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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 since early 1776.
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The British had previously retreated from Boston in March 1776, movin gthe war to the Middle States.
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Two brothers, General Willima Howe and Admiral Richard Howe joined forces on Staten Island and sailed into New York harbor in the summer of 1776 with the largest British forced ever assembled of 32,000 soldiers.
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The battle for New York ended in late August with an American retreat following heavy losses.
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By late fall, the British had pushed Washington's army across the Delaware River into Pennslyvania.
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Washington resolved to risk everything on one bold stroke set for Christmas night, 1776. He led 2,400 men in small rowboats across the ice-choked Delaware River for the Battle of Trenton.
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After the British pushed Washington's army across the Delaware River into Pennslyvania, fewer than 8,000 men remained under Washington's cmmand and the terms of their enlistment were due to end on December 31.
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The Americans were rallied by another victory 8 days later agaisnt 1,200 British stationed at Princeton.
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In the spring of 1777, General Howe began his campaign to seize the American capital at Philadelphia.
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Massed American troops finally surrounded Burgoyne at Saratoga, where he surrendered his battered army to General ates on October 17, 1777.
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During the winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge outside of Philadelphia or the Continental Army's camp during this time was a rough time for the Colonists. While British troops occupied Philadelphia and found quarters inside warm homes, the underclothed Patriots huddled in the snow covered Pennslyvania woods.
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The French recognized American Independence and signed an alliance, or treaty of cooperation with the Americans in February 1778.
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In February 1778 during the freezing winter at Valley Forge, American troops began learning amzaing techniques and transformation.
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After their defeat at Saratoga, the British changed their miltary strategy in the summer of 1778 they began to shift their operations to the South.
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At the end of 1778, a Britsh expedition esily was won at Savannah, Georgia.
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By the spring of 1779, a royal governor once again commanded Georgia.
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Lafayette joined Washington's staff and stood through the misery of Valley Forge, lobbied for French reinforcements in France in 1779, and led a command in Virginia in the last few years of war.
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In 1780, General Henry Clinton who replaced Howe in New Yor along with General Charles Cornwallis sailed south with 8,500 men.
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The British captured Charles Town, South Carolina, in May 1780.
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For most of 1780, Cornwallis succeeded. In August Cornwallis's army smashed American forces of Camden, South Carolina, and within 3 months the Britsh established forts across the state.
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In 1780, a French army of 6,000 had landed in Newport, Rhode Island, after the Britsh left the city to focus on the South.
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In January 1781 at Cowpens, South Carolina, the forces met. The British expected the outnumbered Americans to flee but the Continental Army fought back and forced them to surrender.
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Angered by the defeat at Cowpens, Cornwallis attacked Greene 2 months later at Guilford Court House, North Carolina.
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In 1781, the Congress appointed a rich Philadelphia merchant named Robert Morris as superintendent of finance.
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On April3, 1781 Greene wrote a letter to Lafayette asking for help.
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Due to the efforts of Morris and Salomon, on September 8, 1781 the troops were finally paid in specie, or gold coin.
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On October 17, 1781 with his troops outnumbered by more than two to one and exhausted from constant swelling, Cornwallis raised the white flag of surrender.
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On October 19, 1781 Colonel William Fontaine of the Virginia militia stood with the American and French armies lining a road near Yorktown, Virginia to witness the formal British surrender.
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On October 19, a triumphant Washington, the French generals, and their troops assembled to accept the British surrender.
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Peace talks began in Paris in 1782.
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In September 1783, the delegates signed the Treat of Paris, which confirmed U.S. independence and set the boundaries of the new nation.
