Special Field English

-THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR-

-and it’s most important battles-

From:

Preface In this special field, I do not want to especially explain the American Revolution but the

American Revolutionary War from 1775 to 1783, which affects the America of today and

furthermore the whole world. As well, I will write about the foreplay and the aftermath, like

the circumstances, the war started at and the consequences it had to the United Kingdom. I

personally chose this topic because it is an outstanding achievement to win a war with

“untrained” soldiers in comparison to the strong, professional army of the British, which was,

to that time, the best in the whole world. This text provides information about the greatest

Battles and the Generals behind them.

In order to become an expert of the American Revolutionary War I read following books:

1. “Valley Forge” by Newt Gingritch and William Fostchen

This book describes how von Steuben disciplined the continental army to withstand

the battle of Monmouth

2. “War For America: The Fight for Independence 1751-1783” by Jeremy Black

gives an all-around view from the sides of the British

3. “1781: The Decisive Year of the Revolutionary War” by Robert L. Tonsetic

This book follows the events of 1781, a year that saw the British southern strategy fall

apart as they lost control of the countryside.

Also, I want to announce three battles, I want to describe closer.

1. The Battle of Trenton

2. The Battle of Monmouth (“Valley Forge”)

3. The Siege of Yorktown (“1781- [...]”)

Those were all battles, in which General Washington commanded the Continental Army.

Trenton has surprisingly been a success, whereas Monmouth has been a stand-off and

Yorktown ended the war once and for all. I considered these battles to be the most interesting

due to the circumstances they were fought in.

A small introduction The Revolutionary War has been fought from 1775 and 1783 between the United Kingdom

and auxiliaries such as the Hessians, and the Thirteen Colonies of America. Later it became a

World War due to the fact that Spain and France entered the battles. In America, there were

two sides: the Loyalists also called the Tories, and the Revolutionists. The war began with the

battles of Concord and Lexington and the signing of the declaration of independence and

peace came with the treaty of Paris.

Causes of the American Revolutionary War As always, there are multiple reasons for starting a war. In this case, it was a mixture of taxes,

prohibitions and oppression.

Taxes

Many problems were faced by the Colonists such as the high taxes they had to pay the British,

who were overburden by the costs of the Anglo-French wars. The highest taxes were the

Townshend Act 1767 and the Stamp Act 1765. The Stamp Act prescribed the necessity of

paying a stamp tax on every official document, the papers and even playing cards. It was

released in 1766 through the British Parliament because they feared economical deterioration.

The Townshend Act regulated the taxes on tea, glass, mercury, colours, paper and leather. As

an effect, the East-India Trading Company was not able to sell their tea because of the

smuggling from tea from the Netherlands. The Parliament reacted with the Tea Act in 1773,

which allowed the trading company the direct selling of tea without paying customs duty. As

a result, many enraged citizens of Boston dropped the English tea in the port basin. The

Boston Tea Party originated.

Prohibitions

As the iron and steel industry in the colonies has been prohibited by the parliament and as a

result it was indispensable to buy goods from the motherland. In this way Britain wanted to

tighten the bindings between America and Europe, as well through the proscription of

treading in continental money. This was concealed by the Currency Act 1751 and 1764.

Taken Actions

The colonies had many economical interests and in order to achieve the goals of establishing

the “Continental Dollar” representatives of all parts of the country met in 1774 and founded

the Continental Congress. Also the inhabitants were discontent about not being represented in

parliament. Hereby a slogan named “No taxation without representation” was used in the

1750s and 60s to express their opinion about the Stamp Act and others. In addition, a shadow

government was formed in every province to support the newly formed Continental Congress.

Combatants

British Army

The British Army probably obtained the best trained and equipped armed forces in the world

to that time. Early in 1775, the British Army consisted of about 36,000 men worldwide and

grew due to recruitment in wartime. It consisted of riflemen, light infantry, mounted troops,

dragoons and other subdirectories. Head leaders were General William Howe, General

Thomas Gage, who served alongside Washington in the French and Indian War, and General

Henry Clinton. They served the Crown alternately: Gage from 1763 to 1775, Howe from 1775

to 1778 and Clinton from 1778 to 1782. Each of them succeeded and failed in the large

amount of battles from 1775 to 1782.

