Chapter 6: The War for Independence 1774-89 - Rose State College

Vernon Maddux 33
Chapter 6
Politics and the War for Independence
“The able
Doctor, or
America
swallowing
the Bitter
Draught”
(of the
Intolerable
Acts) British
cartoon republished
in America 1774.
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 1

The British Army in North America
Maj.Gen. Thomas Gage
1721-1787
A Lieutenant with Braddock,
he became the Commanderin-Chief
British Army in
North America
No British Army regiment had been
permanently stationed in North America
until 1770. By 1775 the American British
army consisted of over 8,000 men , eight
regiments in Boston, two in New York City.
King George III had trouble recruiting troops
in England for duty in America. He turned
to his grandfather’s countrymen for help–
from his grandfather’s province of Hesse he
hired the Hessians.
After the fighting in Lexington-Concord,
British units from England and Canada
are sent to occupy every New England
colony, raising the total to 10,500.
Free, a Revolutionary War song. Dr. Joseph Warren
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 2

First Blood- April 19, 1775
Lexington & Concord “Two if by Sea” Two lanterns in the
belfry of the Old North Church warn local settlements the British are moving across the bay in boats.
The first shots of the War were
fired at Lexington, an hour later
more fighting at Concord
• April 18. Gen. Gage ordered the capture
of several agitators and removal of gun
powder from all local militia armories.
– Before dawn, Lt.Col. Francis Smith’s
10 th Regiment of about 600 men
stealthily crossed Charles Bay by boat.
• Anticipating Gage’s move, William
Dawes and Paul Revere were signaled to
ride ahead and warn Samuel Adams and
John Hancock and the Patriot forces.
– The local Patriots responded by
assembling and confronting the British.
• Shots were fired, Patriots were killed,
but on the British retreat, 293 Redcoats
were killed or wounded. Gage was
astonished at his losses.
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 3

The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga
May 10, 1775
• Ethan Allen was leader of
the quasi-illegal “Green
Mountain Boys” of
Vermont Territory.
• Accompanied by Arron
Burr, Allen surprised the
British commander who
had not heard of the
fighting at Lexington and
Concord.
Before dawn, Ethan Allen wakes up
and captures the British Garrison.
• Allen seized 100 big cannon
and by November he had
hauled the guns overland to
the heights above Boston.
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 4

Modern view looking northeast from
Boston to Breed’s and Bunker Hill
The 52 nd and 47 th regiments came
under heavy fire from the dug-in
Patriots. The British lost 50% of
its force: 229 killed, 828 wounded.
Battle of Bunker
Hill June 17, 1775
• Gage sent 5 regiments and all his
Marines, over 5,000 men, against
Bunker Hill. The soldiers first
attacked up the shorter Breed's
Hill, where colonial soldiers were
entrenched. Three charges failed.
• The 4 th charge by the Marines
captured the hill, helped greatly
by the lack of rebel ammunition.
• Peter Salem of African descent,
shot and mortally wounded the
British officer leading the last
charge which allowed most of the
Americans to escape.
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 5

Battle of Great Bridge
“2 nd Battle of Bunker Hill” December 9, 1775
Norfolk, Virginia
• Supported by two cannon firing over their
heads, Capt Charles Fordice and Lt Batut
led 500 grenadiers of the 14 th British
Regiment, 100 Loyalists and black recruits
on a frontal assault on the small fort at the
end of a causeway. Almost all were killed.
• The Virginia defenders, one company led
by Lieutenant John Marshall of Fauquier
Co., suffered no casualties.
• Jan 1, 1776. The Virginia militia captured
Norfolk. British ships bombarded and
destroyed the town on Gov Dunmore
orders. Dunmore’s destruction marked
the end of British Crown rule in Virginia.
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 6

Second Continental Congress
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
George Washington as a
British Major
• May 10, 1775. In a meeting called to
respond to the fighting at Lexington-
Concord, George Washington was
elected to represent the Virginia
House of Burgesses.
• May 18. The Congress learned of
Fort Ticonderoga’s capture.
• May 19. News arrives that British
military reinforcements are on their
way from Canada to North America.
• Nominated by Sam Adams, George
Washington is confirmed to be a
Lt.General, the Commander in Chief
of the Continental Army.
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 7

Washington as CIC
Lt. Gen. George Washington
Commander in Chief of the Continental Army
• Washington’s initial
Strategy:
– Defend New England
and New York City.
– Attack the British at
Boston with captured
cannon.
• Above all, He must
insure the survival of
the army.
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 8

