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Shots fired at Lexington and Concord. "Minute Men" force British troops back to Boston. George Washington takes command of the Continental.
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Benedict Arnold was authorized to raise a force of 400 to seize Fort Ticonderoga with help from the Green Mountain boys and Ethan Allen.
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Colonial delegates reconvene in Philadelphia, now faced with bloodshed in Massachusetts.
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British troops dislodge an entrenched New England.
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George Washington issues his first orders as commander-in-chief of the "Troops of the United Provinces of North America."
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American forces under generals Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold attack the city of Quebec in a failed attempt.
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After American troops fortify Dorchester Heights with heavy artillery pieces obtained from New York's Fort Ticonderoga.
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A huge British force arrives in New York harbor bent on crushing the rebellion.
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General Washington orders the Declaration of Independence to be read to Continental Army forces in and around New York City.
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British land and naval forces attack the Continental Army on Long Island.
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Washington gambles on a surprise attack on the Hessian garrison of Trenton, New Jersey.
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In the largest battle of the American War of Independence, British and American forces led by their respective commanders, Sir William Howe and George Washington's, clash near Chadd's Ford Pennsylvania.
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Washington defeated at Brandywine (September 11) and Germantown (October 4). Philadelphia is lost to the British.
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Americans capture Burgoyne and his army at Saratoga.
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Was an agreement among the 13 founding states that established the United States of America as a confederation of sovereign states and served as its first constitution.
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Washington's bedraggled forces arrive at Valley Forge, about twenty miles northwest of British-occupied Philadelphia where they remain in winter quarters for six months.
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France signs a treaty of alliance with the United States and the American Revolution becomes a world war.
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British and American forces clash in cantral New Jersey in the last large-scale military engagement before major operations shift to the South.
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The southern campaign began in December 1778 when a British force under Lieutenant-Colonel Archibald Campbell landed at Savannah, Georgia, and quickly overwhelmed the city’s defenders.
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Although refusing to recognize American independence or enter into a formal alliance with the United States, Spain assists the struggle by joining France in naval and land operations against the British.
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The American surrender at Charleston leads to a devastating partisan war across much of the South.
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In the North, in November 1780, Benedict Arnold changed sides, escaping to the British lines, but leaving Clinton’s adjutant, Major André, in American hands to be hanged as a spy
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British forces defeat Americans under Nathanael Greene, but their control in the south begins to erode as British general Corwallis invades Virgina.
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British general Cornwallis finds himself trapped and under siege by American and French forces when a French fleet defeats a British naval force at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.
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The latter taking place on October 19, 1781, was a decisive victory by a combined force of American Continental Army troops led by General George Washington and French Army troops led by the Comte de Rochambeau over a British Army commanded by British lord and Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis.
