Portal:American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War Portal The American Revolutionary War began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen united former British colonies on the North American continent, and ended in a global war between several European great powers. The war was the culmination of the political American Revolution and intellectual American Enlightenment, whereby the colonists rejected the right of the Parliament of Great Britain to govern them without representation. In 1775, revolutionaries gained control of each of the thirteen colonial governments, set up an alliance called the Second Continental Congress, and formed a Continental Army. Petitions to the king to intervene with the parliament on their behalf resulted in Congress being declared traitors and the states in rebellion the following year. The Americans responded by formally declaring their independence as a new nation, the United States of America, claiming sovereignty and rejecting any allegiance to the British monarchy. In 1777 the Continentals captured a British army, leading to France entering the war on the side of the Americans in early 1778, and evening the military strength with Britain. Spain and the Dutch Republic – French allies – also went to war with Britain over the next two years. Throughout the war, the British were able to use their naval superiority to capture and occupy coastal cities, but control of the countryside (where 90% of the population lived) largely eluded them due to their relatively small land army. French involvement proved decisive, with a French naval victory in the Chesapeake leading to the surrender of a second British army at Yorktown in 1781. In 1783, the Treaty of Paris ended the war and recognized the sovereignty of the United States over the territory bounded by what is now Canada to the north, Florida to the south, and the Mississippi River to the west. More about American Revolutionary War... Selected event The naval Battle of Valcour Island took place on October 11, 1776, on Lake Champlain. The battle is generally regarded as one of the first naval battles of the American Revolutionary War, and one of the first fought by the United States Navy. The Continental Army had retreated from Quebec to Fort Ticonderoga and Fort Crown Point in June 1776 after British forces were massively reinforced. They spent the summer of 1776 fortifying those forts, and building additional ships to augment the small American fleet already on the lake. British General Guy Carleton had a 9,000-man army at Fort Saint-Jean, but needed to build a fleet to carry it on the lake. By early October, the British fleet, which significantly outgunned the American fleet, was ready for launch. On October 11, Benedict Arnold drew the British fleet to the strait between Valcour Island and the western shore, a position he had carefully chosen to limit British advantages. In the battle that followed, many of the American ships were damaged or destroyed. That night, Arnold snuck the American fleet past the British one, beginning a retreat toward Crown Point and Ticonderoga. Unfavorable weather hampered the American retreat, and more of the fleet was either captured or grounded and burned before it could reach Crown Point. Upon reaching Crown Point Arnold had the fort's buildings burned and retreated to Ticonderoga. General images - The following are images from various __-related articles on Wikipedia. Hessian troops hired out to the British by their German sovereigns (from American Revolution) Military Governors and Staff Officers in British North America and West Indies 1778 and 1784 (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War) British Loyalists fleeing to British Canada as depicted in this early 20th century drawing (from American Revolution) Press gang at work in British ports, from a British caricature of 1780 (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War) Continental frigates Hancock and Boston capturing British frigate Fox, June 7, 1777 (from Continental Navy) British bayonet charges were effective; events at Princeton were highlighted in this Trumbull painting. (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War) The British fleet amassing off Staten Island in New York Harbor in the summer of 1776, depicted in Harper's Magazine in 1876 (from American Revolution) Seal of the Board of War and Ordnance (from Continental Army) Portrait of Alexander Hamilton, first Secretary of the Treasury (from American Revolution) Sir William Howe, British Commander, 1775–1778 (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War) British regulars and Canadian militia repulse American assault on Quebec. (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War) 1778 drawing showing a Stockbridge Mahican Indian, Patriot soldier, of the Stockbridge Militia, in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, from the Revolutionary War diary of Hessian officer, Johann