The American War For Independence or the American Revolution was the war that earned the colonies independence from Great Britain. The war began on April 19th, 1775 and ended in 1783. In this essay I will be summarizing the history of this great war.
The The Battle of Lexington and Concord
The battle of Lexington was the first battle(I wouldn’t call it a battle but instead a skirmish), that the colonists had with Britain. The seven hundred British soldiers led by Major John Pitcairn were going to Lexington to capture two men, Samuel Adams and John Haddock, and then destroy the colonists weapons and ammunition.
But the colonists had been warned beforehand that the British were heading to Lexington, by some horse riders, that included a man named Paul Revere, the colonists had enough time to hide the ammunition, and Adams and Haddock had time to escape.
The battle or skirmish lasted for only minutes, and no one really fought, while the British demanded that the colonists put down their weapons a shot was fired by an unknown source. That single shot, nicknamed “the shot heard round the world” started off the war. The confrontation turned into a short fight, but before the battle could continue further the colonists retreated to the outskirts of Concord, to not lose anymore men.
The British troops after the skirmish headed towards Concord. The colonial militia waited for the British across the North Bridge. The British were defeated in this battle and began retreating back to Boston, during the battle and the retreat the British lost seventy three men, and much more were wounded, the number of casualties on the colonists side was much less.
The Other Battles and The Declaration of Independence
After the battle of Concord there was seige in Boston that lasted for two months. On June 13th, the colonists were told that the British were going to occupy the remaining hills outside of the city, the colonists were prepared and even met with the British on those hills. This began another very famous battle, called the Battle of Bunker Hill. Even though most of the battle was not on the actual hill but instead on a hill called Breed’s Hill, the name was a popular one for this battle.
During this battle the colonists were able to cause much losses for the British forces, to the point that the British were held back for a little while. The colonists eventually retreated to the city of Cambridge. The Battle of Bunker Hill, was a tie for both the colonists and British. The British had won the hills, which was their original plan, and the colonists had discovered that they could hold back the British. The British again had much more casualties than the colonists.
During the winter of 1775-1776, the colonial army, led by Benedict Arnold had several victories up in the Northern region of North America, close and in Canada. The colonists captured the fort of Ticonderoga, without a fight, which gained them artillery. After capturing the fort without much difficulty, Arnold and his men fought their way into the now Canadian Province of Quebec. They captured ships and gained supplies along the way.
The colonists had to retreat back to Ticonderoga, after fighting in Quebec for some time, this was the start of another famous battle, the battle of Valcour Island, on Lake Champlain. This battle was a special one since it was the first naval battle between the colonists and British. The colonists fought very well, and were almost as good as the British, even though they were defeated, it still was a good battle, and gained the confidence of the colonists.
Another thing that was going on during this time in 1776 was the issuing of the Declaration of Independence, which stated that the thirteen colonies were now a single nation. But the thing that benefited the colonists the most was when France began secretly aiding them. The French who had been defeated by the British in the Seven Years War, were very interested in weakening the British, and decided to offer some aid to the colonists.
But the colonists luck turned around when the British captured the city of New York. But things did get better though, when Washington completed probably his most famous war tactic, the crossing of the Delaware river and the capture of the city of Trenton, from the British. This victory really upped the game of the colonists.
In 1778 the British captured Savannah Georgia and had a huge victory in the battle of Camden. For the colonists the battle ended in disaster, the colonists led by Horatio Gates resulted in nine hundred men killed and one thousand captured. The British lost much less when it came to casualties. Gates after this disastrous battle was replaced by a man named Nathanael Greene. Greene proved to be a much better leader than Gates, under his leadership the army was able to wear down the British by forcing them to travel with less supplies.
The British had another victory in Guilford Courthouse, but at a great cost. The British retreated and surrendered after the battle of Capes(the French defeated the British fleet). There were some more battles, but it was becoming obvious that the colonists were going to win.
Conclusion
In 1783 the Treaty of Paris was signed, declaring that the United States was now a nation. The treaty allowed them to expand past east of the Mississippi River, except for Florida, which was given back to Spain as part of the treaty. Allowing the US to expand to the great nation it is today.