Auxiliaries of the British Army

Over the course of the war, Great Britain signed treaties with various German states, which

supplied about 30,000 soldiers. Germans made up about one-third of the British troop strength

in North America. The Landgraviate of Hessen-Kassel, reined by Friedrich II., contributed

more soldiers than any other state, and German soldiers became known as "Hessians" to the

Americans. By 1779, the number of British and German troops stationed in North America

was over 60,000.

Loyalists

The Loyalists, also called the Tories, had just a little impact on the war although up to 20% of

the American population remained loyal to the King. The reason for the poor possible

application of the Loyalists was the fact, that they “[...] required the presence of British

forces1”. Also, it was complicated not to accidentally plunder goods of farmers, which

remained loyal to the king. Even dispersing a large amount of troops in order to defend

loyalist areas was a difficult target, which has been achieved with great efforts.

Continental Army

When the war began, the American Colonists did neither have a standing army, nor well

trained men. Each colony had provided for its defences through the use of militia, which were

stated in the local areas and had their own command hierarchy. Commander-in-Chief has

been Lieutenant General George Washington. At the end of the war, nearly 250.00 men

served for the revolutionary cause, but there were never more than 90.000 men under arms at

one time. In order to coordinate military efforts rather than lead a partisan war, the

Continental Congress established a regular army in June 1775 with General Washington as

commander-in-chief. After the debacle of Brandywine and the suffering at Valley Forge, the

Congress and the Board of War, a committee established to maintain stability of the army,

wanted to replace him and doubted his competence. Due to severe intervention by allied

politicians George Washington was able to stay commander-in-chief and was able to

withstand the British Army at the battle of Monmouth.

1 Jeremy Black: War for America: The Fight for Independence 1775-1783 p.12

The War Begins – a chronological listing of campaigns and battles

1775 – Weapons are being gathered

After Thomas Gage was set Governor of Massachusetts by the British Parliament, ending the

self-government 1773, the Congress approved the gathering of weapons at Lexington and

Concord. It became the first direct conflict in the American Revolutionary War. The first shot

fired was known as the “shot that was heard around the world”. In those battles, the

Revolutionaries succeeded in driving the British back to Boston, where General Thomas Gage

was in command of the troops. He was immediately replaced by Major General William

Howe after the following Siege of Boston, where the British were able to drive back the

colonial troops out of Boston under severe losses at the side of the British in the Battle of

Bunker Hill. At the beginning, the continental army suffered from insufficient supplies and

bad training. Most of them were minutemen and militiamen, which were hired for less than 6

months and had only little discipline. On July the third, George Washington formally took

command over the troops at Boston and immediately took care of the shortage of supplies. A

little later, he was able to regain control over Boston, Howe fleeing with 9.000 men to

Halifax.

1775/76 – The Invasion of Canada

1775, the Congress granted military actions against Canada due to the fact, that the

Commander of the British was gathering troops near Québec. Congress hoped to annex

Canada with help of the French, who were claiming

Canadian territories. Brigadier General Richard

Montgomery and Colonel Benedict Arnold were not able

to gain control over Quebec, due to the fact that the

treaties of the minutemen ran out on the 31st of

December.

1776 – The Declaration of Independence

In the same year, John Adams proposed the thoughts of

the American Declaration of Independence to Congress,

which has in the end been written by Thomas Jefferson

and accepted on July 4, 1776. With “The Unanimous

Declaration of the Thirteen States of America” the

thirteen colonies declared their independence and the

detachment of Great Britain. The Declaration of

Independence became one of the most important charters

of the democratic philosophy of the freshly founded

United States of America.

1776 –The New York Campaign

After the British vacated Boston, Washington

immediately went with his decimated troops to New

Map of the retreat of the

continental army from New York

and New Jersey

York because he was expecting an assault on a strategically important point. During July and

August 1776, General Howe ordered his troops, with help of his brother Admiral Richard

Howe, to land on Staten Island, New York. 32.000 British soldiers arrived unaware of their

enemy: 20.000 untrained Soldiers of Congress and militiamen. Additional, Washington

ordered to mount heavy defensive fortifications to welcome the soldiers of the crown.

