776 / January 1777; New Jersey; Washington launched a second surprise attack against the Hessians a week after Trenton; second win for Washington within 10 days; Washington captured 1,200 Hessians before both sides went to their winter camps; American victory

Battle of Saratoga

October 1777; New York; Burgoyne surrendered and Benedict Arnold was the hero of the Battle; turning point of the war; convinced the French to send supplies / money to the Americans; American victory

Battle of Ticonderoga

May 1775; New York; Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys acquired cannons that they used to force the British to evacuate Boston; American victory

Battle of Trenton

December 1776; New Jersey; Washington secretly crossed the Delaware at night and launched a surprise attack against the Hessians the morning after Christmas; first major American victory of the Continental Army; American victory

Battle of Yorktown

October 1781; Virginia; Cornwallis, surrounded by Washington, Greene, the French Navy, and French soldiers on land, surrendered; ended the War; American victory

Philis Wheatley

A Black woman poet who wrote poetry in support of the Patriot cause and corresponded with Washington, Franklin, John Adams, and Hancock during the war (American)

Marquis de Lafayette

A French noble who supported the Patriot cause and fought with Washington as a high-ranking officer (American)

Nathaniel Greene

A general and top strategist who was placed in command of the Southern division of the Continental Army by Washington (American)

Henry Clinton

A general who fought at the Battles of Bunker Hill and Long Island who later became the commander in chief of the British army and won the Battle of Charleston in 1780 when he captured 4,500 American soldiers (British)

Charles Cornwallis

A general who ultimately surrendered the British army at the Battle of Yorktown, Virginia in 1781, leading to the end of the war (British)

John Burgoyne

A general who was stationed in Canada and was ordered to move his army south towards Albany, New York in 1777 and eventually surrendered the British forces at the Battle of Saratoga (British)

William Howe

A general who was the Commander in Chief of the British Army from 1776-1778 and won the Battles of Long Island, Brandywine, and Philly and later resigned after he failed to back up the British troops at the Battle of Saratoga (British)

Horatio Gates

A general who was the Commander of the American troops at the Battle of Saratoga and who was later replaced as the commander of the Southern division of the Continental Army by General Nathaniel Greene (American)

1st Rhode Island Regiment

A group of 130 Black soldiers that is considered to be the first Black military unit in American history (American)

Francis Marion

A leader of the American militia who was given the nickname “Swamp Fox” by the British because he was so fast that they could not catch him or deal with his hit-and-run tactics (American)

Oliver Cromwell

A member of the New Jersey militia who served in the Battles of Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Monmouth, and Yorktown, and was awarded the Badge of Merit for his service before being personally discharged by Washington (American)

Sybil Luddington

A teenage girl from New York who was called the “Female Paul Revere” after riding through the countryside upstate to warn the colonists about the approaching British Army (American)

Deborah Sampson

A woman who assumed the identity of her dead brother in the 4th Massachusetts Regiment who was injured in battle; given an honorable discharge by Henry Knox after the War (American)

Richard Howe

Commander of the British navy during the War who headquartered his fleet at NYC Harbor at the start of the War (British)

Colonel Tye

Fought for the British as a Black Loyalist and the commander of the Black Brigade in New Jersey; captured the rebel leader Josiah Huddy in Colts Neck, NJ (British)

Jean Baptist de Rochambeau

French general who the French King Louis XIV placed in charge of the 6,000 French troops sent to fight in the colonies during the War (American)

Baron Fredrick von Steuben

German military commander who helped Washington train the American troops at the winter camp of Valley Forge in 1778 (American)

Benedict Arnold

Part of Washington’s inner circle who was the hero of the Battle of Saratoga in 1777, but betrayed the Americans by sharing plans to invade Canada with the British and then attacking his home state of Connecticut before fleeing to London with his Loyalist wife, Peggy Shippen (American AND British)

Lydia Barrington Darragh

Participated in the American’s “Button Code” spy operations of the war in General Howe’s Philly headquarters (American)

James Armistead Lafayette

Served as a double-agent spy during the war and was emancipated from slavery because of his heroism during the war (American)

Margaret Cobin

Served as a temporary replacement in the American artillery brigade at the Battle of Fort Washington after her husband was injured in the Battle; later became the first woman to receive a soldier’s lifetime pension

Mary Ludwig Hayes

Served as a temporary replacement in the American artillery brigade at the Battle of Monmouth after her husband was injured in the Battle (American)

Iroquois

Served as guides and scouts for the British in upstate New York, even while other members sided with the Americans (mostly British)

Anna Smith Strong

Served as part of the Culper Spy Ring in Long Island, New York, and used laundry to relay spy messages

Salem Poor

Served in the Continental Army and fought in the Battles of Bunker Hill, Monmouth, and Saratoga; credited with killing Lt. Col. James Abercrombie at the Bunker Hill, and was later honored on a U.S. postage stamp (American)

Peter Salem

Served in the Continental Army for 5 years, starting with the Battles of Lexington and Concord, and is thought to have killed British Major John Pitcairn at the Battle of Bunker Hill (American)

Crispus Attucks

The first person to die for the revolutionary cause at the Boston Massacre who became a symbol for Black American patriotism (American)

Continental Congress

The governing body of America during the war who coordinated the war effort and alliances with Europe from their headquarters in Philly, and later Baltimore, after Philly was captured (American)

Bernardo de Galvez

The Governor of Spanish New Orleans who provided supply lines along the Gulf Coast to the Americans (American)

Daniel Morgan

The hero of the Battle of Cowpens in January 1781 (the turning point of the South) where 1/6 of the British forces were killed; blazed the Wilderness Road (American)

Continental Army

The name of the American army formed by the Continental Congress in 1776 who fought against the British during the War (American)

Camp Followers / Founding Mothers

The women who traveled with the armies to tend to the cooking, laundry, and medical needs of the soldiers during the war; for Americans, the female counterpart of the founders of the nation (British OR American)

Negotiators Paris Peace Conference

This group of delegates included John Jay, Ben Franklin, John Adams, and Henry Laurens (American)

Initial British Strategy

Overpower the Americans in 1776 with one big battle and force them back into submission

Later British Strategy

Attempt to take control of all the major port cities (including Boston, NYC, Philly, and Charleston) and cut off the New England colonies to force a surrender

Later British Strategy

Seize control of the capital and he Continental Congress to force a surrender

Later British Strategy

Hire additional fighting forces (30,000 Hessians)

Later British Strategy

Utilize the Loyalist militias in the South to take control

American Strategy

“You don’t need to win; you just can’t lose” live to fight another day (Washington)

American Strategy

Prolong the War in order to acquire European assistance (France/Spain)

American Strategy

Utilize the American militias and their hit-and-run tactics

American Strategy

Attack and retreat to prolong the fighting to exhaust the British into submission