Unit 03: Winning Independence (1776-1777)

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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

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