Von Ewald (from Continental Army) A Lexington, Massachusetts memorial to Prince Estabrook, who was wounded in the Battle of Lexington and Concord and was the first Black casualty of the Revolutionary War (from American Revolution) Last page of the 1783 Treaty of Paris, ending the Revolutionary War (from American Revolution) The October 1777 surrender of General Burgoyne's army at Saratoga (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War) Thayendanegea, a Mohawk military and political leader, was the most prominent indigenous leader opposing the Patriot forces. (from American Revolution) John Paul Jones, the Continental Navy's first seaman to be appointed the rank of 1st Lieutenant. Oil painting by George Bagby Matthews, c. 1890. (from Continental Navy) Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben was a former Prussian army officer who served as inspector general of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He is credited with teaching the Continental Army the essentials of military drill and discipline beginning at Valley Forge in 1778, considered a turning point for the Americans. (from American Revolution) Letter III of John Dickinson's Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, published in the Pennsylvania Chronicle, December 1767 (from American Revolution) This postage stamp, which was created at the time of the bicentennial, honors Salem Poor, who was an enslaved African-American man who purchased his freedom, became a soldier, and rose to fame as a war hero during the Battle of Bunker Hill. (from American Revolution) Abraham Whipple painting by Edward Savage (from Continental Navy) On June 9, 1772, the Sons of Liberty burned HMS Gaspee, a British customs schooner in Narragansett Bay (from American Revolution) Mercy Otis Warren published poems and plays that attacked royal authority and urged colonists to resist British rule (from American Revolution) The Staten Island Peace Conference in September 1776 depicted in a drawing by Alonzo Chappel (from American Revolution) John Adams took an active role in the formation of the navy and the drafting of suitable operational regulations. Painting by John Trumbull, c. 1792–93. (from Continental Navy) Notice of the Stamp Act 1765 in a colonial newspaper (from American Revolution) Alliance at sail (from Continental Navy) A 1976 United States Bicentennial logo commemorating the American Revolution's 200th anniversary (from American Revolution) Grenadier of the 40th Regiment of Foot in 1767 (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War) Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common Sense, published in January 1776 (from American Revolution) Continental Army Plaza, Williamsburg, Brooklyn (from Continental Army) Samuel Adams points at the Massachusetts Charter, which he viewed as a constitution that protected the people's rights, in this c. 1772 portrait by John Singleton Copley (from American Revolution) Infantry of the Continental Army. (from Continental Army) George Washington was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army on June 15, 1775. (from Continental Army) Sir Henry Clinton, British Commander, 1778–1782 (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War) In September 1777, fearing a British Army attack on the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia, American patriots moved the Liberty Bell to this Allentown, Pennsylvania church, where the Liberty Bell was successfully hidden under the church's floor boards until the June 1778 British departure from Philadelphia. Today, inside the Zion United Church of Christ in Allentown, the Liberty Bell Museum commemorates the Liberty Bell's successful nine month hiding there. (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War) John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence, showing the Committee of Five presenting its draft for approval by Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, June 28, 1776 (from American Revolution) British assault on Battle of Bunker Hill (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War) The September 17, 1787 signing of the United States Constitution at Independence Hall in Philadelphia depicted in Howard Chandler Christy's 1940 painting, Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States (from American Revolution) George III as depicted in a 1781 portrait (from American Revolution) Louis XVI King of France and Navarre (from American Revolution) Joseph Brant led Native Americans and Loyalists in the North. (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War) Aide-de-camp, General Washington, Major-general Artemas Ward. (from Continental Army) A 1774 etching from The London Magazine depicts Prime Minister Lord North, author of the Boston Port Act, forcing the Intolerable Acts down the throat of America, whose arms are restrained by Lord Chief Justice Mansfield, and a tattered "Boston Petition" lays trampled on the ground beside her. Lord