Jan 10 1776. Thomas Paine, a recent English immigrant to
Pennsylvania publishes Common Sense in Philadelphia.
“If Britain is our mother
country then she is guilty of
killing her children … An
island should never rule a
continent … the distance at
which the Almighty hath
placed England and America,
is a strong and natural proof
that the authority of the one
over the other was never the
design of Heaven … Tis
time to part.”
• Fantastically popular,
Common Sense is a spirited
plea for the colonies to break
free from Britain.
• Common Sense heavily
influenced popular opinion. It
convinced Congress to break
with England and write the
Declaration of Independence.
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 9

March 17 1776 Washington drives out Gen. Howe
Bunker Hill
cannons
Boston
• At night, Washington laid
in Ticonderoga’s captured
cannon on the hills above
Boston harbor.
• Howe immediately
promises not to burn the
town if he could evacuate
all his men and ships.
• Howe loads soldiers,
horses, cattle and all
Loyalists on his brother’s
ships and leaves Boston.
• It takes the British 17
days to sail to Halifax,
Nova Scotia.
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 10

Declaration of
Independence
• Thrilled by the victory at
Boston and impressed by
the overwhelming
response to Common
Sense, in June, a special
Congressional Committee
produces a formal
statement of principles
drafted by Thomas
Jefferson.
• The Declaration of
Independence announces
the creation of the United
States of America.
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 11

George Washington
1731-1799
Three Phases of the
Revolutionary War
• 1775-77 Gentleman’s War in the
North (Boston to the victory at Saratoga, NY)
• 1776 –79 War of Attrition, Middle
States (NYC thru New Jersey back to NYC)
• 1779-81 South, War Most Cruel
and Savage (Invasion of Charleston, SC,
Waxhaws; the final victory at Yorktown, Va)
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 12

Hudson
River
Manhattan
Island
Manhattan
Long
Island
July 3 – Oct. 28 1776
Battle of Long Island
GW abandons New York City
• July 3, 1776. The British Fleet
arrives in NY harbor.
• Aug. 22. 30,000 British and German
troops land on Long Island losing
400 men and 21 officers while killing
3,000 Americans and capturing 2,000
prisoners. Washington retreats to
Manhattan Is.
• Sept 15 Howe assaults Manhattan
under a naval bombardment
capturing 300 American soldiers and
67 guns. Washington withdraws
north to Harlem Heights. (Hibbert,
126-27).
• Oct. NYC Lost. Washington’s
troops are driven out of the city and
forced to retreat north up the
Hudson River.
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 13

Washington’s Headlong Retreat
Southwest across New Jersey
December 1776
In devastating retreat, Washington’s 8,000 man Continental
Army dwindles to a mere 3,000 starving men south of the
Delaware River (Hibbert, 130-31). Behind them, British and German
soldiers sweep through New Jersey, looting and pillaging (WS, 230).
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 14

Thomas Paine pens“The Crisis” during the retreat
out of New York
THESE ARE THE TIMES THAT
TRY MEN'S SOULS. The summer
soldier and the sunshine patriot
will, in this crisis, shrink from the
service of their country; but he that
stands it now, deserves the love and
thanks of man and woman.
TYRANNY, LIKE HELL, IS NOT
EASILY CONQUERED; yet we
have this consolation with us, that
the harder the conflict, the more
glorious the triumph. What we
obtain too cheap, we esteem too
lightly: it is dearness only that gives
every thing its value.
The army’s ordeal
inspires Thomas
Paine to write this
second powerful st of
ideas toward
patriotism.
“The Crisis” first
appears in the
Pennsylvania Journal,
on Dec 19 1776.
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 15

Pox Americana by Elizabeth A. Fenn
18 th Century Germ Warfare
• Washington fears that Gen. Gage
will spread small pox through his
men from New York City.
• All British soldiers are inoculated
against the disease, but 80% of
American soldiers were at risk.
• 1777. In anguish, Washington,,
ordered all his soldiers inoculated.
• Hundreds die horribly, but the army
survives.
– About 8-10% of the American
soldiers, perhaps 900 men catch the
fatal disease and die.
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 16

Battle of Saratoga
Oct. 17, 1777
Benedict Arnold
1741-1801
• 1777 Summer. The British army in
Canada, 8,000 men (half German)
under Gen. John Burgoyne attacked
south into New York.
• The British army in New York City,
6,000 men under William Howe are
supposed to make a simultaneous
attack up the Hudson to meet at
Albany, New York.
• Howe refuses to move north.
• 1777, Oct. The American army under
Horatio Gates and Benedict Arnold, aided
by Col Daniel Morgan, defeat and capture
Burgoyne’s entire Northern force.
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 17

War at Sea
• Late in 1775, the Continental Congress
establishes the navy: 13 vessels were to be
built or purchased by 1776.
• Congressman Robert Morris "Agent of
Marine" is the eminent financier of the
Revolution’s naval affairs from his
committee.
• Morris also sent out privateers on his own
account, a business in which several other
patriots participated.
– General Washington funded six privateers.
• 1778. After the victory at Saratoga, the U.S.
Navy becomes the critical link to France,
which joins the war against the British and
sends millions of financial aid to America.
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 18

