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Since early 1776 French had secretly sent weapons to the Patriots.
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The British had previously retreated from Boston, and started moving the war to the middle states.
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Two brother,General William Howe and Admiral Richard How, joined forces on staten island and sailed into New York harbor with the largest British expeditionary forces ever assembled of 30,000 men.
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Washington and his 23,000 men fought the battle of new York only to retreat following heavy losses.
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Late fall, the British had pushed Washington's armyAcross the Delaware River into Pennsylvania.
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Christmas night,In a fierce storm Washington led 2,4000 men in small rowboats across the ice-choked Delaware river.
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Washington marched 9 miles throughout snow to get to Trento. Suppressing the British, the American killed 30 enemy and took 918 captive and six Hessian cannons.
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General Howe began his campaign to secure the American capital at Philadelphia.
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General Howe sailed from New York to head to Chesapeake Bay, and landed near the capital late August.
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American troop surrounded Burgoyne at Saratoga where he surrendered his Amy to General Gates.
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Valley Forge outside Philadelphia which served as the site of the Continental Army camp during the winter of 1777-1778,
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Lafayette joined Washington's staff and bore the misery of Valley Forge staff and lobbied for French reinforcements in Frances in 1779 and led a command in Virginia in the last two year.
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The French recognized American independence
and signed an alliance (or treaty of cooperation) , with the Americans -
In the midst of the frozen winter at Valley Forge, American troops
began an amazing transformation -
After their devastating defeat at Saratoga, the British changed their military strategy in the summer of 1778 they began to shift their operations to the South.
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British expedition easily took Savannah, Georgia.
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A royal governor
once again commanded Georgia -
Cornwallis sailed south with 8,500 men. In their greatest victory of the war, theBritish captured Charles Town, South Carolina.
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5,500 American soldiers off as prisoners of war. Clinton then left for New York, leaving Cornwallis to command the British forces in the South and to conquer South and
North Carolina. -
Cornwallis greatest victory was capturing Charles Town,South Carolina and marched 5,500 American solder off into prison.
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A French army of 6,000 had landed in Newport, Rhode Island, after the British left the city to focus on the South.
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Cornwallis's army smashed American forces at Camden,South Carolina and within three months the British had established forts across the states.
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When the forces met at Cowpeas, South Carolina, the British expected the outnumbered Americans to flee; but the Continental Army fought back, and forced the redcoats to surrender.
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Cornwallis attacked Greene two months
later at Guilford Court House, North Carolina. Cornwallis won the battle, but the victory cost him nearly a fourth of his troops. -
Greene wrote a letter to Lafayette, asking for help since he was worried about the fight for the south.
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Congress appointed a rich Philadelphia merchant
named Robert Morris as superintendent of finance. -
The American troops were finally paid
in specie, or gold coin. -
Cornwallis troops were outnumbered by more than two to one and exhausted from constant shelling, Cornwallis finally raised the white flag of surrender.
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Colonel William Fontaine stood with theAmerican and French armies near Yorktown, Virginia, on the afternoon of October 19, 1781, to witness the formal British surrender.
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John Adam,Benjamin Franklin and John Jay signed the Treaty of Paris, which confirmed U.S. Independence and set the boundaries to the New Nation.