Sandwich pins down her feet and peers up her robes; behind them, Mother Britannia weeps while France and Spain look on (from American Revolution) New borders drawn by the Royal Proclamation of 1763 (from American Revolution) 1781 drawing of American soldiers from the Yorktown campaign showing a black infantryman, on the far left, from the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, one of the regiments in the Continental Army having the largest majority of black patriot soldiers. An estimated 4% of the Continental Army was black (see African Americans in the Revolutionary War). (from Continental Army) Washington crossing the Delaware on December 25–26, 1776, depicted in Emanuel Leutze's 1851 painting (from American Revolution) Johannes Adam Simon Oertel's painting Pulling Down the Statue of King George III, N.Y.C., circa 1859 (from American Revolution) The surrender of General Cornwallis's army at Yorktown (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War) Lieutenant General Wilhelm von Knyphausen commanded Hessian forces in North America. (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War) The 1781 siege of Yorktown ended with the surrender of a second British army, marking effective British defeat. (from American Revolution) The defeat of the floating batteries at the Great Siege of Gibraltar (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War) Join, or Die, a political cartoon attributed to Benjamin Franklin was used to encourage the Thirteen Colonies to unite against British rule (from American Revolution) The December 16, 1773 Boston Tea Party, led by Samuel Adams and Sons of Liberty, has become a mainstay of American patriotic lore. (from American Revolution) The American Revolution was part of the first wave of the Atlantic Revolutions, an 18th and 19th century revolutionary wave in the Atlantic World (from American Revolution) Treaty of Paris by Benjamin West portrays the American delegation about to sign the 1783 Treaty of Paris (John Jay, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Laurens, W.T. Franklin). The British delegation refused to pose and the painting was never completed (from American Revolution) The death of General Johann de Kalb at the Battle of Camden (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War) Robert Morris statue honoring American founding father and financier Robert Morris at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia (from American Revolution) Eastern North America in 1775. The Province of Quebec, the Thirteen Colonies on the Atlantic coast, and the Indian Reserve as defined by the Royal Proclamation of 1763. The border between the red and pink areas represents the 1763 "Proclamation line", while the orange area represents the Spanish claim. (from American Revolution) An African-American soldier (left) of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, widely regarded as the first Black battalion in U.S. military history (from American Revolution) Patriots tar and feather Loyalist John Malcolm depicted in a 1774 painting (from American Revolution) Continental ship Columbus with captured British brig Lord Lifford, 1776 (from Continental Navy) The official Navy officer uniform of 1776 had red lapels and a red waistcoat. The unofficial uniform of 1777, worn by many officers, had white lapels and a white waistcoat, and in addition non-regulation epaulets. (from Continental Navy) The Franco-American squadron closely engages the pair of British frigates on September 23, 1779. (from Continental Navy) Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton commanded the British Legion in the Southern colonies. (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War) Flogging punished men in both armies, navies; here a Royal warship (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War) Field Marshal Jeffery Amherst, Commander-in-Chief of the Forces 1778-1782 (from British Army during the American Revolutionary War) Selected ships and units The 64th Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army. The regiment was created as the 2nd Battalion, 11th Regiment of Foot in 1756, and redesignated as the 64th Regiment of Foot in 1758. In the American War of Independence the regiment was first station in Boston when it was besieged in 1775, and fought in major actions of the New York and New Jersey campaign of 1776-77 and the Philadelphia campaign of 1777-78. It was sent into the Southern theater in late 1779, participating in the Siege of Charleston; one of its units was surrendered at the [1781 Siege of Yorktown. Although the 64th Foot fought in many of the major conflicts of the late 18th and early 19th centuries (including the Seven Years' War, Napoleonic Wars, Anglo-Persian War, and the Indian Rebellion of 1857, it was normally in the more minor theatres of these conflicts. The regiment took a county title as the 64th (2nd Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot in 1782. Following the Cardwell