Articles of Confederation
After Burgoyne’s defeat at Saratoga,
the 2 nd Continental Congress felt
secure enough to formalize the
rules of government for the United
States.
To establish the base for national law
and government, Congress wrote
down the methods it had used since
1775.
These rules are known as the Articles
of Confederation.
The Articles
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 19

The Articles
1778-81
John Hancock
1737-1793
• The Articles of Confedertion
establish a government that
represents a loose league of
individual nation-states, much like
the Dutch Republic.
• All legislation was by committee.
• Taxation, control of trade and
issuance of money are left to each
sovereign state.
• Each state had one vote in Congress.
• Major decisions required the
agreement of nine states.
• To amend the Articles required
unanimous consent.
• It takes three years for all states to
ratify the Articles in 1781.
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 20

French Support Feb 6 1778. Treaty of Alliance and
Amity and Commerce is signed in Paris
by Ben Franklin for the US signaling the
first official recognition of the new
American republic by a European power.
• July 10 1778. King Louis XVI of France
declares war on Great Britain making the
American Revolutionary War also a war
between the two great powers.
• Americans remain too weak to dislodge the
British from the port cities of Philadelphia
and New York but they make occupation
Lafayette
Marie Joseph Paul Yves
Roche Gilbert du Motier,
the Marquis de Lafayette
1727-1834
very expensive for the British.
• While the war destroyed the economy of the
U.S., the treaty with King Louis’ provided
enough military and economic assistance
for the infant country to survive.
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 21

Admiral Richard
“Black Dick” Howe
MGen Henry Clinton
1738-95
Phase III
The Invasion of the
South 1779-81
Gen Charles
Cornwallis
1738-1805
Mgen William Howe
1729-1814
BGen Charles
“No Flints” Grey
1729-1807
“The inhabitants of the province
(South Carolina), who have
taken part in this revolt,
should be punished with the
greatest rigour” 1779--
Cornwallis
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 22

Banastre Tarleton
1754-1833
He published "History of the Campaigns of
1780 and 1781 in the Southern Provinces of
North America " (London, 1787).
Banastre Tarleton
BUTCHER OF WAXHAWS
On 29 May 1780 Tarleton with 700 cavalry
and mounted infantry, surprised and
slaughtered about 400 of the 11 th Virginia
commanded by Col Abraham Buford, the
last "Continental" unit in South Carolina.
Buford and about a 100 infantry, escaped
while the rest were surrounded and asked
for quarter. None was granted and 113
Patriots were killed on the spot; 150 were
later found too badly injured to be moved;
53 survived to die at Camden.
The report of the Waxhaws massacre near the
NC/SC border excited horror and anger
throughout the land.
Tarleton received from Lord Cornwallis the
highest praise for this action.
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 23

Battle of Cowpens
Jan. 17, 1781
Daniel Morgan destroys
Tarleton’s British Legion of
1,100 American Loyalists
• BGen Daniel Morgan
plotted revenge against
Tarleton and obtained
one of the Revolution’s
greatest victories.
• Morgan with 1,000 men,
defeated Tarleton’s
British Legion of 1,100
Americans (mostly New
York and New Jersey
Loyalists)-at Hanna’s
Cowpens, north of
present Spartanburg,
South Carolina.
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 24

Naval Battle of Chesapeake Bay
Sept 5 1781
Seven months after
Cowpens
• Sept 5 1781. French forces defeated the British Royal Navy in the
Chesapeake, cutting off Cornwallis's supplies and transport.
• Oct 6 1781. An American-French force of 17,000 troops led by
Washington surrounds and defeats Cornwallis at Yorktown, Va.
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 25

The British Surrender at Yorktown
Oct. 19 1781
Cornwallis Surrenders
The combined infantry of generals Washington-Lafayette,
Rochambeau’s French army and Adm. de Grasse’s great fleet
converged on the last concentration of British troops which were
backed up against the York River inside Chesapeake Bay.
Cornwallis was forced to surrender without Military Honors.
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 26

Women Patriots
Gen. Washington salutes
a soldier’s wife who is an
acting artilleryman
• Mercy Warren wrote anti-British
plays and pamphlets; women
organized boycotts against British
goods.
• Benjamin Franklin's daughter, Sarah
Read Franklin Bache funded
clothing drives for the troops.
• When captured by the British, Emily
Geiger of South Carolina, age 17,
memorized then ate the message she
was taking to Gen. Nathan Greene.
Once freed, she rode 100 miles and
delivered it from memory.
• 20,000 wives of Continental soldiers
marched from battle to battle with
Washington’s troops, carrying their
baggage and babies.
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 27

