Continental Army v.s British

• General Howe surrendered after seeing canons lined up and aimed at him

• Britain got the biggest army they have ever put together (at the time) and sent it to America

  Continental Army

British

Challenges for Continental Army

• British landed troops in NY

  • The same month independence was voted for

    • (July 1776)

  • troops were looking for Washington

• Washington brings his forces from Boston to NYC

  • the army was no match for the British

  • found out he wasn’t all that as a general

• Howe had a large navy and team

  • 34,000 troops

  • 10,000 sailors

• Washington has a poor team

  • no navy

  • 20,000 poorly trained troops

Battle of Long Island

• June-July 1776: British invade NY

  • King George just read the olive branch petition

    • serious and sent the largest force they ever sent then

• July 1776: John Adams and Ben Franklin meet with General Howe on Staten Island to discuss peace

  • Howe was supposed to be a diplomat and go after Washington

• August 1776

  • 20,000 untrained soldiers

    • some stayed to protect Boston

      • 8,000 remaining

  • Howe: 13,000 soldiers

  • Washington: 8,000 soldiers

    • Washington loses but is saved by John Glover and the Marblehead

  • Fort Lee and Fort Washington were made to prevent the British from going upstream

  • Howe attacks at Brooklyn Heights

    • Washington wanted to fight Bunker Hill style

    • Howe predicted Washington’s plan

    • Howe wanted to attack from behind

    • Washington had scouts watching his flank

      • Scouts got drunk and didn’t alert about the flank

    • Washington escaped to Manhattan

      • got trapped because the navy was there

      • Howe wanted to be peaceful and talk things out

      • Glover and the Marblehead saved Washington

        • A fog came over at the right time to hide them from escaping

  • Howe goes to attack Kip’s Bay

  • Harlem Heights

    • Hold off the British so Americans could escape

  • Washington escapes to PA while Charles Lee was getting captured

    • Easy to get from PA to NJ

  • Patriots in trouble

    • low supplies and morale

    • people leaving the army

  • Washington had the remaining army read The Crisis themselves

    • amount of people leaving decreased

    • still needed to get people to re-enlist

• Battle of Trenton (1776)

  • needed a quick victory to boost morale

  • Hessians guarding Trenton, NJ

  • attacked 1,500 Hessians on Christmas

  • distracted because Christmas and winter

    • Winter means low supplies and more food needing to be made

  • Glover helped Washington cross the Delaware river

    • amphibious attack

    • Washington won

    • 1,000 captured Hessians

    • 6 men died (Washington troops)

  • enough to keep the army together

  • Cornwallis heads to Trenton (January 2, 1777)

    • surrounded them

    • Washington kept campfires lit to trick them into thinking that they were still at camp

• Battle of Princeton (January 3, 1777)

  • met smaller part of Cornwallis’ army

  • Washington wanted to fight them

  • Washington won

    • no tricks/cheats

  • went to Morristown, NJ

  • kept the army together too (morale)

• Meanwhile…

  • 1776: British sent 10,000 soldiers to Canada

  • Arnold commanded the remainder of the army (Battle of Quebec)

    • met up with Horatio Gates (a Patriot)

      • put Arnold in charge of getting warships out to protect Lake Champlain

  • Charles and Horatio hated Washington

    • people trusted Washington just because he was a colonist

  • Arnold needed to slow down the British

    • built a navy at Lake Champlain

    • Americans: poorly built ships

    • British: disassemble and assemble

  • Lake Champlain was a good transportation route

    • whoever controlled it controlled trade, transportation, etc.

