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Battle of Lexington
The king's troops that were known as redcoats because of the red uniforms they wore during battle. They marched Lexington, Massachusetts and it was five miles away from Concord, Massachusetts, but the battle of Lexington only lasted 15 minutes. -
Battle of Concord
The British troops marched to Concord, but after finding an empty arsenal, they began marching to Boston. However, the march then became a slaughter as 3,000 to 4,000 minutemen assembled and began firing to the marching troops by hiding behind stone walls and trees. The British soldiers fell by the dozen, but the ones that stood were full of blood and embarrassed and they made their way back to Boston. -
Second Continental Congress
This took place in Philadelphia and it sparked an endless debate as delegates called for independence, but the others were arguing for reconciliation with Great Britain. The Congress agreed and they made George Washington their commander. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
British general named Thomas Gage decided to strike on Breed's Hill in Boston which is north of the city near Bunker Hill. Gage had sent at least 2,400 soldiers up that very hill while the colonist held their fire until last minute before taking down the redcoats and the retreating. After the smoke from the guns was cleared from the air, they realized the colonists lost 450 of their men, while the British suffered 1,000 casualties. -
New York's Defeat
In order to stop the rebellion to isolate New England the British made a plan which involved sailing to New York harbor in the summer of 1776. The Brits had 32,000 soldiers which included German mercenaries -hired soldiers- that were known as Hessians as they came from the German regions of Hessen. The thing was, the soldiers that were defending NYC, were poorly trained and they soon retreated which led to the defeat of NY and the victory of the Brits -
Trenton's Victory
After New York, they then marched themselves to Trenton, New Jersey as that was their next objective. However, it didn't go as planned as New Jersey's defenders were more skilled as they defeated a militia of Hessians with a surprise attack. Afterwards, the British had to regroup and because of their defeat, they wanted to go to Philadelphia as that was their next target -
Battle of Saratoga
General John Burgoyne had a plan to lead an army to the lakes of Canada to Albany where he'd meet the British troops after they've arrived from NYC. However, it backfired as the officers of the Brits were already preoccupied with taking Philadelphia, so he did it on his own. The problem was, that also backfired because he surrendered on the 17th of October 1777. Due to his surrender, it became one of THE most important events of the war at Saratoga -
Events of Valley Forge
Washington and his army were really low on food and supplies and they fought to stay alive in their winter camp Valley Forge. However, over 2,000 soldiers died, but the survivors didn't fail Washington and he wrote letters that were filled with their loyalty and sent to the Congress and his friends. -
Marquis de Lafayette
He was a French military leader who wanted to help out America in the last war which was in Virginia. He called his French reinforcements to help fight with the Continental Army -
Events of Yorktown
The British general led his army of 7,500 to fight in Virginia in between the James and the York rivers and camped in Yorktown. Charles Cornwallis had a plan to improve Yorktown, take control of Virginia and then move north to join forces with Henry Clinton. However, Lafayette and Washington moved towards Yorktown with 17,000 troops that were both French and American. Then low and behold, Cornwallis surrendered which shocked the world and America was given the victory. -
Treaty of Paris
After peace talking in 1782, the negotiating team of America which included John Adams, John Joy from New York and Benjamin Franklin signed the Treaty of Paris. The Treaty of Paris confirmed that America had their Independence which allowed them to set the boundaries of their new nation which stretched the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River to the Canadian and Florida border.