Between the 20th

and 25th

of August, 20.000 men landed under command of General Howe on

Long Island and attacked the continental troops from behind. The American lines soon broke

and the continental army retreated to Brooklyn and later Manhattan. The losses of the

Americans came up to 400 dead and 1000 in captivity, at the sides of the British only 367

dead men. 6 months later, Washington decided to evacuate Manhattan due to the fact, that

Howe reinforced his army and occupied Fort Lee and Fort Washington. In December,

Washington withdrew to Pennsylvania and left New York to the British.

1776 – Trenton, December 26

The battle of Trenton happened to be the first

victorious head-to-head fight of the continental

army and is a part of the New York Campaign.

After gaining control over New York and wide

parts of New Jersey, Howe prepared winter quarters

and fortified the biggest cities. Washington decided

to launch an attack on Trenton, where over 1.400

hessian soldiers were stationed, which laid their

trust in the Christmas Truce. This was still usual in

the First World War in the western front,

especially between Mesen and Nieuwkapelle2.

First Battle of Trenton

Due to the defeat in New York, the fighting

morale of the troops was down because the Continental Army had yet to secure a victory on

the battlefield against British Army regulars. Even Washington doubted that achieving a

victory was possible. Howsoever, on the 25th

of December, Washington stealthily crossed the

Delaware River alongside 2.400 reservists. In order to surround the Hessians, Washington

split his forces under the command of him and General Nathanael Greene. In the morning of

December 26th

the completely unprepared Hessians under command of Oberst Johann Rall

capitulated after 2 hours of fighting for reasons of drunkenness because of Christmas and bold

generalship. From 1.400 Hessians, 400 were able to flee to Bordentown; the rest (900)

surrendered, Oberst Rall one of the 25 dead3. Also, the Americans were able to capture more

than 1000 rifles and 6 cannons which were transported across the Delaware to Pennsylvania,

where the American encampment had been situated. The great success of this relatively small

battle fully restored the morale of the Continental Army and antagonised the war fatigue.

2 http://www.historicaleye.com/xmastruce.html 28.01.2014

3 Jeremy Black – War for America: The Fight for Independence 1775-1783 (p. 111)

Washington crossing the frozen

Delaware River (Emanuel Leutze –

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Battle of the Assunpink Creek and Princeton January, 2nd 177

American High Command was awaiting a massive counterattack from the British and decided

to face the upcoming battle near Trenton. Unfortunately, the Continental Army was about to

dissolve due to the fact of expiring enlistments. Howsoever, Washington decided to return and

fortify southern parts of Trenton. Meanwhile Lord Cornwallis unified his troops to regain

Trenton and managed to surround great parts of the city, while failing to occupy the strategic

important position of Assunpink Creek, where Washington was defending his last way of

retreat. After long concealing, Cornwallis decided to wait overnight to assure his soldiers

some rest instead of annihilating Washington immediately. Cornwallis has later been accused

of having decided completely wrong. Meanwhile, the Americans bluffed, that they would

keep the battle alive, like lighting campfires and sporadic firing of artilleries, while retreating

safely via a secondary road. After that, he managed due to the great speed of movements of

his troops, to evade the most of the enemy troops and was able to win several minor battles in

Princeton. He managed to face in each battle just 1.800 of the altogether 6.000 British. Most

of these battles never took place on an open field and were so called skirmishes, due to the

enormous lack in training of the Continental Army.

