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The French, still bitter from the French & Indian War, started secretly sending weapons to the Patriots.
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The British previously retreated from Boston and moved the war to the middle states, deciding to seize NYC.
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General William Howe and Admiral Richard Howe joined on Staten Island and sailed into New York harbor with the largest British expeditionary force ever assembled. (32,000 men)
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The battle for New York ended with an American retreat following heavy losses due to untrained recruits with poor equipment.
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British pushed Washington's Army across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania. The majority of his men were either killed or captured.
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George Washington led 2,400 men in small rowboats across the icey Delaware River.
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Men had marched 9 miles to Trenton, NJ. In a surprise attack, the Americans killed 30 enemies, took 918 captives, and 6 Hessian cannons.
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The Americans got another victory at Princeton against 1,200 British. Washington then marched his army into winter camp near Morristown.
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General Howe began his campaign to seize the American capital at Philidelphia. Troops sailed from NY to the head of the Chesapeake Bay and landed near the capital in late August.
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American troops surrounded Burgoyne at Saratoga. He then surrendered his army to General Gates.
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Valley Forge was the site of the Continental Army's camp. Patriots stayed in huts in the freezing cold Pennsylvania woods.
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The French signed an alliance, the treaty of cooperation, with the Americans. (France agreed not to make peace with Britain unless Britain also recognized American independence.)
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American troops began a transformation at Valley forge with Prussian captain and drill master Friedrich von Steuben.
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The British began to shift operations to the South, where they hoped to rally Loyalist support, reclaim their former colonies, and slowly fight their way to the North again.
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A British expedition easily took over Savannah, Georgia.
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Marquis de Lafayette joined George Washington's staff and lobbied for French reinforcements in France.
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A royal governor once again commanded Georgia.
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General Henry Clinton (replaced Howe in NY) along with General Charles Cornwallis, sailed south with 8.500 men.
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A French army of 6,000 landed in Newport, Rhode Island after the British left to focus on the south.
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The British captured Charles Town, South Carolina and marched 5,500 American soldiers off as prisoners of war.
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Congress appointed Philidelphia merchant Robert Morris as superintendent of finance. Morris and his associate Haym Salomon begged and even borrowed on their own personl credit to raise money to provide salaries for the Continental Army.
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The two forces met at Cowpens, South Carolina. The British expected the Americans to flee due to being outnumbered, but they fought back and forced the redcoats to surrender.
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Daniel Morgan's colonial forces defeated a crack British regiment under Colonel Tarleton at the batte of Cowpens.
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Cornwallis attacked Nathaneal Greene at Guilford Court House, North Carolina. Cornwallis was victorious, but lost almost 1/4 of his troops. (93 killed, 400+ wounded, 26 missing)
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Greene wrote a letter to Lafayette, asking for help since he was worried about the fight for the South.
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The troops in the Continental Army were finally paid in specie (gold coin), due to Morris and Salomon's efforts.
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Cornwallis finally surrendered when his troops were outnumbered by more than two to one and exhausted from constant shelling.
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Colonel William Fontaine stood with the American and French armies lining a road near Yorktown to witness the British surrender.
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George Washington, the French generals, and their troops assembled to accept the British surrender.
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Delegates signed the Treaty of Paris, which confirmed U.S. independence and set the boundaries of the new nation.