Reforms the regiment amalgamated with the 98th (Prince of Wales's) Regiment of Foot to become The Prince of Wales's (North Staffordshire Regiment) in 1881. In the new regiment the 64th Foot became the 1st Battalion due to its seniority over the 98th Foot. Related portals Selected picture A 1777 map showing the British fortifications in the 1775 Siege of Boston. Selected biography John Paul Jones (July 6, 1747 – July 18, 1792) was America's first well-known naval hero in the American Revolutionary War. He was born John Paul in 1747, on the estate of Arbigland in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright on the southern coast of Scotland. John Paul's father was a gardener at Arbigland, and his mother was a member of Clan MacDuff. John Paul adopted the alias John Jones when he fled to his brother's home in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in 1773 to avoid the hangman's noose in Tobago after an incident when he was accused of murdering a sailor under his command, whom he claimed had been involved in a mutiny. He began using the name John Paul Jones at the suggestion of his brother. Although he never rose above the rank of captain in the Continental Navy after his victory over the Serapis with the frigate Bonhomme Richard, he is the first genuine American Naval hero, and he has been highly regarded as a battle commander. His later service in the Russian Navy as an admiral showed the mark of genius that enabled him to defeat the Serapis. Although he was originally buried in Paris, after spending his last years abroad, he was ultimately reinterred at the United States Naval Academy, a fitting homecoming for the "Father of the American Navy". During his engagement with Serapis, Jones uttered, according to the later recollection of his First Lieutenant, the legendary reply to a quip about surrender from the British captain: "I have not yet begun to fight!" Categories Select [►] to view subcategories American Revolutionary War American Revolution-related lists American Revolutionary War Diarists American Revolutionary War casualties Diplomacy during the American Revolutionary War American Revolutionary War in fiction Historians of the American Revolution History books about the American Revolution Massacres in the American Revolutionary War Military personnel of the American Revolutionary War Military units and formations of the American Revolutionary War American Revolutionary War monuments and memorials American Revolutionary War museums American Revolutionary War nurses Military operations of the American Revolutionary War American Revolutionary War orders of battle American Revolutionary War ships of the United States American Revolutionary War sites Vermont Republic Works about the American Revolutionary War American Revolutionary War stubs American Revolutionary War navigational boxes Major topics Featured content Featured articles John Adair Battle of the Cedars Benedict Arnold's expedition to Quebec Daniel Boone Crawford expedition HMS Endeavour Fort Ticonderoga James Garrard George III James Hogun Robert Howe (Continental Army officer) Tadeusz Kościuszko Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette HMS Levant (1758) Lexington–Concord Sesquicentennial half dollar Lochry's Defeat Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment James Moore (Continental Army officer) Francis Nash HMS Pearl (1762) Battle of Quebec (1775) HMS Roebuck (1774) Charles Scott (governor) Isaac Shelby Jethro Sumner Capture of Fort Ticonderoga Stephen Trigg Battle of Valcour Island George Washington and slavery William IV Featured lists Order of battle of the Battle of Long Island Order of battle of the Battle of Trenton A-Class articles Battle of Fort Washington Siege of Fort Ticonderoga (1777) Powder Alarm Casimir Pulaski William Stacy Things you can do From the American Revolutionary War task force of the Military history WikiProject: Attention needed ...to referencing and citation  • ...to coverage and accuracy  • ...to structure  • ...to grammar  • ...to supporting materials  Popular pages Full list Cleanup needed Add an article here! Requested articles Samuel Cleaveland Expansion needed Quebec in the American Revolution; many existing "<State> in/during the American Revolution" articles • Hercules Mulligan Images needed 1780 Black Camp Rebellion • Albemarle Barracks • Battle of Lenud's Ferry • Battle of Wetzell's Mill • Carleton's Raid • Cortlandt Skinner • Daniel Waters (minuteman) • Fort Dayton • Fort Independence (Vermont) • HM galley Pigot • John Swift (general) • King's Royal Regiment of New York • Matthias Ogden • Samuel Holden Parsons • Volunteers of Ireland Merging needed Add an article here! Citations needed Battles in {{Campaignbox American Revolutionary War: Gulf Coast}} • Peter Francisco • Aaron Burr • Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis • Continental Army Translation needed Add an article here! 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