1777 – The Saratoga Campaign

The year of 1777 has been a time of mismanagement and defeat for the British. The Saratoga

Campaign would have been in their eyes an ingenious plan of cutting off New England from

the rest of the 13 colonies in order to ensure, that no supplies would reach the majority of the

Continental Army. Afterwards, Philadelphia, the capital of the newly established United

States had to be captured, which had been the only British success in 1777. The British Army

has been divided into three parts under command of General John Burgoyne, General Barry

Leger and General William Howe. The campaign began with the movement of Burgoyne’s

part from New York in northern direction to Lake Champlain with around 7000 soldiers and

400 Indians, who participated voluntarily, around them. The Continental Army with around

2500 men had to move back, able to slow the British down due to harsh terrain, which made a

chase nearly impossible. Also, General Benedict Arnold managed on August, 2nd

to stop

General Leger in joining Burgoyne’s forces, annihilating 700 Canadian professional soldiers

and nearly 1000 Indians. Burgoyne, now weakened from General Horatio Gates, who inflicted

sever damage to the British troops, was resolute to reach Albany before winter would set.

However, Gates managed to raise altogether 8.000 men and faced Burgoyne in the Battle of

Bemis Heights on October, 7th

in which Burgoyne’s army has been surrounded and forced to

surrender. Gates has been celebrated as a hero and the British captured.

The Battle of Brandywine – September, 11th 1777

Meanwhile, George Washington had to suffer a serious defeat at Philadelphia as previously

written and was the second part of the Saratoga Campaign. In July, 15.000 men under

command of General Howe left New York by water and landed in Elkton, Maryland.

Meanwhile, Washington fortified with 11.000 men Brandywine Creek in order to prevent

Howe from invading Pennsylvania. Washington has been attacked on September 11th

by

General Cornwallis. Parts of the Continental Army under General Nathanael Greene were

able to repulse the British for a short period of time but then were forced to orderly retreat to

Chester, losing 1500 men.

The Battle of Germantown – October, 4th 1777

After succeeding in the Battle of Brandywine the British patrolled in the area, annihilating an

American unit under General ‘Mad’ Anthony Wayne at Paoli, which was stationed to

surveillance the next British movements. After peaceful capturing Philadelphia, Howe

stationed 9.000 soldiers in Germantown, 3 miles away from the capital. Washington, fearing

further fortifications of the British, decided to attack Germantown coordinated in the night

from October 3, to 4. Due to heavy mist in the morning, Americans initially started to fire at

each other and retreated uncoordinated later because of low ammunition and a lack of

supplies. However, Howe did not consequently take the advantage of his victory although

chasing them for a few miles. He was able to capture 400 Americans despite his 521 losses

and 673 casualties at the American side.

Valley Forge – winter of 1777

The fighting morale of the Continental Army and the recognition of Washington disappeared

after losing Philadelphia to the British and the debacle of Paoli. Severely weakened and with a

few thousands of deserters, the Continental Army retreated to Valley Forge in order to stay

there for the rest of the winter. Unfortunately, not even houses or firewood had been prepared

for the barely 8.000 men due to a major failing of congress, now located in York. Washington

had been left alone to deal with the severe burden of building an encampment and managing

supplies such as cattle and flour in order to keep his army alive throughout winter. Congress

had not even been able to inform Washington of this precarious situation. During the first 2

weeks, soldiers had to sleep in the snow, suffering from low temperatures, lack of supplies

and the defeat at Brandywine and Germantown. 3.000 of them walking home due to expiring

enlistments and more than 1.000 dying because of diseases and hypothermia. Apart from

dying, the army had another big problem: the lack of training and the lack of logistics. Nearly

all ranks disappeared, the last few officers struggling for discipline. But these were not the

only problems: General Gates, Inspector General Conway and the majority of congress

claimed, that Washington was to hold responsible for this disaster and wanted to replace him.

However, this ‘conspiracy’, called Conway-cabal, failed to relieve Washington of duty.

Meanwhile, the British spent the winter in Philadelphia in warmth, hoping the Continentals

would simply melt away. In ‘Valley Forge’ by Newt Gingritch, it is mentioned, that

Parliament ordered, to hold their position until further notice due to the negotiations of

Benjamin Franklin in Paris, who was able to move the French to join the War in 1777. Now,

the British were forced to split up their troops in three parts again; one part to fortify the

sugar-colonies in the Caribbean areas, one part to hold New York and one part staying in

Philadelphia. Also, General William Howe was relieved of duty due to his mismanagement of

the Saratoga Campaign, General Henry Clinton now appointed as Commander-in-Chief.

