Road to Independence

  • Paul Revere's Ride

    The purpose of Paul Revere's midnight ride, as you may recall from your high school history class, was to race to Concord to warn Patriots Samuel Adams and John Hancock that British troops - 700 of them - were marching to Concord to arrest them. True, warning Adams and Hancock triggered Revere's ride from Boston.
  • Battles of Lexington and Concord

    The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775 in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy (present-day Arlington), and Cambridge.
  • Battle of Bunker Hill

    On June 17, 1775, early in the Revolutionary War (1775-83), the British defeated the Americans at the Battle of Bunker Hill in Massachusetts. ... Although commonly referred to as the Battle of Bunker Hill, most of the fighting occurred on nearby Breed's Hill.
  • Battle of Saratoga

    His surrender to American forces at the Battle of Saratoga marked a turning point in the Revolutionary War. The Battle of Saratoga was the turning point of the Revolutionary War. The scope of the victory is made clear by a few key facts: On October 17, 1777, 5,895 British and Hessian troops surrendered their arms.
  • The Declaration of Independence

    The Declaration of Independence, 1776. By issuing the Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, the 13 American colonies severed their political connections to Great Britain. The Declaration summarized the colonists' motivations for seeking independence.
  • Washington's Crossing

    George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River, which occurred on the night of December 25–26, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War, was the first move in a surprise attack organized by George Washington against the Hessian (German mercenaries) forces in Trenton, New Jersey, on the morning of December 26.
  • Valley Forge

    The six-month encampment of General George Washington's Continental Army at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777-1778 was a major turning point in the American Revolutionary War. ... The defeats had led some members of the Continental Congress to want to replace Washington, believing he was incompetent.
  • Battle of Yorktown

    On September 28, 1781, General George Washington, commanding a force of 17,000 French and Continental troops, begins the siege known as the Battle of Yorktown against British General Lord Charles Cornwallis and a contingent of 9,000 British troops at Yorktown, Virginia, in the most important battle of the Revolutionary