Molly Pitcher & Deborah Sampson
Molly Pitcher helped fire her
husband’s cannon at the battle
of Monmouth in 1778.
• Mary Hayes (Molly Pitcher) and
Margaret Corbin, fired their
husbands' artillery pieces after
their husbands were wounded at Ft
Washington, NY (1776); and at
Monmouth, NJ (1778).
• Deborah Sampson trained as a
Connecticut schoolteacher but
donned men's clothes and served
in Washington's army as a soldier.
– When wounded, her gender was
discovered by a doctor and her unit
discharged her.
– Washington ordered that she
receive a full pension.
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 28

African-Americans in the Revolution
Crispus Attucks
1723-1770
Killed in the Boston
Massacre
• When the British promised freedom to slaves,
2 nd Continental Congress responded by
authorizing the enlisting of slaves-promising
them freedom for honorable service.
• Black soldiers from the north fought at every
early battle: Lexington-Concord, Bunker Hill
and in all major battle of the war. Many
African Americans served in the US Navy.
• One all-black Santo Domingo unit, under
French command, fought at Savannah.
• However, African-Americans were never
recruited by Virginia, Georgia, or the
Carolinas.
• Twenty years after the war, the issue of slave
and racial divide sharply split the new
country. It was also a major controversy at
the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 29

First Steps toward Emancipation
• At least 100,000 slaves escaped to Canada
or to the British. At least 27,000 who fled
their plantations died of small pox.
• Exploiting the rhetoric of the Revolution
to petition for freedom and equality, US
freedmen gained leverage in the North.
• Everywhere, except in the South, strong
emancipation movements developed.
• Thomas Paine and Benjamin Franklin (d.
1790), James Otis (1724-1783), Benjamin
Rush (1745-1813) all supported abolition.
• 1816. Robert Finley organized “Return
to Africa” programs and created a new
country called “Liberia.”
• For the first few decades every state
limited or abolished its slave trade.
• Everywhere, even in the South, owners
freed some slaves.
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 30

• Liberia-The American Colonization Society.
• Dec 21 1819. Washington DC. With Finley, Henry Clay,
James Monroe, Bushrod Washington, Andrew Jackson,
Francis Scott Key & Daniel Webster relentlessly pressured
Congress to increase the African Colonization project.
• Jan 1820. With $100,000 from Congress, the first ship,
Elizabeth sailed from New York with 3 white ACS agents
and 88 black emigrants. Reaching the coast of Liberia, all
whites and 22 of the Black emigrants died from yellow fever
within three weeks. The survivors returned to Sierra Leone.
• 1821. ACS Nautilus dropped immigrants on an island called
Perseverance in Mesurado Bay. Native Africans resented and
attacked the new settlers but by 1830, 2638 African-
Americans had migrated to Liberia.
• 1842. Joseph Jenkins Roberts became the first non-white
governor. 1847. Roberts declared Liberia an independent state
and was elected as first President.
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 31

Freedom Proclaimed for
All
But Denied to Some
Butler Island Slave
Quarters, South Carolina
• By 1783 six state constitutions
(Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode
Island, Pennsylvania, New York
and New Jersey) had abolished
slavery.
• Legal emancipation was quickly
achieved in New Hampshire
and Massachusetts.
• 1783. In Massachusetts African-
Americans won the vote, a
precedent slowly adopted by
other Northern states.
• Southern states discussed
abolition but failed to pass
legislation (in 1792 Virginia the
abolition of slavery failed by one
vote).
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 32

Treaty of Paris
Sept. 3, 1783
American American commissioners: commissioners: John John JAY, JAY, Ben Ben
FRANKLIN, FRANKLIN, John John ADAMS. ADAMS. Front: Front: English English
minister minister chief chief negotiator negotiator (for (for Earl Earl of of
Shelburne Shelburne
Secretary
Secretary
of
of
State)
State)
Richard Richard
OSWALD; OSWALD; not not pictured, pictured, David David HARTLEY. HARTLEY.
The
The
painting
painting
is
is
incomplete
incomplete
because
because
the
the
two
two
British
British
negotiators
negotiators
refused
refused
to
to
sit
sit
for
for
the
the
painter
painter
symbolizing
symbolizing
the
the
continuing
continuing
division
division
between
between
Great
Great
Britain
Britain
and
and
its
its
former
former
American
American
colonies-leading
colonies-leading
to
to
the
the
War
War
of
of
1812.
1812.
• Agreement: The independence
of the United States is granted.
• United States boundaries:
Atlantic coast to Mississippi
River; from 49 th parallel and
Great Lakes south to the 31 st
parallel (all land east of the
Mississippi except Florida and
the city of New Orleans)
• American fishing rights is
granted to New England on the
Newfoundland banks.
• (Specific British demand) Each
state should return seized property
to its Loyalist citizens.
Ch 6 Independence 1775-83 (33) 33