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Armed colonist prepared to warn and defend for an impending British attack. Minute men were posted all across the colonies and were prepared to warn others at a minutes notice hence the name. Paul Revere was one of these minute men and famously spotted the British at Lexington. He rode on his horse yelling "The British are coming! The British are coming!"
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British forces moved up to Concord and were confronted by colonial rebels. As arguing on both sided erupted in the confusion someone shot. This would be known as "The shot heard around the world" and would be the start of the revolutionary war.
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British forces fought the rebels and pushed them back to Concord. At Concord more rebels amassed and soon the British were retreating. The British fled back to Boston and along the way rebels opened fire upon them as they retreated.
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Benedict Arnold planned to take the British Fort Ticonderoga for the mass of guns and ammunition there. Benedict Arnold set of to the fort and tried to recruit men along the way. He then met the Green Mountain Boys a small group of rebels led by Ethan Allen. Benedict realized the Green Mountain Boys and him had the same plan. They decided to work together and attacked the fort at night. They ended up capturing it without any problems.
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Thomas Paine released the book Common Sense to the colonies and at the time was the most sold book ever. It was a book about independence of great Britain.
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The British army was trapped in Boston and need to get out of there. They decided to attack the high ground of Bunker Hill. Colonist spies were informed of this and warned the colonial rebels. They fortified Bunker Hill and stopped the British twice before they ran out of ammunition and had to retreat. Even though technically Bunker Hill was a British victory Britain faced 1000 casualties against the colonies 400.
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The colonists needed a proper army to be able to fight against the British. The delegates of the colonies decided that George Washington should be the Commander In Chief. This was because of his earlier military training and his good leadership.
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King George was astonished that the colonies at this point in time were winning. So King George fired Thomas Gage and made William Howe general.
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Washington's army had surrounded the British in Boston and were planning for an attack. Washington was planning on attacking them head on but a young lieutenant advised against it. So they set up artillery that they had gotten from Fort Ticonderoga on Dorchester Heights. When the morning came the British saw the guns and retreated. This would be Washington's first victory in the American Revolution.
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The British armies retaliated against the attacks of the colonists by burning down the towns of Falmouth and Norfolk. These attacks were perfect story material and countries overseas thought of Britain as jerks. French and Spain soon started sending the colonist supplies.
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Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, truly uniting the colonist for their independence from Britain. On July 2nd Congress unanimously voted for independence from Great Britain. Two days later it came into effect. Britain thought of this as a direct act of treason.
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The British hired German mercenaries to fight against rebel colonists. These men were ruthless and were paid handsomely to do as they were ordered (which consisted of burning towns and killing rebels.)
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Britain set up their camp at Staten Island while the colonist waited at Brooklynn heights. The British waited for a long time unsettling the colonists. When the attack came the British were fierce. 15,000 troops opened fire on the colonists. What the colonists did not realize was they were fighting a decoy. Soon the main British forces flanked them from behind. The colonist retreated and were trapped between the British and the East River.
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The British and some Hessians had set up in New Jersey and were not prepared for an attack in the winter. When Washington heard that Hessian defenses were low he planned an attack. He took 2400 men across the icy Delaware on Christmas Eve and attacked the Hessians at Trenton. The Hessian's were caught completely off guard and Washington secured a swift victory.
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General Howe and Burgoyne decided to split up the colonies in two. With Burgoyne in Montreal and Howe in New York, they would attack through the Hudson valley and meet in the middle. Burgoyne advanced and took Fort Ticonderoga but was stopped by resistance during the Battle of Bennington. Burgoyne tried to contact Howe for reinforcements, but Howe had abandoned the General and captured Philadelphia. Burgoyne was soon pushed back in the Battle of Bemis Heights.
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With the Victory of Saratoga the French were confident in the colonist and declared war on Great Britain. The French would send its naval power to help the colonist and be major in its true victory against Britain.
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Washington's army was at a low with the harsh winter. Starvation, disease, and some mutiny started getting worse and worse. Then Friedrich Wilhelm Von Steuben showed up out of nowhere. He was hired by Benjamin Franklin to give the colonist proper European military training. He trained them to shoot accurately and march in formation making the colonist a bigger force to be reckoned with.
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John Paul Jones sailed to the British Isles stole a British ship off the coast of Ireland and brought it back to France. He raided towns and stole ships from Britain over and over without getting captured once. He was essentially a pirate, stealing boats and supplies from the British. These attacks made the British question if they could even win the war.
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Spain even though was providing aid had officially joined the war in the fight against the British. They provided support in the Midwest and the British would have to deal with two different sides of America fighting them.
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Benedict Arnold was in charge of Philadelphia and was partying all the time. He married a Philadelphia Elite Peggy Shippen who had partied with the British when they controlled Philadelphia. The people were mad at Arnold and said he was pro British. This angered Arnold so he asked if he could put in charge of fort West Point. He then contacted the British saying he would surrender the fort and join them. His message was soon found but Arnold had escaped to New York evading his arrest.
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Washington and the French attacked Virginia and British General Cornwallis was forced to surrender. This was a massive defeat for the British and soon they realized that the war was not worth it. So peace negotiations opened up in France known as the Treaty of Paris. This made Britain remove its troops, acknowledge U.S independence, and give territory up to the Mississippi river. The U.S decided to pay back Britain. The U.S had won the war and their rights.
