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700 British troops marched into Lexington and battled the local militia. Then they estroyed all of the military supplies in Concord. Around 4,000 militia men arrived and opened fire upon the British on their way to Lexington, but reinforcements came and escorted the wounded to Boston. The skirmish at Lexington was known as the "shot heard round the world," and it was the start of the revolutionary war. http://americanmilitaryhistorypodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/1222120330.62.jpg
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On December 25 Washington and his men crossed the Delaware river to attack the Hessian occupied town of Trenton . The Americans marched on Trenton taking the Hessians by suprise captured or killed about 900 Hessians, and also seizied the supplies they needed. Since the enlistments for the soilders ended on December 31 Washington needed to get his troops to reenlist the victory at Trenton did cause many troops to reenlist.
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General Burgoyne and his army marched to Albany and on the way they encountered a large army led by General Horatio Gates on Bemis Heights. The British retreated to a older army camp in Saratoga, but the Americans fired on it all day. The British then surrenderd in the morning. The victory at Saratoga convinced European nations into helping the Americans.
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Washington was forced to retreat from Philadelphia, so they camped at valley forge in southern Pennsylvania. On the way to valley forge Washington's men were very short on supplies and some didn't have shoes. About a quarter of the men at valley forge died from the cold, disease, and malnutrition.
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General Gates ran into British troops outside of Camden. The Americans were starved and almost out of supplies Gates also put the militia in front of the experienced solders. Gates fled along with the militia, while De Kalb stayed and died from his wounds. The loss at Camden almost destroyed the Southern Continental army.
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British General Cornwallis set up his base at Yorktown. Washington then had a french fleet bloc the chesapeake bay , and Washington moved south and trapped Cornwallis in the pennisula. The French fired their cannons on Yorktown , and Cornwallis later surrenderd marking the end of the war. Washingtonhttp://www.britishbattles.com/images/yorktown/yorktown.jpg