  • Arnold got help from people in New Hampshire to build boats

  • whoever finished making boats got to fight faster

    • British destroyed American Army

      • Slowed them down

        • ended as a tie, but technically a win for the Patriots

  • Known as Valcour Bay

• Saratoga (1777)

  • Spring 1777: General John Burgoyne planned to defeat the Americans

    • 3 armies go to Albany and destroy the Americans

      • each one came from Montreal, Hudson, and Mohawk → left the Americans to have to go to New England (East)

        • British would control the whole waterway

    • 3 armies:

      • Burgoyne (North)

      • Howe (South)

      • St. Leger (West)

  • Howe broke away from his plan to get Washington and go back to Albany

  • Americans drove 1 of the enemies (St. Leger) to Fort Stanwix

  • Arnold played psychological tricks

    • spread propaganda

  • 8,000 troops left to fight (Burgoyne)

  • Several days long

  • Americans won

  • Burgoyne had to surrender his army

  • Arnold was amazing leaving Horatio (the higher-up) in the shadows

    • Horatio benches Arnold (the bullet from the Battle of Quebec)

      • Horatio starts to lose

        • Arnold hears and asks Daniel Morgan what’s happening

          • saves the day

            • Arnold gets shot in the same leg again

• Howe goes to Philadelphia, PA

  • Washington + Continental Congress were here

    • wanted to arrest the Continental Congress

  • believed that capturing the 2 would end the revolution

  • Howe ended up loving Philly

  • left General Clinton in charge of NYC

• Col. St. Leger

  • lost to Arnold Benedict

  • Native Americans backed out of helping after hearing that Arnold had a larger army

  • Went to Fort Stanwix

    • Arnold captured them

• Horatio Gates

  • fought outside Saratoga(3 days long)

  • would’ve lost if Howe showed up

• Clinton

  • didn’t have enough troops

    • asked by Burgoyne to send troops

• no one got to Albany

• Arnold Benedict

  • helps Horatio because he was doing a bad job

  • asks Daniel Morgan for help

• Daniel Morgan

  • had riflemen and musketmen

  • the rifle is more accurate

    • cork grooves make the ball spin at a guaranteed spin

  • hunting weapons like these made it easy to pick off the British

    • would shoot the sergeants/generals

      • brains told the army what to do

  • the rifle was just one weapon

    • couldn’t put a bayonet on it

  • the musket could do 3 things

  • put a leather patch to make the ball spin without losing force (rifle

• Horatio got credit instead

• After Saratoga

  • France helps America secretly

    • not openly fighting but helped with money and supplies

      • saw them win Saratoga so they helped openly

• Washington gets Princeton by luck

• Arnold was upset that Gates ignored him and tried to take credit

• Middle states

  • Howe after Washington and Continental Congress

• Brandywine, Germantown, Valley Forge

  • Brandywine and Germantown important battles in PA

    • Washington lost → kept them occupied

      • Gates wouldn’t have won (?)

    • lots of loyalists in PA

      • British helped with trade and ports

  • Howe wins Brandywine

    • (9/11/1777)

  • wins Paoli

    • (9/20/1777)

  • wins Germantown

    • Americans lost to a house

    • (10/4/1777)

  • Washington and soldiers → bad at repositioning

• Brandywine

  • Cornwallis comes North secretly

  • Howe distracted them

• Paoli

  • Americans lost because they were sleeping

• Germantown

  • Washington had a 3 prong plan

    • 1 prong was too small

    • 1 got lost

    • 1 lost to a house

      • distracted by a house that held British soldiers

        • Knox wanted to get rid of them

      • the friendly fire happened a lot

        • Americans had no uniforms

        • not all Red Coats wore red coats

• Saratoga

  • (10/7/1777)

• Arnold + Morgan = best generals

  • better than Washington

• Valley Forge

  • Americans go to Valley Forge

• French economy crumbled because of the revolution

  • king gets beheaded

• Baron Von Steuben

  • Prussian drill master

  • meets up with Ben Franklin saying he wants to help

  • goes to Washington

  • Alexander Hamilton helps translate to English (Steuben spoke 4 languages but none were English)

  • confused why Americans asked so many questions

  • Steuben trained the Americans

    • helped them not run away

    • bonded them together

      • a team is better than multiple individuals