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Fighting begins at Lexington and Concord
On the night of April 18, 1775, hundreds of British troops marched from Boston to nearby Concord in order to seize an arms cache. Paul Revere and other riders sounded the alarm, and colonial militiamen began mobilizing to intercept the Redcoat column. A confrontation on the Lexington town green started off the fighting, and soon the British were hastily retreating under intense fire. Many more battles followed, and in 1783 the colonists formally won their independence. -
Washington takes command of the army in boston
George Washington rides out in front of the American troops gathered at Cambridge common in Massachusetts and draws his sword, formally taking command of the Continental Army. Washington, a prominent Virginia planter and veteran of the French and Indian War, had been appointed commander in chief by the Continental Congress two weeks before. In agreeing to serve the American colonies in their war for independence, he declined to accept payment for his services beyond reimbursement of future expen -
Continental congress approves the Declaration of Independence
From 1774 to 1789, the Continental Congress served as the government of the 13 American colonies and later the United States. The First Continental Congress, which was comprised of delegates from the colonies, met in 1774 in reaction to the Coercive Acts, a series of measures imposed by the British government on the colonies in response to their resistance to new taxes. In 1775, the Second Continental Congress convened after the American Revolutionary War (1775-83) had alread -
British began landing troops on Staten island
The Island played a prominent role during the Revolutionary War. Before the British arrived in New York, George Washington spent two days surveying Staten Island and established a look-out at the Narrows (now Fort Wadsworth) to give him advanced warning of the British arrival. The British General William Howe arrived in New York City in the summer of 1776 after evacuating Boston, intending to land his army at Gravesend Bay. When he discovered George Washington was "dug in" where he intended to l -
British win the battle of long island
Washington had built batteries on Manhattan and Long Island to prevent the British fleet penetrating past New York. Of his 18,000 men Washington had positioned around 10,000 in fortifications on Brooklyn Heights, facing the sea and inland, to defend the approach to Manhattan. This force was commanded by Major General Israel Putnam. Part of the American force held the fortified area along the coast while the main body had taken up positions along the high ground inland. -
The Continental army's ''Retreat across the Jersey's
Following the abandonment of Fort Lee in November 1776, Washington’s army undertook a measured withdraw across New Jersey followed by Cornwallis’ British army. His route followed the primary roads of the day connecting New Bridge, Hackensack, Newark, Elizabeth, Woodbridge, New Brunswick, Princeton, and Trenton. Conditions for the Continental Army looked bleak, and the British swept the landscape before them, convincing many that the Crown would prevail and the war would be short. -
Washington wins the first battle of Trenton
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Main british army sails from New York City to attack Philadelphia
The Philadelphia campaign (1777–1778) was a British initiative in the American Revolutionary War to gain control of Philadelphia, which was then the seat of the Second Continental Congress. British General William Howe, after unsuccessfully attempting to draw the Continental Army under General George Washington into a battle in northern New Jersey, embarked his army on transports, and landed them at the northern end of Chesapeake Bay. From there, he advanced northward toward Philadelphia. Washin -
Battle of red bank (Fort Mercer)
The Battle of Red Bank (October 22, 1777) was a battle of the American Revolutionary War in which a Hessian force was sent to take Fort Mercer on the left bank (or New Jersey side) of the Delaware River just south of Philadelphia, but was decisively defeated by a far inferior force of Colonial defenders. Although the British did take Fort Mercer a month later, the victory supplied a sorely-needed morale boost to the American cause, delayed British plans to consolidate gains in Philadelphia, and -
French sign treaties with United States
The Treaty of Alliance with France was signed on February 6, 1778, creating a military alliance between the United States and France against Great Britain. Negotiated by the American diplomats Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, and Arthur Lee, the Treaty of Alliance required that neither France nor the United States agree to a separate peace with Great Britain, and that American independence be a condition of any future peace agreement. In addition to the Treaty of Alliance, the Treaty of Amity and -
U.S. Congress ratifies the Treaty of Paris Ending the war
In the document, which was known as the Second Treaty of Paris because the Treaty of Paris was also the name of the agreement that had ended the Seven Years’ War in 1763, Britain officially agreed to recognize the independence of its 13 former colonies as the new United States of America.