In order to re-establish discipline in Valley Forge, Washington needed a veteran drillmaster to

train soldiers in executing proper orders and fighting a battle in an open field. Right to this

time, Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a Prussian staff captain, offered his military

knowledge to Washington and joined the Continental Army as drillmaster and Inspector

General. With his abilities, he was able to train the Revolutionaries in less than two months to

face the British in the Battle of Monmouth where they were able to achieve a victory, gaining

back their fighting morale.

4

The Battle of Monmouth – June, 28th 1778

In May of 1778, General Henry Clinton decided to relocate his troops in order to hold contact

to the British naval forces. He also was ordered, as previously written, to split his forces due

to the American-French alliance. While he retreated back to New York5, the Continental

Army chased the vulnerable British, who where weakened due to the evacuation and transport

of countless Loyalists out of Philadelphia, travelling in a long-stretched convoy. Washington

sent 1.500 men to harass them in order to evaluate, whether they choose a route via Freehold

or via Hightstown. The Americans decided to attack the British at Freehold. General Charles

Lee advanced to gain a surprise effect but failing terribly due to poor evaluation of the

strategic situation. He later was accused in front of a court martial and had been suspended

from the American Army. Due to his failure, the British were able to build a line of defence,

annihilating Lee’s troops. With the arrival of General Washington, General Lafayette ( a

French volunteer) and General von Steuben the Continental Army was able to reorganize and

faced the British till dawn, when General Clinton decided to retreat in the dark of the night;

marching to Sandy Hook and sailing back to New York. In many sources, the Battle of

Monmouth is being described as a standoff, even partly as a victory for the British. However,

in ‘Valley Forge’ it is described, that the Americans gained a victory because of capturing a

huge amount of supplies and regained their fighting morale. Also, General Washington and

4 Newt Gingritch and William R. Forstchen – Valley Forge , p 345

5 Newt Gingritch and William R. Forstchen – Valley Forge, p.309

General von Steuben were seen as heroes. Steuben had been especially honoured by building

a statue, located at Lafayette Park in front of the White House in Washington D.C.

The French entering the war – February, 6th 1778

With help of Benjamin Franklin, on February, 6th

1778, France agreed on an American-

French alliance, forcing the British to divide their forces in order to defend their borders and

colonies from the French navy. Also, the American Revolution turned into a global war,

followed by battles in Europe, America, India and the Caribbean area. These circumstances

together with drilling of the Continental Army made it an American victory possible. The

French themselves only had supportive impact on important battles, such as The Siege of

Savannah and the Siege of Yorktown. Later, also Spain and the Netherlands joined the war,

seeing a chance to gain back some of their former colonies.

Savannah – December 1778 to October 1779

In the battle and the Siege of Savannah, the British had been victorious. An expedition-force

of 3.000 professional soldiers in command of General Archibald Campbell captured

Savannah, situated at the Savannah River. Nearly a year later, General Benjamin Lincoln

besieged with help of General D’Estaing and 6500 men the city. Because of the meanwhile

defenceless fleet of D’Estaing, the Revolutionaries attacked hastily and had been defeated,

losing over 800 men, 100 at the sides of the British.

Siege of Charleston – March, 29th 1780

Charleston had been the only planned operation by the British in the year of 1780, severely

defeating the Continental Army, which had been the most devastating defeat in the entire war.

Because of local militia, harassing outposts in a devastative manner and destroying the entire

communication-systems, the British were not able to take advantage of their victory.

Camden – August, 16th 1780

In august 1780, 4.100 freshly enlisted men under Baron de Kalb came to help the American

forces in Charleston and encountered 2.200 British-Hessian soldiers commanded by General

Cornwallis due to mismanagement of Gates, who foolishly ordered to directly advance

through Camden. Already at the first engagement, the middle and the left flank of militiamen

fled, leaving the right flank behind. Around 1.000 Americans had been captured and nearly

850 got killed, inclusively De Kalb.

