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Still bitter from their defeat by the british in the french and indian war, the french had secretly sent weapons to the patriots.
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The british retreated from Boston moving the theater of war to the middle states.
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Gen William Howe and Admiral Richard Howe joined forces on Staten Island and sailed in NY harbor with the largest british expeditionary force ever assembled.
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Michael Graham, a continental army vo;lunteer, described the chaotic withdrawal of American retreat following heavy losses in NY.
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The british pushed Washington's army across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania.
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Washington led 2400 men in small rowboats across the ice choked Delaware River.
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The terms of enlistment of the men under Washingtons command were due on this date.
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The americans were rallied by another astonishing victory against 1.2k british stationed at Princeton.
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Gen Howe began his campaign to seize the american capital at Philidelphia.
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American troops finally surrounded British Gen John Burgoyne at Saratoga, where he surrendered his battered army to Gen Gates.
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Albigense Waldo worked as a surgeon at Valley Forge outside Philadelphia, which served as the Continental Armies camp.
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The french recognize American independence and signed an alliance , or treaty of cooperation, with the Americans.
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In the midst of the frozen winter at Valley Forge, the american troops began an amazing transformation.
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After their devastating defeat at Saratoga, the british changed their military strategy by shifting their operations to the south.
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A british expedition easily took Savannah, Georgia
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The young Marquis de Lafayette joined Washingtons staff and bore the misery of Valley Forge, lobbied for french reinforcements in france and led a command in Virginia in the last year of the war.
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A royal governor once again commanded Georgia.
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A french army of 6k had landed in Newport, Rhode Island, after the british left the city to focus on the south.
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Gen Henry Clinton, who had replaced Howe in NY, along with the ambitious Gen Charles Cornwallis sailed south with 8,500 men.
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In their greatest victory of the war, the British captured Charles Town, South Carolina and marched 5.5k american soldiers off as prisoners of war.
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Cornwallis's army smashed American forces at Camden, South Carolina, and within 3 months the british had established forts across the state.
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The congress appointed a rich Philidelphia merchant named Robert Morris as superintendent of finance.
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British expected the outnumbered americans to flee but the Continental Army fought back and forced the redcoats to surrender.
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Angered by the defeat at Cowpens, Cornwallis attacked Greene at Guilford Court House, North Carolina.
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Greene wrote a letter to Lafayette, asking for help.
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Due to efforts by Robert Morris, the troops were finnally paid in specie, or gold coins.
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With his troops outnumbered by more than 2 to 1 and exhausted from constant shelling, Cornwallis finally raised the white flag of surrender.
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A triumphant Washington, the french generals, and their troops assembled to accept the British surrender.
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Colonel William Fortaine of the Virginia Militia stood with American and French armies lining a road near Yorktown to witness the formal British surrender.
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The delegates signed the Treaty of Paris, which confirmed U.S. independence and set the boundaries of the new nation.
