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In the summer of 1766, two brothers General William Howe and Admiral Richard Howe joined forces on Staten Island and sailed into New York harbor.
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Since early 1776, the French who were still bitter from their defeat by the British in the French and Indian war, had secretly sent weapons to the patriots.
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On March 15th 1776, the British had previously retreated from Boston, moving the theater of war to the Middle States.
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On August 27th 1776, Michael Graham, a Continental Army volunteer, described the chaotic withdrawl of the battle for New York.
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By late Fall of 1776, the British had pushed Washington's army across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania.
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On Chrismas night of 1776 Washington resolved to risk everything on one bold stroke set.
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By 8:00 in the morning on December 26th 1776, the men had marched nine miles through sleet and snow to the objective - Trenton, New Jersey, held by a garrison of Hessians.
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On December 31st 1776, fewer than 8,000 men remained under Washington's command and the terms of their enlistment were due to end.
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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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On October 17th 1777, massed American troops finaly surrounded Burgoyne at Saratoga, where he surrendered his battered army to General Gates.
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During the winter of 1777-1778, Albignese Waldo worked as a surgeon at Valley Forge outside Philadelphia, which served as the site of the Continental Army's camp.
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On February 15th 1778, the French recognized American independance and signed an alliance, or treaty of cooperation, with the Americans.
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On February 15th 1778, in the midst of the frozen winter at Valley Forge, American troops began an amazing transformation.
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In the summer of 1778, after their devastating defeat at Saratoga, the British changed their military strategy; they began to shift their operations to the south.
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At the end of 1778, a British expedition easily took Savannah, Georgia.
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By the Spring of 1779, a royal governor once again commanded Georgia.
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In France in 1779, the young Lafayette joined Washingtons staff and bore the misery of Valley Forge, lobbied for French reinforcements, and led a command in Virginia in the last years of the war.
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On May 15th 1780, the British captured Charles Town, South Carolina, and marched 5,500 American soldiers off as prisoners of war.
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In 1780, George Henry Clinton, who had replaced Howe in New York, along with the ambitious general Charles Cornwallis, sailed south with 8,500 men.
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On August 15th 1780, Cornwallis' Army smashed American forces at Camden, North Caroline, and within three months the British had established forts across the state.
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On January 15th 1781, when the forces met at Cowpens, South Caroline, the British expected the outnumbered Americans to flee; but the Continental Army fought back, and forced the Redcoats to surrender.
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On April 3rd 1781, Nathanael Green wrote a letter to Lafayette asking for help.
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In 1781, the congress appointed a rich Philadelphia merchant named Robert Morris a superintendant of finance.
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In 1781 Britain looses and Washington ordered Nathaneal Greene, his abelest general, to march south and harass Cornwallis as he retreated.
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On September 8th 1781, due to the efforts of Morris and Salomon, the troops were finally paid in specie, or gold coin.
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On October 17th 1781, with his troops outnumbered by more than two to one and exhausted from constant shelling, Cornwallis finally raised the white flag of surrender.
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On the afternoon of October 19th 1781, Colonel William Fontaine of the Virginia militia stood with the American and French armies lining a road near Yorktown to witness the formal British surrender.
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On October 19th 1781, a triumphant Washington, the French generals and their troos assembled to accept the British surrender.
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In 1782 Peace talks begin in Paris.
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On September 15th 1783, the delgates signed the Treaty of Paris, which confirmed U.S independance and set the boundaries of the new nation.