The Revolutionary offensive – 1781

The year of 1781 marked the beginning of the Revolutionary offensive as well as the end of

the American Revolutionary War, starting with the Battle of Cowpens and the Siege of

Yorktown. Since January, General Greene managed to drive the British out of the southern

area in the so-called ‘Operations in the South’. Only in the battle of Guilford Court House he

had been beaten by General Cornwallis, losing 1.500 Revolutionaries. Again, Cornwallis had

not been able to take an advantage of his victory, because of 500 causalities in his ranks. Also,

he had been cut off near Yorktown, forced to face a decisive battle – The Siege of Yorktown.

The Yorktown Campaign – September, 28th to October, 19th 1781

The Yorktown Campaign had been the last operation in the American Revolutionary War,

followed by the capitulation of the entire British Army in the Northern hemisphere of

America. In June 1781, Cornwallis was sent by Clinton on a campaign to stop American

operations in Wilmington. Lafayette and von Steuben managed to intervene, forcing

Cornwallis and 7.500 of his men to retreat to Yorktown in order to ensure to hold contact with

Clinton in New York. Meanwhile, Washington made plans on attacking New York, but

quickly discarded them as Admiral de Grasse provided him with 3.000 men, now

commanding an army of 15.500 trained soldiers. Also, de Grasse fought the sea battle of

Chesapeake Bay in which he managed to stop the Royal Navy to provide Yorktown with

supplies of any kind. Under these circumstances, Washington now could initiate the Siege of

Yorktown, beginning on September, 28th

. The British gave up their outer defence

fortifications to concentrate on the city. On October, 13th

the Allies were able to tighten the

outer ring of defences so close, that an attack was possible. On October, 14th

Lafayette was

able to capture together

with the French the

two most important

fortifications.

Cornwallis realized

that he had to retreat

and started to cross

York River but did not

manage to proceed

because of bad

weather. Now he was

forced to surrender and

signed the document

of capitulation on

October, 9th

.

6

The Peace Agreement

With the surrender of Cornwallis and Clinton, on November, 30th

an early peace treaty was

signed between Great Britain and the United States of America, declaring the retirement of

the USA from the war, whereas the fighting between Britain and France, Spain and the

Netherlands continued till the peace treaty of Paris on 3rd

of September 1783, containing 10

key points:

6 Jeremy Black – War for America, p. 231

1. Acknowledging the United States (viz. the Colonies) to be free, sovereign and

independent states, and that the British Crown and all heirs and successors relinquish

claims to the Government, property, and territorial rights of the same, and every part

thereof;

2. Establishing the boundaries between the United States and British North America;

3. Granting fishing rights to United States fishermen in the Grand Banks, off the coast of

Newfoundland and in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence;

4. Recognizing the lawful contracted debts to be paid to creditors on either side;

5. The Congress of the Confederation will "earnestly recommend" to state legislatures to

recognize the rightful owners of all confiscated lands "provide for the restitution of all

estates, rights, and properties, which have been confiscated belonging to real British

subjects [Loyalists]";

6. United States will prevent future confiscations of the property of Loyalists;

7. Prisoners of war on both sides are to be released and all property left by the British

army in the United States unmolested (including slaves);

8. Great Britain and the United States were each to be given perpetual access to the

Mississippi River;

9. Territories captured by Americans subsequent to treaty will be returned without

compensation;

10. Ratification of the treaty was to occur within six months from the signing by the

contracting parties.7

After the War

After 8 years of fighting, the Americans were proud of their freshly founded country. But

there were further problems to solve. The most important was to ensure, that no separatist

movement would come to life, as it was the case at the American Civil War 1861. The first

president of the United States became George Washington himself due to his balancing

manner towards the political parties and his services during the American Revolutionary War.

Epilogue

The American Revolution is today seen as a source of inspiration for many Americans today,

what explains their patriotism and pride towards their country. What indeed was very

interesting for me is the thought of fighting for your personal and national freedom. Many

people in Europe are seeing their freedom as completely natural, not considering that the

establishment of democracy in some countries only lies 100 years in the past. Also, a large

part is not aware, that we are losing a bit of freedom every day; namely the freedom of

privacy due to the monitoring of digital devices, which becomes a bigger problem every day.

7 http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=6&page=transcript